728 x 90



Latest Posts

Top Authors

  • Are We Living in T.S. Eliot’s ‘Waste Land’?

    Are We Living in T.S. Eliot’s ‘Waste Land’?0

    It’s almost a century since T. S. Eliot shocked the world with the avant garde innovation of “The Waste Land,” the fragmentary form of which reflected the fragmented brokenness of the modern world that it satirized. Like a modern-day inquisitor, Eliot questioned the value of modernity: “What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow

    READ MORE
  • Are we living in Mill’s ‘Stationary State’?

    Are we living in Mill’s ‘Stationary State’?0

    John Stuart Mill was a progressive in many ways. The English philosopher was a proponent of Benthem’s theory of utilitarianism, an abolitionist, and a feminist. (In fact, he was the first Member of Parliament to advocate women’s suffrage.) But Mill parted ways with other prominent thinkers—Marx and Nicolas Condorcet, among them—whose philosophies embraced man’s indefinite

    READ MORE
  • Are We Living In a Dystopia?

    Are We Living In a Dystopia?0

    Dystopian fiction is hot. Sales of George Orwell’s “1984” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” have skyrocketed since 2016. Young adult dystopias – for example, Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games,” Veronica Roth’s “Divergent,” Lois Lowry’s classic, “The Giver” – were best-sellers even before. And with COVID-19, dystopias featuring diseases have taken on new life. Netflix

    READ MORE
  • Are We Living in a ‘Post-Truth’ World?

    Are We Living in a ‘Post-Truth’ World?0

    Among all the contentious outcomes of the US Presidential election saga – starting with the election of Donald Trump himself – one uncontroversial good has emerged: the global village has been awakened to the great importance of truth. This was highlighted yesterday when Oxford Dictionaries declared “post-truth” the word of the year. (Or, to tell

    READ MORE
  • Are We Less Free Than in Times Past?

    Are We Less Free Than in Times Past?0

    • September 28, 2015

    No society is perfect. Yet, it is often assumed that American society is one of progress, and that, on the whole, we are better off than our ancestors. As evidence of this progress, people often point to the increase in life expectancy, educational opportunities, and career options. And, as one highly ranked Facebook comment on

    READ MORE
  • Are We Inching Toward World War III?

    Are We Inching Toward World War III?1

    A couple of weeks ago, we posted about a Harvard professor’s thesis that the U.S. could likely be at war with China in the next decade. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Fred Kaplan wonders if the same might be true of the U.S. and Russia. His provocatively-titled piece in Slate last week pointed out that “The

    READ MORE