Electric Agora (archive)

Category: From Around the Web

  • Debussy, Chicken Piccata, and Racist Beethoven

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ One of my favorite Debussy compositions, played exquisitely. Outstanding talk by Brian Leiter on the “Hermeneutics of Suspicion.” Two fantastically simple recipes that I have made recently, and which are excellent. Chili https://www.budgetbytes.com/basic-chili/ Chicken Piccata https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-piccata-recipe2-1913809 Oliver Traldi’s Very Polite Evisceration of Kate Manne’s Latest Effort in Polemics Masquerading as…

  • Bret Easton Ellis, British Labour in the Wilderness, and Barszcz Czysty Czerwony (Polish Beet Soup)

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ Terrific interview with Tom Stoppard, one of our greatest living playwrights. https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/i-aspire-to-write-for-posterity-an-interview-with-tom-stoppard/ A pretty fascinating dialogue between Bret Easton Ellis and Eric Weinstein on Los Angeles and Generation X. Matthew Goodwin, Professor of Politics at the University of Kent, offers an excellent analysis of Labour’s historic loss in the recent…

  • 3:16, Tarantino, the Avengers, and Apizza

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ____ My interview with Richard Marshall at 3:16AM (formerly 3AM). https://316am.site123.me/articles/anti-theory-philosophy?c=end-times-series Damon Linker on the bizarre 1619 project, over at the NYT. https://theweek.com/articles/859776/new-york-times-surrenders-left-race Caitlan Flanagan nails it with respect to Quentin Tarantino’s terrific Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/tarantinos-most-transgressive-film/595309/ Wonderful documentary on the incomparable TV show, The Avengers. For a…

  • Meaning, Hummus Masabacha, and Def Leppard

    By Daniel A. Kaufman ___ Bernard Williams is one of the top 5 greatest post WWII philosophers.  Here is a new website devoted to collecting everything available by and about him. https://sites.google.com/site/bernardwilliamsphilosopher/home Rare and very high quality live footage of Def Leppard, from 1983, when they were still a hard-rocking NWOBHM band. (Concert split into…

  • Oxford, Palm Desert Rock, and Grilled Cheese

    Steve Davies gives one of the best characterizations I’ve heard of the political realignment presently occurring in the West; one that is rendering traditional Left/Right designations meaningless. In-depth, musically scorching documentary on the Palm Desert rock scene of the early ‘90s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sivc-uxkcu0&t=2412s And an article about it. https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/music/2016/03/10/desert-rock-underground-finally-makes-limelight/81555766/ Interesting piece on Albert Camus, who I…

  • Bernard Williams, Blackadder, and Latkes

    by Daniel A. Kaufman Terrific piece on the philosophy of Bernard Williams https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/bernard-williams-ethics-human-point-view/ Bad Religion, Live in 1989 (Complete show) Talk Talk, “Life’s What You Make it” Live in 1986 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzUkRwmvbNQ Hilary Putnam on Naïve Realism and Qualia Comprehensive Documentary on the Incomparable Black Adder Chanukah May be Over but Here’s a Great Latkes Recipe…

  • Feminism, Mental Representation, and Churros

    by Daniel A. Kaufman A disturbing glimpse into the way contemporary gender identity politics is compromising science and medicine. https://quillette.com/2018/10/18/trans-activists-campaign-against-terfs-has-become-an-attack-on-science/ How progressive politics have ruined comedy. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/social-justice-warriors-arent-funny/ A detailed history of the original feminists, which their contemporary progeny should read carefully. https://www.city-journal.org/metoo-movement [The late] Jerry Fodor’s brilliant and hilarious survey of theories of mental representation.…

  • Shakshuka, Mental States, and Iron Maiden

    by Daniel A. Kaufman The flagship feminist philosophy journal, Hypatia, still reeling from the scandal involving its treatment of Rebecca Tuvel, finds itself humiliated once again, this time by a Sokal-style hoax. http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2018/10/sokal-hoax-redux.html For those who need a refresher on the Tuvel affair: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/05/transracialism-article-controversy.html Rare, amazing footage of Iron Maiden from their New Wave of…

  • Supertramp, Egg Salad and Darwin

    by Daniel A. Kaufman A terrific takedown of the current, narcissistic “self-improvement” madness. https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/08/why-are-modern-men-obsessed-with-self-improvement/ High quality video of Supertramp playing live in 1979. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD4cpwKaS5c My dialogue with Justin Weinberg of the Daily Nous on the current state of Philosophy. http://meaningoflife.tv/videos/40774 A deliciously vicious dustup between Patricia Churchland and Colin McGinn.  Plus more from Marcia Cavell…

  • Balthus, Poirot, Strudel, and Rakka

    by Daniel A. Kaufman A beautiful documentary about David Suchet’s remarkable portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, for 25 years. A thoughtful, articulate essay on Balthus that is exactly the sort of thing we need more of in today’s rush to “cleanse” history of its “problematic” artists and works. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/06/28/balthus-therese-through-glass-darkly/ The late Jerry Fodor on…