Debates

Calculation is omnipresent in the current pandemic. And yet, Continental philosophers never talk about calculation: it seems to be the c** of philosophy. Why is that so? Has it always …
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As universities debate continuing remote instruction through the coming Fall, we should ask what parts of the pre-pandemic university are worth fighting for.

The sizeable effort required of faculty over …
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Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents is often read as a text about unnecessarily privileging the needs of the dominant culture and society over those of the individual. The book …
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There is a paradoxical relationship between necessity and destiny: it is chance that determines necessity. The desert rose owes its beauty to the elements that sculpted it, just the way …
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The most surprising aspect of the coronavirus pandemic is the reluctance of leaders with authoritarian ambitions, like Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, to declare a state of emergency. Doing so …
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It often happens that external events look as if they have been predetermined from inside. For instance, Spanish conquistadores came and defeated Aztecs when their empire was already crumbling under …
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Glance at any major news source homepage right now, and you’re bound to see a headline photo of mask-clad passengers being temperature scanned while in line for their flights, or …
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I am alone during this COVID-19 pandemic, like many others. My family spreads across two continents and I recently took residence on a third, a move coinciding with a new …
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The unfolding global crisis induced by COVID-19 has led states to scramble as they collect scarce medical resources, impose business shutdowns and national quarantines, and close off borders to slow …
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Communovirus

Jean-Luc Nancy

–translated by Victoria Derrien–

An Indian friend tells me that at his place people talk about the communovirus. How come no one thought of it before? It’s …
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