Slavoj Zizek: The Problem Is Capitalism

Staff / Truthdig Apr 25, 2012 The problem facing humanity today -- especially those taking to the streets in protest -- is an economic system that encourages and rewards greed, says the Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. And leaders who tell us to look elsewhere are merely creating distractions. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Back to the Dawn of the Modern World

Staff / Truthdig Apr 21, 2012 Harvard professor and author Stephen Greenblatt won a Pulitzer Prize this week for his account of how an ancient Roman philosophical epic jump-started the modern world. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Philosophy by Another Name?

Staff / Truthdig Mar 10, 2012 A British philosopher suggests that popular confusion over what philosophers do requires the epochs-old discipline follow the suit of other academic subjects and update its name. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Citizen Suspect: We’re All Under Attack in the WikiLeaks Case

Staff / Truthdig Feb 5, 2012 Our civil liberties and First Amendment rights are threatened by the Supreme Court's decisions in the Julian Assange case; if Mitt Romney's father was still around, he'd probably endorse Obama; meanwhile, Fox News is ruining the GOP. These discoveries and more after the jump. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

A Warning on Wall Street

Staff / Truthdig Oct 10, 2011 Slovenian madman and intellectual hero Slavoj Zizek treated protesters encamped at New York City's Liberty Plaza to a rousing pep talk Sunday in which he confessed his fear that the Occupy Wall Street movement could devolve into a mere opportunity for youthful memory-making. (more) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Apr 11, 2011 We spurn real teachers -- those with the capacity to inspire -- and replace them with instructors who teach to narrow, standardized tests These instructors obey They teach children to obey And that is the pointWe spurn real teachers and replace them with instructors who obey. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

‘Inception’s’ Suicidal Tendencies

Staff / Truthdig Jul 19, 2010 Christopher Nolan's epic and ambitious new blockbuster is a fascinating, skillfully made brain twister that gives Philip K. Dick a run for his existential money. But at the core of Nolan's film is a troubling idea that won't go away. (Spoilers!) Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Ayn Rand Revisited

Staff / Truthdig Nov 3, 2009 Two new biographies about the irascible and idiosyncratic Ayn Rand, objectivist philosopher and ham-fisted mistress of the capitalist morality tale, show how her rocky Russian childhood and her subsequent self-reinvention campaign in America (partly conducted in Hollywood, of course) influenced her work, and how her ideas led to her own undoing. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Frederic Raphael on Socrates

BLANK Jul 31, 2009 Was Socrates an atheist, a guru to a strange sect and an elitist corrupting the youth of a democratic Athens defeated in the Peloponnesian War, as his accusers successfully charged? A new book by Robin Waterfield seeks to dispel the myths about “Why Socrates Died.”A new book by Robin Waterfield seeks to dispel the myths about “Why Socrates Died.” Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

A Ticket to Angst at Franz Kafka Airport

Staff / Truthdig Mar 25, 2009 If you thought your air travel experiences have been nightmarish recently, chances are they're not as bad as the daily goings-on at Prague's Franz Kafka International Airport -- a fictional (or is it?) hub of despair in which the word terminal takes on a much more angst-ridden meaning. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Idiots Who Rule America

Chris Hedges / Truthdig Oct 20, 2008 Our oligarchic class is incompetent at governing, managing the economy, coping with natural disasters, educating our young, handling foreign affairs, providing basic services like health care and safeguarding individual rights. They have no concept, thanks to the educations they have received, of the common good. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )

Render Unto Darwin That Which Is Darwin’s

Chris Hedges / Truthdig May 12, 2008 The New Atheist writers from Richard Dawkins to E.O. Wilson to Sam Harris have become the high priests not of science but the cult of science. Dig deeper ( 8 Min. Read )