“If your intention is to stop terrorism, do not try to blame the whole population of Muslims for it because it cannot stop terrorism. It will radicalise more terrorists.”
- Malala Yousafzai, 15 December 2015We have before us an interesting example of a political argument, proceeding from a prediction of fact to a prescription of policy. Let us take ( Read more... )

I reproduce and translate below the key fragments of two texts accounting for the strategies that informed the tragic events of this century, from 11 September 2001, to 7 January 2015. ( Read more... )

In “Why I’m a Pacifist: The Dangerous Myth of the Good War”, published in Harper’s May 2011 issue, Nicholson Baker argues that Hitler’s Jewish policy was that of a hostage-taker. Baker concludes that the Allies should have heeded the pacifists such as Abraham Kaufman, Dorothy Day, Jessie Wallace Hughan, Rabbi Abraham Cronbach, Vera Brittain, Arthur ( Read more... )

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The manor house at Tsinandali, just outside the city of Telavi in eastern Georgia, is a small masterpiece of local design. ( Read more... )

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Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as ‘right’ in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as ‘brute force.’ This replacement of the ( Read more... )

RADICALISME. D’autant plus dangereux qu’il est latent.
RADICALISM. All the more dangerous when it is latent.

- Gustave Flaubert, Le Dictionnaire des idées reçues[ 0]

Complementing his treatment of mimesis, Erich Auerbach’s 1944 essay “Figura” lays down a classic account of figurative meaning. According to Auerbach, “figura is something real and ( Read more... )