Archive
Full Post List
Apr 16, 2025: The more a medium of communication mimics presence, the more it dissociates us from our actual experience of the absence of the other, and thus the …
Apr 14, 2025: On using the terms "left" and "right" The distinction between left and right is often useful for political thinking. It’s significant that the terminology comes from a representative …
Apr 14, 2025: I wrote a conference paper on the themes of membership and solitude in Ignazio Silone’s fiction – and by the time of the conference the discussant for …
Apr 5, 2025: Elements of political life: being a member, hearing a call, building, leaving, returning, staying, being alone.
Apr 5, 2025: “The people who are best at solitude are those who live together.” (St Benedict, lightly paraphrased or quirkily translated)
Apr 5, 2025: “The hard work of ceasing to work so hard will bring you back to the One from whom you have drifted by the laziness of hard work.” (St Benedict, …
Mar 26, 2025: The invitation is the equality-point I find that in groups I belong to, the element of democratic life that generates most controversy these days is the expectation that people leave home …
Mar 23, 2025: I wrote about contemplative public space.
Mar 23, 2025: I have neglected writing here, but am going to make another go of it. Expect posts.
Jan 21, 2025: Response to a student panicking about the inauguration (Advice that I will endeavor to follow…) Stay aware of Washington DC political news in a general way, but don’t spend much time on it. Consider …
Jan 19, 2025: Why political theory classes shouldn’t skip from Aristotle to Machiavelli, or, Why the Middle Ages matter: You can’t read medieval political thought …
Jan 19, 2025: Two ideas about fantasy literature: Ross Douthat: “Fantasy as created and consumed in the English-speaking world is strongly associated with the …
Jan 17, 2025: A medieval view of representation: the whole is real; the noblest role for an individual is to represent the whole. The standard modern view: …
Jan 17, 2025: Personalism (read Laurie Johnson @plough.com) needn’t be anarchist. If “person” means not only body & spirit but also social & political memberships, …
Jan 17, 2025: Two definitions of the intellectual George Scialabba on the New York Intellectuals (from What Are Intellectuals Good For – which, sadly, seems to be out of print): Their primary training …
Jan 16, 2025: Writers whose work has made me want to write C.S. Lewis Ignazio Silone Irving Howe Wendell Berry Michael Walzer Wilson Carey McWilliams George Scialabba The writers who do the kind of writing I …
Jan 15, 2025: Public life / common life I used to think of “public life” (the life we share with neighbors and strangers, in public space) as the basic concept in the study of politics. I …
Jan 15, 2025: To begin again.