Fantastic
@wesyang
on Yang! Tho calling his solutions technocratic is only half the story: UBI isn't just a technical solution to unemployment, but a moral one - for Yang, it's tied to the imperative to disentangle human value from economic productivity.
Overview: The Recent Habermas Debate to Date
Geuss on Habermas
Replies:
Martin Jay:
Seyla Benhabib:
Not done yet!
Geuss on Benhabib:
Benhabib on Geuss:
Critics who dismiss this piece as promoting conservative pro-life politics only prove
@ebruenig
's argument—that liberal and progressive Americans are forfeiting being pro-family to the Republicans—correct.
Today in
@nytimes
@BaskinJon
and I write about why the “crisis of the humanities” won’t be solved within the cloisters of academia alone. To live up to the mission of the humanities we must recover our trust in the public’s capacity to think.
Did I cancel my wedding because I believe in nothing but "bare life," as Agamben would have it? In the
@ChronicleReview
I wrote about what it is we are really sacrificing our pleasures and freedoms for.
Kate Manne claims
@AgnesCallard
's idea of aspiration is dangerous middle class ideology. I argue that denying working-class people the desire for intellectual, aesthetic and ethical growth is elitist condescension masquerading as egalitarianism.
Last round of big news for the season: I'm very, very happy to share that
@dadsein
and I will be joining the philosophy department at the University of California, Irvine in the fall.
Pynchon marathon begins now.
A new job, an international move and some nasty morning sickness (😋) kept me from doing this earlier, but
@rachelcwiseman
and I are thrilled to finally announce that we are writing a book on childbearing ambivalence and how to overcome it!
The idea of turning the familiar idealizing projection characteristic of infatuation into a moral imperative is equal parts thrilling and terrifying.
I imagine you to be courageous and brilliant; now, be that!
Philosophers, poets, critics! For my upcoming "The Old Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry" seminar: What are you favorite writings by philosophers about poets (broadly construed)? Poets on philosophers?
A Valentine's Day special!
@rachelcwiseman
and I on how the hallmarks of contemporary dating—vetting, maximizing "compatibility", hedging one's bets, exercising patience— can leave its practitioners empty handed.
"I found myself astonished… This is what the philosophers are for: to make us think more honestly about the purpose of living life, and of giving it."
@ann_manov
’s incredible review of What Are Children For? in
@NewStatesman
For
@LAReviewofBooks
I wrote about Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag, what REALLY goes wrong in that confession scene, and why it’s better to keep some things to yourself.
Have you been wondering—apropos of nothing in particular—how to tell apart legitimate collective action from mindless zombie pile-ons?
You're in luck! Ahead of the pub of Issue 29
@the_point_mag
has released my and Becca Rothfeld's "Letter on Mobs."
1987: Allen Bloom, Prof at the Committee on Social Thought, the UofC, writes The Closing of the American Mind
2009: 3 committee students found
@the_point_mag
at UofC pub.
2020: The Point publishes its first essay collection, The Opening of the American Mind with
@UChicagoPress
Breaking news, breaking news:
For the very first time, Robert Pippin publicly writes about Hegel, and what a Hegelian critique of capitalism would look like. ☄️🔥🔥
It’s hard to imagine a better illustration of Andrew Kay’s point that English profs are dithering while their profession dies than 4 tenure-track professors spending 5 paragraphs of their response piece criticizing a line about Ann Taylor dresses.
All the praise is well deserved but allow me to add that the preposterous subject matter, pitch perfect humor, and irresistible voice can easily distract from the fact that this is also a rare, penetrating meditation on what it is to write "as a woman" on a "women's topic."
When I asked
@sergioten
if I may post this, he said: "I think people often feel like there's not much they can do, so, who knows, perhaps this might be some kind of minimal encouragement to others!"
People often wonder why ethicists are so unethical. Well, not today!
For
@the_point_mag
's Beauty Issue editorial I ask: if art's value is not mainly moral/political, what is it? And what if we do not seek the beauty of art because it is "valuable," at all?
My review of Kate Manne's Entitled, with reflections on the duties and pitfalls faced by the "public philosopher", has finally made its way from behind the paywall!
Very grateful to
@ChronicleReview
for letting
@the_point_mag
republish the piece.
I see how the desire for justice can tempt one to consider suspending due process, but it's an odd irony that this desire seems to increase as the definition of wrongdoing is expanded to contain lesser and lesser offenses.
@wesyang
for
@chronicle
Asked my grandmother today whether they thought of themselves as Ukrainian or Russian or Soviet or just Jews and she said: "For us, Odessa was its own nation."
Us two in Odessa, 1990.
I am happy to announce that starting in the fall Rory and I will be taking up positions in Jerusalem: I as a Lecturer (TT) at the Hebrew University and Rory as a Polonsky fellow at the Van Leer Institute.
Visit us!
(📸Israel Museum on our last visit...)
Curious to hear others' thoughts: We often take for granted that becoming a parent, and specifically becoming a mother is "a transformative experience"—Is it? How?
In case there is a way for this to reach Ukrainian academics: the Hebrew University in Jerusalem is offering to host--providing accommodation, stipends, as well as class and lab access--to Ukranian students and faculty for up to 4 months
In my newly unpaywalled piece for The Point, I write about Cat Person and the dark pleasures of reading for empathy and ask whether people and art works are only as good as their worst sin: via
@the_point_mag
Today in Mexico City
@clintontolley
starts his
@NAKantSociety
biennial keynote address by discussing the history of philosophical explorations of central Kantian themes in Mexico, dating to the 18th c.
"Many young adults don’t seem totally convinced of their own purpose or the purpose of humanity at large, let alone that of a child."
@ChristineEmba
cutting to the core, in conversation with our What Are Children For? and
@CRPakaluk
' Hannah's Children
It just occurred to me--Really? He should have written about panels on race? Can you imagine what would have happened to Kay had he dared depict such a panel, as he does most everything in his article, *critically*? *Shudder* I don't think even I could have helped him then.
@dannybwright
Right! But it also doesn't go seek out places where those kinds of conversations might be happening, which are often at, I dunno, *cough cough* panels and sessions on race, capitalism, marginalization, etc.
He argues you can't so much as correctly work out how to *bake a cake* unless that's in the service of a final end you take to be intrinsically good (and no, just happening to desire it is not enough). Wild stuff!
My 'Two Conceptions of Instrumental Thought' has just come out in The Philosophical Quarterly. I argue that means-end reasoning requires having a substantive conception of one's final ends as instrincally good.
The Point Magazine is hiring! Come join us or send someone great our way!
Looking for an assistant editor for both online and print content development (soliciting and editing) and production (I'm not really sure, involves software?).
...
David Enoch is hiring postdocs for his "Rekindling Liberalism" project.
Not only are the terms great—flexible start dates and location—David is a wonderful colleague and mentor. If you're working on a relevant topic, this is an *excellent* opportunity.
That's right, we've released the *ENTIRE* issue online: Becca Rothfeld finally putting all of our inarticulate seething about Sally Rooney into words,
@BaskinJon
x 2, Toril Moi, fiction by Daša Drndić...
But if you read only one thing, trust me and read
@moekofujii
's on Ninagawa
Perhaps it seems natural to suppose we call for public argument in order to have a space in which to advance “heterodox” positions.
But the truth is for us being able to air disagreement in public isn’t a means to another end, it is the end and another name for it is democracy.
Candygate still completely baffles me but this classic by
@herandrews
is right: "Everyone comes up with a principled-sounding pretext that serves as a barrier against admitting to themselves that, in fact, all they have really done is joined a mob."
UNPAYWALLED: Letter on Left Straussianism. Should public life be exclusively dedicated to a "war of position"?
@BaskinJon
and I argue that we should treat our readers not as the unthinking many, but with the same honesty and respect as we do our friends.
He is "nostalgic" for what you and I both have, an intellectual community dedicated together to the preservation of thoughtful, just and good human life--not for an academy without us. And he has every right to be.
@a_n_a_berg
@benwurgaft
When we talked about the unsettling of white male dominance, we were not celebrating professional immolation but rather pointing out the problem of unalloyed nostalgia.
Wrote about how liberals talk about children and if there might be a need for progressive family values that aren’t just broad statements of inclusion, apologies for privilege, and endless caveats.
It probably is, but I always think: if you inflict on someone your sexual disloyalty there’s decency in not making them forfeit their right to complain in advance.
He's so vain, he probably thinks this column is about him...
@mervatim
on the thoughtful literary American soft boy, the poetic British sad boy, the male Madame Bovary, the scourge of women everywhere: the longing man.
My latest book review in the WSJ (of
@a_n_a_berg
@rachelcwiseman
@CRPakaluk
) and my first foray into the birth dearth discourse.
Will be in the weekend print edition too.
And the award for best "but why didn't this profile cover what I care about" goes to...
"But what about how women only have kids to signal to bigger, hairier men, how fertile they are!"
I want to promote critical thinking as much as anyone, but I always worry that what's left after we "simplify", "compress", "sacrifice precision" and "pitch at the right level," as recommended, is not philosophy, but the opinions of those who happen to do philosophy elsewhere.
I wrote a Manifesto for Public Philosophy, up now at Daily Nous.
"Good philosophy needs to be everywhere, accessible to every level, to anybody who might be interested. We need to flood the world with gateways of every shape and size."
Enjoyed “Fanning the Flames?” Hungry for more 🔥? To read my new piece “On Left Straussianism” with
@BaskinJon
before everybody else subscribe to
@the_point_mag
now! 25% off with promocode FORWARD19
I've read and listened to my fair share of Stewart takes and this is by far the best. Its thesis--that Carlson is but a variation on a theme Stewart composed--has the awful quality of tragedy: at once unexpected and necessary.
Thank you to the Value of Human Life PhD workshop participants and to our conference speakers:
@jennfrey
, Johann Frick, Berislav Marušić, Rivka Weinberg, Moshe Halbertal, Uri Eran,
@odednaaman
, Shlomi Segall and, last but not least, Sam Scheffler!
Once in a while we get asked whether or not we’re “pronatalist.” As the term is used today, the answer is no. Our concern is not with the birth rates. It’s rather with making it easier for people to make a free, clear-eyed decision: yes or no.
I'm not entirely convinced about refusing any and all petitions or public letters, but it seems pretty clear to me that
@AgnesCallard
did more for promoting public argument among philosophers this week by making a public case for it than she would have by signing that petition...
We wrote about how Maggie Gyllenhaal's latest adaptation of Ferrante fails the original: The Lost Daughter is not the story of a mother who leaves, but of one who returns.
@rachelcwiseman
and I for
@the_point_mag
"It is not true that the only alternative to indulgent and unprofessional acquiescence is indifferent and aloof apoliticality. That is an impoverished menu of options."
@AgnesCallard
on what it means to show leadership in the classroom right now.
The virtue of Agnes' column—what made it resonate with so many people—was her invitation to think through a question from scratch. Not b/c her experience is unique or b/c no one had raised the question before, but b/c you always have to think through your questions for yourself.
Does she know that "falling in real love for the first time" with an exciting/ed young man and impetuously leaving your husband is in fact one of the oldest stories in the book? An English prof would!
Every woman will have to decide for herself whether she finds more "troubling" to be depicted as a dedicated advisor in a corny suit or as to be potentially rendered catatonic by the task of dressing herself in the morning.
@a_n_a_berg
@benwurgaft
He doesn't acknowledge his positionality. And while he approves of Levine and Kornbluh, we find his overall presentation of women (Levine included) troubling. Notably they are at the top of the field. His treatment of the average woman at MLA is to ridicule her dress.
@jasonintrator
Jason! Friends don't subtweet friends.
As I said, Bloom's insight is not that the "great books" are important but that the humanities can guide us in asking the most important questions for our lives.
Replying to Becca Rothfeld, I write in defense of the tradwife—jk! I ask whether only capitalism is to blame for work being lame, and why we're still only talking about women when it comes to choosing between children and a career.
@locaracol
@benwurgaft
My essay has several goals. 1) To show that you accused Kay of sexism and racism without a shred of evidence. *This* argument is "premised" on the utter groundlessness of your claims about his nostalgia for white male Eden, and his being "damningly uninterested" in women.
"Why is it self-important to interrogate your life philosophically and to actually hold your behavior to the standards you defend in your writing and thinking?" - Becca Rothfeld
Hat's off to Kate Manne, who just posted the first response to the new yorker profile which actually articulates a genuine, worthwhile philosophical objection to Callard's published views.
This isn’t just craven guilt by association it’s an insult to the many feminist academics that came out publicly and reached out privately to express their support.
@devoneylooser
@HalfSickShadows
Yeah. No coincidence that said someone's support is coming from the alt-right, libertarians, and "anti-PC" men's rights asshats. The whole "shut up and go home" contingent. Sorry, not today.
Today, the role of children has drastically shifted. People no longer understand themselves intergenerationally. Children have become another possible project among many. |
@a_n_a_berg
and
@rachelcwiseman
Chicago friends! I'm back! But it's not just for the weather! Tomorrow after lunch I'll be speaking at the conference on
@ikimhi
's Thinking and Being. First page of book attached for your reading pleasure.
Where is the tradwife essay which explains to the world that trad wifery is obviously about topping from the bottom and there is hardly a more emasculated man to be found than the tradhusband?
This isn't an editorial about *what* literature, philosophy or history we should read, it’s an editorial about *why* we should be reading these texts, and where we should be encouraged to do so.
Isn't it possible to acknowledge a thing is *very hard* to do and have understanding and compassion for the *many* who fail at it, without claiming that it is impossible? One thing that recommends it: to deny anyone the capacity to act on chosen ends is to deny their free will.
It's time to stop asking incessantly whether fatness is unhealthy. Better questions: is fatness reversible in a healthy way? No, due to weight regain and the health ill effects of weight cycling. Is fatness preventable in a healthy way? Also no, given the risk of eating disorders
For
@ChronicleReview
’s forum on meritocracy and higher education I wrote about how the cultivation of responsible leadership—intellectual, cultural and above all political— would benefit from an admissions lottery.
🎰🎰🎰
Speaking today (23 March) at 4pm local (2pm ET) in Mexico City at the VI NAKS Biennial on the internal contradictions of Kant's concept of happiness. The question is: what is happiness, such that its pursuit can be an integral part of a good moral agent's life?
Conservative responses to the book can be v illuminating. E.g., This reviewer laments that for us the value of parenthood “arises from its power to answer the philosophical quandary of whether life is worth living” as opposed to “motherly transcendence”