Why is laughter almost non-existent in ancient Greek sculpture?

"Laughter distorts the body and is testimony to lack of control." Archaeologists, art historians, classical philologists, and curators respond to the absence of hilarity in ancient Greek sculpture. [more]

Multiculturalism and liberal democracy

Liberal values can be twisted to justify limiting the civil rights of ethnic groups, warns Will Kymlicka. Nevertheless, religious law may not replace the civil code. "The same forces that support ethnic politics within liberal democracy also channel it in democratic ways." [more]

"We anti-foundationalists"

In Richard Rorty's article "Democracy and philosophy", he argued that moral insight is "not a product of rational reflection but a matter of imagining a better future, and observing the results of attempts to bring that future into existence." For Bela Egyed, this constitutes cultural and historical relativism and an abdication of critical rationality. [Turkish version added] [more]

A rejoinder to Béla Egyed

Richard Rorty defends the charge of abdicating objectivity and critical rationality in his essay "Democracy and philosophy". In a rejoinder written in March 2007, Rorty writes that being rational has nothing to do with the attempt to reduce moral disagreements to clashes between abstract principles. [Turkish version added] [more]

Modes of philosophizing

A round table debate

Should philosophy have something to say to non-philosophers? Should it be pursued only by those trained in philosophy? And how should analytic philosophy deal with other "modes of philosophizing"? "Cogito" poses some big questions to four prominent British and American philosophers. [more]

Philosophy and public life

Interview with Martha Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum discusses philosophy's influence in public life, the future of political liberalism, and her critique of radical feminism. [more]

Intelligence and the ability to take responsibility

An interview with John Haugeland

Ethically, responsibility means deciding between what one is told to do and what one ought to; cognitively, it means being ready to abandon a false theory. [more]