Two recent articles by our columnists stake out competing views on “ego” — on one’s sense of self and the value and danger of different ways of conceiving of it. We discuss.

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A properly philosophical concept of genius is not only egalitarian, but the product of democratization of the societies, and it is the democratization’s ultimate purpose.

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As we fight the phenomena blamed on egocentrism, we can also rediscover the value of ego.

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If peripheral countries want to give something substantial to the world, they must invent ways of doing so without the fuel of historical forms of expansionism.

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When we think that a certain course of events is necessary, is bound to happen, we are already enchanting our reality to make these events actually happen.

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Choosing the name “theorizing” for the main activity of one’s life can often be met with suspicion. A theoretician spends their life on thinking, whereas good life requires living. It seems that thinking all the time and living stand in contradiction.

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If the Enlightenment taught us that to fight superstition we need reason, I think that the twenty-first century will teach us that to fight superstition we need queerness.

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I want to argue for a more radical thesis: not only that paying attention to one’s intuition can be sometimes useful, but also that taking into account instinctual responses is necessary for any rigorous inquiry.

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We must read texts of culture not just closely, but also: holistically, quickly, broadly, or in a patchwork fashion.

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