It’s a hoary tradition; it’s what you do. You fight a war; you send men and women to their deaths (after they’ve sent other men and women and children to their deaths); then, at home, you make plans to fight another war, and you beat the war drums and fill up the war chests byContinue reading “The ‘Pundits’ Are Right: Exploiting War Widows Is Presidential”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
A Simple, Memorable Act Of Kindness
In a pair of posts which cast a wistful glance back at my running days, I made note of a graduate school summer in which I brushed up against the edges of genteel poverty: I had no financial aid from graduate school and no regular employment (I worked hourly as a waiter once in aContinue reading “A Simple, Memorable Act Of Kindness”
The Inseparability Of The Form And Content Of Arguments
Is it more important for philosophers to argue well than it is to write well? Posed this way, the question sets up a false dichotomy for you cannot argue well without writing well. Logic is not identical with rhetoric, but the logical form of an argument cannot be neatly drawn apart from its rhetorical component.Continue reading “The Inseparability Of The Form And Content Of Arguments”
Work Ain’t Working For Us (And Hasn’t Been)
‘Work’ is a four-letter word, variously used to describe an activity for which a bewildering array of pejorative adjectives have been deployed over the years. Slogans abound, on bumper sticker and office cubicle alike: we’re working for the weekend; thank God it’s Friday; a bad day fishing is better than a good day working; andContinue reading “Work Ain’t Working For Us (And Hasn’t Been)”
Goethe On The ‘Inexhaustible’ Poet
In Marx’s Concept of Man, Erich Fromm credits Goethe as having “developed the idea of man’s productivity into a central point of his philosophical thinking….all decaying cultures are characterized by the tendency for pure subjectivity, while all progressive periods try to grasp the world as it is, by one’s own subjectivity, but not as separate fromContinue reading “Goethe On The ‘Inexhaustible’ Poet”
Freud As Writing Stylist And Pedagogy Instructor
In Freud, Jews and Other Germans: Master and Victims in Modernist Culture¹(Oxford University Press, New York, 1978), Peter Gay writes: All of Freud’s biographers devote an obligatory page to the efficiency and beauty of his prose–not without reason. Freud’s stylistic achievement is all the more remarkable considering the spectrum of his publications…Freud’s case published caseContinue reading “Freud As Writing Stylist And Pedagogy Instructor”
Democratic Party Afraid To Emulate Tea Party Success: Move, Or Get Out Of The Way
You might think that a political party which stands accused of one of the most embarrassing and momentous political defeats in American history, one which was almost entirely due to a series of well-aimed large-caliber shotgun blasts at not just one foot, but all bodily appendages, would be prepared to carry out some serious introspectionContinue reading “Democratic Party Afraid To Emulate Tea Party Success: Move, Or Get Out Of The Way”
Taming The Beast: Writing By Deleting Text
Some six or so years ago, I began work on a book. I’m still not done and the end isn’t in sight either. I’ve alluded to this state of affairs on this blog before: on my About page where I make note of the extremely impressive and portentous title the book bears, and once, inContinue reading “Taming The Beast: Writing By Deleting Text”
The Pleasures Of Providing Directions To The Lost
A short while ago, as I alighted at the New York City’s Herald Square subway station, I was approached by a Chinese gentleman seeking directions to Penn Station; he needed to catch a New Jersey Transit train to, well, New Jersey. I was already ‘late’ for my weekly Tuesday stint at the library, but IContinue reading “The Pleasures Of Providing Directions To The Lost”
Shlomo Breznitz On ‘The Mystery Of Courage’
In First Words: A Childhood in Fascist Italy Rosetta Loy cites Shlomo Breznitz‘s Memory Fields: The fascination of hiding doesn’t amount to much compared to the mystery of courage, especially courage on behalf of others. It is when fear tells you to run and your mind tells you to stay, when your body tells you to saveContinue reading “Shlomo Breznitz On ‘The Mystery Of Courage’”
Samir Chopra 