The philosophy thieves

Jeremy Harding on the baccalauréat général, at the London Review of Books

There Will Be a Quiz

Joe Queenan wrote (no longer 'recently') at The New York Times,

"Freelance writers are always looking for ways to scare up a few extra bucks, so recently I tried my hand at writing some of those 'Questions for Discussion' that appear at the back of many paperbacks. ...

Ave atque vale

An essay on liberal education, by Donald Kagan, at The New Criterion, based upon "the valedictory lecture he delivered on April 25 to a capacity audience in Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, New Haven, Connecticut" on the occasion of his retirement, after forty-four years, from the faculty of Yale University.

'Panopticon'? – Keep your eyes on the word!

Ronald Collins posted at SCOTUSblog.

"'Perhaps the construction of such a genetic panopticon is wise.'

"Those are Justice Antonin Scalia’s words, taken from Monday’s [June 3, 2013] eye-opening dissent in Maryland v. King. The Court, by a vote of five to four, upheld a Maryland law that authorizes the collection of DNA from individuals arrested for 'serious' offenses. In his dissent, Justice Scalia (joined by Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan) took strong exception to the majority’s approval of a suspicionless search without any justifying motive.

"But what of the word 'panopticon'? ...