Free Republic

I want to start off by saying that I know the Democratic Party will eventually unite behind one Presidential candidate and run a formidable and maybe even a winning race, but it’s nevertheless fascinating to watch the race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Here’s an example that really tickled my funny bone — John Heilemann in the New York Magazine analyzes how and why the media treats Hillary Clinton so much worse than Barack Obama: “[F]or the better part of a year, [the Clintons] have complained to any reporter who would listen about what they regard as a manifest...

Last month, the Hudson Institute held a remarkable panel discussion, taking as its point of departure an even more remarkable essay by University of Virginia political scientist James Ceaser. The essay and the ensuing discussion focused on whether and how our political divisions are aligned in accordance with ideas. Does our apparently extreme partisanship bear the characteristics of a family feud—born of the closeness that magnifies minuscule disagreements—or are we in the midst of a genuine culture war? There was a time when most political observers would have answered this question the first way. The American political spectrum, they argued,...

Re-Reading Lyotard’s Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge A. Preliminary Remarks This chapter analyzes and interprets Lyotard’s observation on the condition of knowledge in computerized societies. His assumptions with regard the overwhelming development of computer technology and his views on the function of narrative within scientific discourse and knowledge will be put to scrutiny. The first section will be devoted on the Postindustrial society and its implications to knowledge. The following section will be about narrative and scientific knowledge and discussion on the role of these types of knowledge to politics. In section C, the politics of legitimation was explored...