philosophy

Embracing Nothing: Nihilism in Bellocchio’s ‘Fists in the Pocket’

Embracing Nothing: Nihilism in Bellocchio’s ‘Fists in the Pocket’

Bellocchio's best work, Fists in the Pocket (I pugni in tasca) is key to understanding the stark shift Italian cinema experienced in moving from the post-realism phase of the 1950s into the experimentalism, social commentary, and surrealism of the 1960s.

Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel’s Essays Make It Fun to Ponder, ‘Am I a Jerk?

Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel’s Essays Make It Fun to Ponder, ‘Am I a Jerk?

Eric Schwitzgebel's excellent and accessible philosophy in A Theory of Jerks and Other Philosophical Misadventures would be great at parties—just open up to any random three-page essay, read it aloud, and let the conversation flow.

‘The Witcher’ Game and Those Inescapable Nietzschean Blues

‘The Witcher’ Game and Those Inescapable Nietzschean Blues

Who is man? Who is monster? Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomies are at play in the video game series, The Witcher, soon to be a Netflix series.

Queer Capitalism: A Street-Level, #LGBTQ Response to Life in the Times of Trumpism

Queer Capitalism: A Street-Level, #LGBTQ Response to Life in the Times of Trumpism

Legislation, the vehicle of idealists, is bereft of ideas in the times of Trumpism. We are left to fend for ourselves.

Combustible Hope: Critics Simon Reynolds and Darren Ambrose on Mark Fisher’s Works and Philosophy

Combustible Hope: Critics Simon Reynolds and Darren Ambrose on Mark Fisher’s Works and Philosophy

Critic Mark Fisher never stooped to suckle the masses; nor did he fluff the pillows of academics. Colleagues Simon Reynolds and Darren Ambrose provide insight into Fisher’s posthumous book, k-punk, and his intriguing legacy.

‘The Madness of Knowledge’ Is Maddeningly Banal

‘The Madness of Knowledge’ Is Maddeningly Banal

Like some kind of academic performance art, it's as if the author of Madness of Knowledge smashed a pane of glass with a hammer and was dazzled by the tiny shards.

How, in These Times, Can We Reconcile ‘Anger and Forgiveness’?

How, in These Times, Can We Reconcile ‘Anger and Forgiveness’?

There's a lot of anger in the ugly, infuriatingly stupid, and implacable discourses of our political culture, to say nothing of the distorting, amplifying, and accelerating effects new media has for our anger. Perhaps it's time to revisit Martha Nussbaum's Anger and Forgiveness.

​​’Good Enough’ ​​​Is Great on Darwin

​​’Good Enough’ ​​​Is Great on Darwin

In Good Enough: The Tolerance for Mediocrity in Nature and Society, philosopher Daniel S. Milo argues that science and society have overemphasized Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection

Abortion and Difference Feminism in Agnès Varda’s ‘One Sings, the Other Doesn’t’

Abortion and Difference Feminism in Agnès Varda’s ‘One Sings, the Other Doesn’t’

It is the impossible demand placed on the woman that drives the engine of Agnès Varda's One Sings, the Other Doesn't.

The Terrifying Reciprocity of the Aesthetic Gaze in Visconti’s ‘Death in Venice’

The Terrifying Reciprocity of the Aesthetic Gaze in Visconti’s ‘Death in Venice’

Luchino Visconti’s oft-misunderstood Death in Venice tenderly explores how beauty stares back at us and demands that we accept and acknowledge its terrible contradictions.

War’s Degradation of the Human in Bergman’s ‘Shame’

War’s Degradation of the Human in Bergman’s ‘Shame’

Ingmar Bergman's Shame is one of his few films so blatantly concerned with the impositions of the external world,as opposed to the internal, subjective aspects of life.
Unlike Virgil, De Villiers Has a Sense of Humor About ‘Hell and Damnation’

Unlike Virgil, De Villiers Has a Sense of Humor About ‘Hell and Damnation’

Marq De Villiers' readers will readily discern where -- aside from abysses -- Hell and Damnation: A Sinner's Guide to Eternal Torment is headed: someplace unexpectedly fun.