Are freedom and harmony political goals that complement or compete with each other? Joining me are Rajeev Bhargava, Director of the Institute of Indian Thought at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies; Anton Koch, professor of philosophy at the University of Heidelberg; and Thaddeus Metz, Distinguished Professor at the University of Johannesburg. Produced in association with the Berggruen Philosophy and Culture Centre.
ReadIn a culture that values equality, what is the role and function of hierarchy in America today? With Kwame Anthony Appiah,[…]
ReadThe main weakness of the book is that its impressive erudition is not sufficiently ordered, filtered and edited to make it serve the central argument. In his enthusiasm to gather and share his evidence, Grayling has neglected to turn it into a convincing case.
ReadIn zero-sum games such as sport, for one to rise, another must fall. But if our love of the underdog is not to turn poisonous, we should try always to focus more on our delight for the victor rather than gloating over the one who has been toppled.
ReadThere is gold in these pages but the reader has to work hard to mine it and cast it into something useful. Taylor deserves his reputation as a thinker of unparalleled breadth and depth, but in this book his vision has turned too inward and backward. It is as though he has become too transfixed by his insight that we are the products of our cultures and history and so has become trapped in his own.
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