Social constructivism has acquired something of a bad reputation in recent years, particularly because of the way that it has been used (and misused) in debates over sex and gender identity.| josephheath.substack.com
Like everybody and their dog, I have written a review of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s Abundance book and Marc Dunkelman’s Why Nothing Works. I did it for the journal Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, where it is unlikely to see print anytime soon, and so I posted an advance copy to my academia site (| josephheath.substack.com
I have a professional interest in the philosophical issues raised by the problem of global climate change.| josephheath.substack.com
If you want to annoy your favorite philosopher, one of the best ways to do it these days is to mention the “kids standing on boxes equity meme.” To call it the bane of our existence would be something of an overstatement, but it’s certainly not making anyone’s job easier.| In Due Course
I’m a bit surprised that Pierre Trudeau’s famous “sleeping with an elephant” speech has not been getting more play in recent weeks:| In Due Course
There is a natural temptation to believe that people who perform extraordinarily antisocial acts must possess some extraordinary motive for doing so.| In Due Course
Debates over racial justice on the left are dominated by two factions.| In Due Course
Sometime about halfway through the (first?) Trump administration I had a minor epiphany.| In Due Course
Every so often someone will ask me what I think about the latest problems in American society.| In Due Course
I need everyone to bear with me for a moment, because what I’m about to say makes perfect sense, but it sounds funny when you first hear it.| In Due Course
There has been a great deal of handwringing in recent years over the trend of declining enrollments in the humanities.| In Due Course
One of the most striking features of contemporary academic “critical” studies is the near-total lack of self-criticism among its practitioners.| In Due Course
There was a funny moment, several years back, when Jeremy Corbyn was campaigning for leadership of the U.K.| In Due Course
...other than just calling each other racist| In Due Course
Back when I was an undergraduate, during the final years of the cold war, by far the most exciting thing going on in political philosophy was the powerful resurgence of Marxism in the English-speaking world.| josephheath.substack.com
Although he’s not quite finished with us yet, I think it fair to say that Steve Bannon will be remembered for two things: first, his media management strategy (“flooding the zone with shit”), and second, having popularized a Breitbart slogan (“politics is downstream from culture”) that wound up becoming the opening salvo in the U.S.| josephheath.substack.com
The fact that my previous post, on John Rawls and the death of Western Marxism, attracted several times more readers than anything I’ve previously published on Substack, forced me to acknowledge that, at a fundamental level, I have no idea what people are interested in reading these days.| josephheath.substack.com
...and a wee bit of prognostication| josephheath.substack.com
But how long will it take to repair the damage?| josephheath.substack.com
