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Temptations of Tyranny
Rod Dreher’s conflicted support for President Trump illustrates a broader crisis among intellectual conservatives who fear the "soft totalitarianism" of liberal institutions yet embrace the hard authoritarianism of executive overreach. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s political thought, the essay contends that true freedom is preserved not through charismatic leaders but through the multiplication and decentralization of citizen power. Revitalizing democracy, it argues, requires stubborn, local acts of collective governance rather than the dangerous temptation to concentrate authority in a single figure.04-27-2025
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An Aesthetic Find
Roger BerkowitzOf all of Hegel’s great works, only the Aesthetics has not yet existed in a complete form. That may change.
10-30-2022
A Cultural Breakdown
Roger BerkowitzPolitical violence is on the rise. The attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband this week is only the latest example.
10-30-2022
Regrets
Roger BerkowitzIn June 2020, The New York Times published an op-ed in which Senator Tom Cotton argued in favor of using federal troops in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. In an essay published over two years after the controversy, the Washington Post's Erik Wemple writes that he and others should have defended the decision by the times.
10-30-2022
Will the Youth Turn Right?
Roger BerkowitzN.S. Lyons explores an argument made Angela Nagle in her book Who Killed All the Normies? That the moral probity of the left will eventually strangle the energy of the movement and turn young and rebellious free thinkers to the right.
10-23-2022
Legally, The Whole Ballgame
Roger BerkowitzOn December 7th, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of Moore v. Harper, a case that may very well influence the fate of the American Republic.
10-23-2022
1619 to 2022
Roger BerkowitzI’ve been teaching the 1619 Project in classes this week. I was excited to see that Mark Weitzmann has a long essay exploring Nikole Hannah Jones and the controversy around the 1619 Project as a rorschach test for the American discourse on race.
10-09-2022
Remembering Ursula Ludz (1936-2022)
A Tribute by Friends and Colleagues
Ursula Ludz (1936-2022), eminent scholar, editor, and translator of Hannah Arendt’s writings, has passed away. For decades, her work shaped international Arendt scholarship. We’ve gathered testimonies from friends and colleagues who honor and remember her life and work.10-09-2022
Looking Critically at DEI Curricula in K-12 Education
Roger BerkowitzThe Editors of the Journal of Free Black thought have published an abridged version of their report on “Six Unsettling Features of DEI in K-12.” It is hardly a demonization of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion syllabi. But the Journal’s report does raise serious questions about the potential harms associated with some but certainly not all DEI practices.
10-02-2022
The End of Reality
Roger BerkowitzEwa Płonowska Ziarek turns to Hannah Arendt to argue that digital disinformation is threatening reality itself.
10-02-2022