Philosophy

The Anti-Immigration Bible

Jeff Sessions is fond of citing the Bible to support the persecution of immigrants, in stark contrast to a long tradition of biblical interpretation.

  • Robert L. Tsai

Marxism Without Progress

When philosophy tries to reclaim Marx, the duty to interpret comes before the duty to change. 

  • Bruce Robbins

The Defeat of Reason

Two new books—one on quantum physics, one on Thomas Kuhn—seek to reestablish the authority of reason and evidence.

  • Tim Maudlin

Is Germany’s New Anti-Semitism Really New?

The focus on Muslim anti-Semitism obscures the real quandary of multiculturalism in Angela Merkel’s Germany.

  • Carlos Fraenkel

A Love Supreme

Remembering James H. Cone, a founder of Black liberation theology.

  • Cornel West

Is There Such a Thing as Truth?

Does language connect us to the world, or lead us back to ourselves?

  • Errol Morris

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Fatalism, Freedom, and the Fight for America’s Future

Tocqueville warned us about democratic fatalism. But as Steven Pinker shows, fatalism is a permanent feature of modern politics.

  • David Runciman

The Almost Inevitable Failure of Justice

The persistence of black poverty has become a permanent feature of U.S. democracy. We need an expanded political imagination to dismantle it.

  • Thad Williamson

Will Robots Set Us Free?

The philosopher Herbert Marcuse saw machines as our greatest hope for real liberty. But in Trump’s America, automation feels more totalitarian than ever. 

  • David Moscrop

Martin Luther and Me

Reckoning with Germany’s Dangerous Legacy

  • Georg Diez

Talking about Death

End-of-Life Care and Assisted Suicide

  • F. M. Kamm

Habermas and the Fate of Democracy

A biography reveals Habermas’s commitment to a democratic ideal.

  • William E. Scheuerman

The Friendship that Changed Economics

Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman transformed how we think about economics and human behavior.

  • Andrew Stark

Let Loose the Line

Protest is not merely a matter of personal awakening, but of organizing and mobilizing the power needed to change social relations.

  • Jesse Maceo Vega-Frey

Deconstruction: An American Tale

Lampooned as a dangerous import from Paris, deconstruction is in fact a distinctively American phenomenon.

  • Gregory Jones-Katz

Mourning 9/11

America continues to be haunted by our need to grieve.

  • Ingrid Norton

Confronting Religious Revivalism

Liberal democracy requires that we banish religion from politics.

  • Assaf Sharon
  • Avishai Margalit
with responses from
  • Michael Walzer
  • Avishai Margalit & Assaf Sharon

Choosing Violence

War is almost always a choice, a madness we go along with.

  • Oded Na’aman

Do Government Incentives Make Us Bad Citizens?

Government incentives may make us less moral, not more.

  • John McMahon

What We Owe Each Other

Egalitarianism requires not just redistribution but equal social standing.

  • Martin O’Neill

The Religious-Liberty Attack on Transgender Rights

Conservative Christians are out to restore their historical legal privileges.

  • David Sehat

Rights vs. Duties

In the age of human rights, the language of duties has withered.

  • Samuel Moyn

What Is Education For?

Above all, preparing students for civic and political engagement.

  • Danielle Allen
with responses from
  • Carlos Fraenkel
  • Deborah Meier
  • Michel DeGraff
  • Debra Satz
  • Lelac Almagor
  • Jeffrey Aaron Snyder
  • Lucas Stanczyk
  • Rob Reich
  • Clint Smith

Holy Wars

Secularism is fundamental to liberal governance. But is it sustainable?

  • James G. Chappel
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