Tag Archives: liberalism

(Liberalism) Together with Strangers (Movie Night, Brooklyn Bridge Park)

Posted on August 25, 2013 by zjb

Liberal public space is built upon the togetherness of strangers, who gather for no greater reason or purpose apart from the simple pleasure of coming together in public to look at something. The lower the common denominator, the better. All … Continue reading →

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Egyptian Chaos & Popular Will (Political Theology)

Posted on August 16, 2013 by zjb

I’m trying to make sense of the chaos and carnage in Egypt, especially in response to Egyptian public opinion. This opening paragraph from this recent  article NYT says worlds:  Gathering Thursday morning around a mosque used as a morgue for … Continue reading →

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New Looks Liberal Christianity

Posted on July 24, 2013 by zjb

As an (un)reconstructed liberal, I’m so happy to see the turn of the pendulum, as historians begin to consider that old formation, Liberal Christianity, and to see it written about in the New York Times, where it might do some … Continue reading →

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Jewish (Philosophy & Thought) Liberalism

Posted on May 7, 2013 by zjb

Modern Jewish thought and philosophy seems constitutionally liberal –from Moses Mendelssohn and Abraham Geiger to Hermann Cohen, including Martin Buber and “late” Franz Rosenzweig as well as Abraham Joshua Heschel and of course Mordecai Kaplan, and also Eugen Borowitz, Judith … Continue reading →

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New York (Bourgeois) Green Space (Spring Blooms)

Posted on May 6, 2013 by zjb

(Morningside Drive, New York, May 2013) Are they political? Private-public hybrids, these flowering trees and garden flowers are part of the city fabric. Cultivated with great care by members of  a local “co-op,” they are set out alongside the public sidewalk … Continue reading →

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(Jewish) Liberalism (Socialism) Christian

Posted on May 3, 2013 by zjb

  This is going to smack of cultural essentialism but I can’t find any better way to frame my ongoing and for the most part friendly sparring with dear friend and colleague GH about liberalism and Marxism. But I can’t … Continue reading →

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Into the Entrails of Capitalism (Marx the Huckster, Imagination, & The Jewish Question)

Posted on May 2, 2013 by zjb

It’s a day after May Day, and I’ve been posting all week about liberalism, and my good friend G., the good Marxist, makes mention of “On the Jewish Question.” I cringe a bit, and say something stupid, and I realize … Continue reading →

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(Aesthetic Political Theory) Inside the Platonic Cave of the Liberal Social Spheres (Michael Walzer)

Posted on April 30, 2013 by zjb

It’s an old book which I got to because we recently hosted at SU its author, Michael Walzer. Really, I should have come to this much sooner, as Walzer is my kind of liberal-social democrat. His classic Spheres of Justice … Continue reading →

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“Neoliberalism” or “Hypercapitalism”

Posted on April 29, 2013 by zjb

It suddenly occurred to me. Why do we call it “neoliberalism” and not hypercapitalism? Is it just a convention? And, yes, it has a pedigree in political theory, except that it’s slightly confusing. As defined at the Colloque Walter Lippmann, … Continue reading →

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Sympathy (Liberalism) Solidarity

Posted on April 26, 2013 by zjb

Reading Moses Mendelssohn, it occurred to me that “sympathy” is the cardinal liberal virtue. Reading Michael Walzer only confirms this suspicion. Sympathy is what, I think, distinguishes Mendelssohn, who was  sympathetic, from Spinoza, who was not, especially in relation to … Continue reading →

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