Philosophy

Capitalism’s Toxic Nature

Capitalism’s Toxic Nature Capitalism’s Toxic Nature

A conversation with Alyssa Battistoni about the essential and contradictory nature of capitalism to the environment and her new book Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nat...

Dec 8, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Franz Kafka’s  Best Friend

Franz Kafka’s Best Friend Franz Kafka’s Best Friend

Kafka’s late story about a philosopher dog, like most of his stories about animals, is really about our lost humanity.

Nov 12, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Jonathan Lethem

An engraving depicting a sansculottes offering a Phrygian cap to King Louis XVI.

The Invention of the Modern Self The Invention of the Modern Self

How did the idea of the individual come into being?

Nov 10, 2025 / Books & the Arts / David A. Bell

Jürgen Habermas in Berlin, Germany, 2018.

Jürgen Habermas Still Believes in Modernity Jürgen Habermas Still Believes in Modernity

A conversation with the German theorist about the history of Western philosophy and more.

Jul 7, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Quentin Skinner and the Contested History of Freedom

Quentin Skinner and the Contested History of Freedom Quentin Skinner and the Contested History of Freedom

Over a long career, Skinner has sought to reclaim the idea of republican liberty for the modern age. But his work also raises the question: free for what?

Jun 9, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Moyn

A woman wearing a sweatshirt for the QAnon conspiracy theory gestures during a pro-Trump rally on October 11, 2020, in Ronkonkoma, New York.

Why the Right Fantasizes About Death and Destruction Why the Right Fantasizes About Death and Destruction

In Richard Seymour’s Disaster Nationalism, he attempts to diagnose the apocalyptic nature of conservatism around the world.

Apr 28, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Nathan Taylor Pemberton

Agnes Callard and the Examined Life

Agnes Callard and the Examined Life Agnes Callard and the Examined Life

In her new book, Callard makes the case that we should all live more philosophically but where does politics fit in?

Apr 8, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Olúfémi O. Táíwò

Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s “The Lord of the Castle Spying on His Daughter” (circa 1900).

Can We Still Recover the Right to Be Left Alone? Can We Still Recover the Right to Be Left Alone?

The political theorist Lowry Pressly thinks we’ve abandoned a more creative and humanist definition of the concept.

Feb 24, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Cora Currier

Beatriz Nascimento’s Histories of Afro-Brazilian Rebellion 

Beatriz Nascimento’s Histories of Afro-Brazilian Rebellion  Beatriz Nascimento’s Histories of Afro-Brazilian Rebellion 

The activist scholar devoted her life to sketching out a revisionist historiography of resistance in Latin America but also the world.

Feb 18, 2025 / Books & the Arts / Yasmina Price

Henri Bergson’s States of Change

Henri Bergson’s States of Change Henri Bergson’s States of Change

Why did one of the early 20th century’s most famous philosophers go out of fashion?

Feb 11, 2025 / Books & the Arts / John Banville

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