‘There has been a tendency among Marxist, or marxisant, critics of Darwin, and social Darwinism, to criticise, or ridicule, the theory as a simple product of the society in which it was developed.’… Read the rest

Prose as a window-pane opens onto a reality that is solidly and visibly ‘out there.’… Read the rest

‘When I grew up and became a literary critic, I learned to keep silent about the reading experiences of liberation that I’d enjoyed since childhood.’… Read the rest

‘In the clamorous and bloodstained souk of the world…people still go unrepentantly on looking out for good lives’… Read the rest

Washington freed his slaves in his will, Jefferson did not. The reasons of each tell us much about American history.… Read the rest

Investors need to know the truth, but voters don’t. Or not.… Read the rest

‘Developments take place in a world linked by ideas rather than by race.’… Read the rest

‘Indian history from the perspective of the Hindutva ideology reintroduces ideas that have long been discarded and are of little relevance to an understanding of the past.’… Read the rest

If you number your paragraphs, will people mistake you for Adorno?… Read the rest

Richard Dawkins on the cowardly flabbiness of the intellect that afflicts otherwise rational people confronted with long-established religions. … Read the rest

Most government-funded Islamic clubs ‘are run by deeply conservative men and perpetuate the segregation of women.’ … Read the rest

Dissent is part of all cultures, Asian decidedly included.… Read the rest

Betrousered, two-eyed philosopher Ventre considers a world in which Things are Against Us.… Read the rest

Paul Krugman draws an interesting parallel with Stephen Jay Gould.… Read the rest

‘A Russian, an Italian, could not justify beating his wife to death by referring to the customs of dear old Moscow or Calabria’… Read the rest

Terrorists, freedom fighters, fundamentalists, postcolonialism, the Enlightenment – all contested, as usual. … Read the rest

When students are consumers, they want what they pay for.… Read the rest

‘There is nothing sacrosanct about any culture or religion’s rituals. Cultures are neither monolithic, unchanging, nor without internal critique and resistance…’… Read the rest

Scientists are humorless nerds, and crop circles and crystals are more fun.… Read the rest

If Lentricchia and Said have joined, the revenge of the emeriti may not be so regressive after all.… Read the rest