Overheated partisan rhetoric can create the impression that the world is divided between crypto-communists and heartless capitalists, but philosopher Christopher Tollefsen urges a subtler analysis . The gist of Tollefsen’s argument is that we should acknowledge welfare rights , but it does not follow that we should support welfare states .
This lucid and helpful essay demonstrates that Public Discourse is living up to its ambition to clarify and advance our most important contemporary political debates. In just over a month, it has become a valuable resource—I strongly recommend frequent visits.
Notes on Anosmia
One morning several years ago, as my wife, Wendy, and I were having breakfast together, I had…
Empire of Unreality
Shiva Naipaul (1945–1985) was the author of three novels and two books of mordant dispatches from places…
The Dreadful Christ of Pär Lagerkvist
It’s dangerous to meet a god,” says the disgraced Pythia in Pär Lagerkvist’s The Sibyl. Her observation…