Hugh Trevor-Roper was known for his biting polemical style. In a youthful essay he described Rousseau’s Confessions this way: “a lucid journal of a life so utterly degraded that it has been a bestseller in France ever since.“[1] Of course, Confessions has also sold well in the English-speaking world (I see at least eight editions […]
Double insult — Rousseau and the French Read More »
Power, imperialism, and justice in the US’s becoming a coast-to-coast nation. My podcast on Manifest Destiny:
Was Manifest Destiny Oppressive or Progressive? [Open College podcast] Read More »
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902)Speech to Women’s Suffrage Convention, Washington, D.C. (1868) I urge a sixteenth amendment, because ‘manhood suffrage,’ or a man’s government, is civil, religious, and social disorganization. The male element is a destructive force, stern, selfish, aggrandizing, loving war, violence, conquest, acquisition, breeding in the material and moral world alike discord, disorder, disease, and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s 1868 “sixteenth amendment” speech Read More »
Wisdom from the grave: “Friedrich Nietzsche’s grandmother had some private letters in her possession from the circle surrounding Goethe. These letters came into the possession of Nietzsche’s aunt and uncle—who destroyed them. The uncle’s reason was this: ‘The brutal revelation of private relations upset him deeply. He did not grant the public any right to
On the private affairs of public figures: Nietzsche’s uncle on Goethe Read More »
Filmed in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 22 Questions: Should One be Cynical or Benevolent? | How Can I Find My Own Voice? | Who is Your Favorite Artist? | Why did Art become Ugly? | What is Postmodernism? | What is Art? | Is Ambition Good? | Is Capitalism the Most Moral System? | What
One-minute clip from a leading 20th-century socialist: “I object to all punishment whatsoever. I don’t want to punish anybody. But there are an extraordinary number of people whom I want to kill. Not in any unkind or personal spirit. But it must be evident to all of you, you must all know half a dozen
George Bernard Shaw, socialist: justify your existence to the government—or die Read More »
The article was first published in 2004, based on a 2003 lecture in New York City. “For a long time critics of modern and postmodern art have relied on the “Isn’t that disgusting” strategy. By that I mean the strategy of pointing out that given works of art are ugly, trivial, or in bad taste,
“Why Art became Ugly” — with updated images Read More »
Essayist Joseph Epstein asks a question about philosophers: “What is it about the study of philosophy that tends to make brilliant minds stupid when it comes down to what are known as actual cases? Consider Martin Heidegger, Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, the four great names in twentieth-century philosophy: the first was a
“Why are philosophers stupid about politics?” Read More »