Traumatized Heroes
Living with wrongdoing
Hope for the future is only possible if we choose peace by stopping the killing and resist the temptation of avenging heroism....
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How Deathcore Superstars Lorna Shore Evoke “the Nothing”
Roll over Heidegger, and tell Tchaikovsky the news
As the music begins to swell, colored lights slowly brighten and rise from the floor. The crowd ritually raises their hands in the shape of devil horns as anticipation builds and Lorna Shore, the deathcore band they’ve come to see, walks out. ...
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Questioning Art in a Time of War
How the fabric of my sensory experience was transformed by Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitvah
Questions to Ask Before Your Bat Mitzvah is nominally addressed to Jewish teens in the United States who are preparing for their B’nai Mitzvahs (a gender-neutral rendering of Bat or Bar Mitzvah). It was published in an edition of 3,000 by Wendy’s Subway, an independent Brooklyn publisher, with support from ...
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We Need to Facilitate Informed Debate about Israel-Palestine
A preface to the open letter in response to “Principles of Solidarity”
Public Seminar's executive editor introduces an open letter reply to Normative Orders research center's "Principles of Solidarity" statement....
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Doll Power
Where do thoughts of death lead?
Barbie is forever denied the awkward self-consciousness that makes possible both ambition and disappointment. ...
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A Globe, Clothing Itself with Ears
Stories of speaking with animals are as old as human history
Human ambivalence about animal language persists and is linked with our uncertainty about human status: Are we one animal among others, or does something truly set us apart? Debates over animal language are a touchstone for human uncertainties about our role in the cosmos....
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“God Is Dead”
And other memories of coming of age gay and Catholic in the sixties
I was flabbergasted. The idea that someone not only didn’t believe in God but also had grown up without God was something I couldn’t take in. All I could think was, “Wow. Without God, he’d never have to worry about whether he was going to hell, whether he’d make it ...
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What Does It Mean to Be “Authentic”?
Skye C. Cleary chats with Luis Jaramillo about her new book on Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy-from-life method
Finding your “authentic self” is often taken to mean: “Let’s turn inward and look for the blueprint that’s going to tell us what decisions we should make and that will make us happy.” But Beauvoir argued that we’re humans who are always growing, always changing....
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Why Are We Afraid of Flounces and Frills?
An excerpt from Fashion | Sense: On Philosophy and Fashion
Why do most philosophers hate clothes—or rather, hate fashion? The majority rule seems to be to treat the outer surface with either ritual formality or complete derision, as if the less you comb your hair the closer you are to truth....
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The Philosophy of Ripped Jeans
An interview with Gwenda-lin Grewal about her new book on the intersection of philosophy and fashion
Fashion is always threatening to undermine autonomy but also always presenting you with the opportunity of taking it back. That is what’s lost when you say fashion is just for shallow people, it’s only about appearances, or that it doesn’t have anything to do with reality. I think quite the ...
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When I Was One-Dimensional
How Herbert Marcuse’s text changed my life
"For their sincere reception," Cavell concludes, some life-altering texts require "the shock of conversion." Reading Marcuse, I had felt that shock, with pleasure. Few experiences are quite as rapturous as the conviction that one has embarked on a splendid new life with the firmest of good convictions: as Plato long ...
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Identity Politics and Culture Wars
Judith Butler, Cornel West, and Glenn Greenwald join moderator Simon Critchley in the 2021 Holberg Debate
To some, identity-based politics has been embraced as an effective strategy to combat discrimination and marginalization. To others, it may seem that identity politics has resulted in culture wars involving violent conflicts and a destructive exchange of labels. ...
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