Amor Mundi

The Changing of the Guard

The dominance of liberal elites in media, academia, and business is unraveling as alternative narratives and new power structures emerge. The loss of control over information flows signals a seismic shift, with legacy institutions struggling to adapt while social media and decentralized platforms reshape the landscape of influence.

Elite Failure

Discover why Donald Trump’s political comeback is more than just another election win—it's the embodiment of a powerful movement fueled by everyday Americans demanding real change. This article dives deep into the growing resentment toward an elite establishment and uncovers how Trump has harnessed a collective sense of frustration and urgency, reshaping American politics as he challenges the power of longstanding institutions.

Voting, Again, With Everything Seemingly On the Line

This article examines the intense polarization and fatigue surrounding the upcoming election, focusing on the deep divisions between political factions in the United States. It highlights the dangers posed by a potential second term for Donald Trump, considering his influence over followers more loyal to him than to democratic institutions. The piece underscores the need for genuine dialogue and public engagement to bridge divides and suggests that despite profound disagreements, standing up for shared values is essential to sustaining democracy.

On Marxism and Anti-Colonialism, and Everything in Between

Discover the first issue of *Clocked Out*, a groundbreaking new journal founded by Bard alumni Fiona Miller and Zoe Laris-Djokovic! In this insightful conversation, they delve into the evolution of political ideologies, exploring shifts from Marxism to anti-colonialism and examining their impacts on education, activism, and intellectual life. This dialogue captures a dynamic perspective on today’s ideological landscape, blending deep analysis with fresh voices from the Bard community.

Fearless Speech

Explore "Fearless Speech," where Senior Fellow at the Hannah Arendt Center, Allison Stanger, alongside Jaron Lanier and Audrey Tang, unveils a transformative approach to Section 230, proposing a balanced path to curb viral harm while safeguarding free expression in the digital age.

Hannah Arendt’s Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy

In the Fall of 1970, Hannah Arendt delivered a series of lectures on Kant’s political philosophy. She was scheduled to teach Kant again in the spring of 1976, though her death in December 1975 prevented her from doing so. Indeed, the fact of her untimely death is central to the story of Arendt’s Kant lectures – both their origin and the scholarly attention given to them. Being lecture notes, they were, of course, not published – nor were they ever intended for publication. Relegated to a cardboard box and stored in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., they became the interest of a then-graduate student, Ronald Beiner, who sought to read them for the purposes of his dissertation research.

The Danger in a Second Trump Presidency

Trump’s behavior threatens democracy not by outright authoritarianism but by subtly eroding trust and truth, undermining public faith in institutions and factual reality. This destabilizes democratic values from within, fostering a cynicism that weakens accountability and leaves democracy vulnerable to decay.

Meaning and the Duplicity of Nature

In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt attempts to do justice to the curious relationship between human beings and nature by way of a fundamental distinction between two activities: labor and work. Put simply, labor describes the biological dimension of human life, caring for the needs of the body and all the necessities of an embodied existence. It is private and it is privative. Traditionally, those who have shouldered the collective burdens of labor have also been excluded from public life, consigned to the anonymity of the household. Work, on the other hand, describes the artificial dimension of human life. It produces a “human artifice,” removing materials from the natural environment and transforming them into an objective world to inhabit, which outlasts any individual human life.

Tribalism & Cosmopolitanism

A talk given by Roger Berkowitz at “Tribalism and Cosmopolitanism: How Can We Imagine a Pluralist Politics.” Sponsored by the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities at Bard College.