Putting the “Social” in Social Media: Hannah Arendt, Political Judgment, and Online Polarization
The quantified metrics of likes, shares, and followers are often likened to currencies of social media. Like dollars and cents, we seek to acquire...
Through a Lens Darkly in the Digital Age
Some years back, my then toddler and I visited a friend’s house. Her children were excited to show off their recent accomplishments. My friend...
Trumpism, Illiberalism, and Political Morality
Because I am speaking to an already philosophically-oriented readership in this post, I am afraid it may seem a little "inside baseball." But for...
The Crisis of Academic Freedom at Columbia University
The proximate origin of the crisis at Columbia University, which has recently conceded to a range of demands by federal agencies that compromise the...
State-Mediated Structural Injustice
Sandy
In her influential account of structural injustice, Iris Marion Young illustrates the problem with the story of Sandy. Sandy is a single mother...
Félix Varela: A Latino Defender of Modern Philosophy without Neglecting his Faith
Few philosophers and scholars in the Anglophone world have heard of or have known about the Cuban presbyter/philosopher Félix Varela y Morales. Even those...
The Philosophical Import of Where We Eat
That food plays a special role in every culture is a platitude. Ditto for the idea that space shapes us as individuals and as...
One Step Back, Two Steps Elsewhere: Exploring the Past to Envision Democratic Futures
It is difficult to write the words "democracy is in crisis" without a sense of reluctance. In many ways, it feels like a trivial...
Rebelling or Revelling?: Humor as a Sisyphean Task in Mystery Science Theater 3000, Part...
The Loving Ironic Cutification of Bad Movies through Ridicule
It might be thought that the many ridiculing jokes directed against a bad movie can only...
An Invitation to Take the Question of Secession Seriously
Political philosophers should think more about the theory of secession. There is a philosophical literature on secession, most obviously the work of Allan Buchanan,...