America over-classifies information. The designations ‘secret,’ ‘top secret,’ ‘for your eyes only,’ and many others like them are thrown around too freely; too many folders and dossiers receive the dreaded stenciled stamp that indicates their contents may not be perused by the wrong people. The consequences of this bingeing on classification are predictable: all aroundContinue reading “Leaking Furore Par For The Course For Nation That Over-Classifies”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
Durkheim On The Pragmatist Conception Of Truth
Pragmatism’s much reviled ‘theory of truth’ received a sympathetic and yet critical and rigorous treatment in Émile Durkheim‘s little-known–to philosophers–Pragmatism and Sociology (John P. Allcock, ed., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1955.) As part of this treatment, Durkheim notes that: If thought had as its object simply to ‘reproduce’ reality, it would be the slaveContinue reading “Durkheim On The Pragmatist Conception Of Truth”
Historical Amnesia And Stasis In Political Action
Over on his blog, and on his Facebook page, in response to a series of repeated claims stressing the uniquely dysfunctional and authoritarian nature of the present administration¹, Corey Robin has often made remarks which echo the sentiments expressed in the following: We have a culture in this country that is relentlessly, furiously, ferociously, anti-historical.Continue reading “Historical Amnesia And Stasis In Political Action”
Learning To Live With The Fear Of Heights
I’m terrified of heights; vertigo, nausea, fear, and anxiety instantly make an appearance as I near an airy ledge of any kind. Cliffs in the wilderness, building balconies, these all induce these effects in me. My fear of heights bothers me; I like hiking, I like mountain views, and the best ones are always upContinue reading “Learning To Live With The Fear Of Heights”
Back To Conferencing, Thanks To The Mountains
Last year, indeed, almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a post titled My First Academic Conference. In it, after describing my reluctance to attend academic conferences, I closed with the following lines: Now, I don’t go to conferences any more; the travel sounds interesting, but the talks, the questions and answer sessions, the socialContinue reading “Back To Conferencing, Thanks To The Mountains”
The Indispensable, Visibly Responsive Student
Every semester–with luck, in every class–there is one of them: a student whose physical expressiveness in the classroom acts as the wind beneath your teaching wings. There she (or he) is: eyebrows raised, smiling, astonishment or surprise breaking out on their facial features, experiencing ‘Eureka’ moments one after the other, informing you, with every wordContinue reading “The Indispensable, Visibly Responsive Student”
Durkheim On Social Facts As Things: Methodology As Metaphysics
In The Rules of Sociological Method (The Free Press, 1982, pp. 35-36) Émile Durkheim writes: The proposition which states that social facts must be treated as things…stirred up the most opposition. It was deemed paradoxical and scandalous for us to assimilate to the realities of the external world those of the social world. This was singularly toContinue reading “Durkheim On Social Facts As Things: Methodology As Metaphysics”
Kids Say The Darndest Things: Every Child A Prophet
Like many other proud parents, I post my child’s latest ‘wise pronouncements’ as my Facebook statuses, trusting they will evoke favorable reactions–mainly guffaws, and some flattering assessments of her precocity–from my friends. Kids do, after all, say the darndest things; and if we can soak some up the reflected glory for being responsible for bringingContinue reading “Kids Say The Darndest Things: Every Child A Prophet”
Nixon, Kissinger, And The 1971 Genocide In Bangladesh
This evening, Jagan Pillarisetti and will be speaking at the New York Military Affairs Symposium on ‘Indian Air Force Operations in the 1971 Liberation War.’ Our talk will be based on our book Eagles over Bangladesh: The Indian Air Force in the 1971 Liberation War (Harper Collins, 2013). Here is the jacket description: In DecemberContinue reading “Nixon, Kissinger, And The 1971 Genocide In Bangladesh”
Rooms Full Of Books: Soulful Abodes
In Books: A Memoir Larry McMurtry writes: [I]t puzzles me how bookless our ranch house was. There must have been a Bible, but I don’t remember ever seeing it. My father did read the range cattle books of J. Frank Dobie, but the only one I remember seeing in our house, which, by this time, wasContinue reading “Rooms Full Of Books: Soulful Abodes”
Samir Chopra 