DELIBERATELY UNSYSTEMATIC THOUGHTS ON A NEW WAY OF RUNNING A COUNTRY
(Originally published as Chapter 4 in The End of Knowing)

The conclusion to Gergen's succinct characterization of the postmodem era that we quoted in Chapter 2 (p. 23) is the distinctly political metaphor, "The center fails to hold." The formulation (from Yeats's "The Second Coming") is in this context substantively apt, for postmodemism makes "compromise as Truth" structurally meaningless (given that there is no Truth). Furthermore, it is formally appropriate in the sense that the issue of whether there can be a developmental way to continue knowing and, if not, what lies ahead for our species is, in our opinion, ultimately a political matter. Read more...

Talk Talk

Open Surge: Open Primaries
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Every weekend CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogues compiled on Sunday, February 22, 2009 after watching selections from “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” and a Charlie Rose interview. Read more...

Slick About Oil?

Sunday, July 6, 2008
Every Sunday CUIP's president Jacqueline Salit and strategist and philosopher Fred Newman watch the political talk shows and discuss them. Here are excerpts from their dialogue on Sunday, July 6, 2008 after watching "The Chris Matthews Show" and "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Read more...