Fake Art and Inauthenticity in Philosophy

A review of Santiago Zabala’s ‘Why Only Art Can Save Us’

It was reported in the Washington Post that the Trump White House had asked to borrow Vincent van Gogh’s 1888 painting Landscape with Snow from the Guggenheim Museum in New York in order to display it in the President’s private quarters. [1] The request for the Van Gogh was refused. In its place, the Guggenheim offered ...
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Fake Art and Inauthenticity in Philosophy

Hayden White

In memoriam

Hayden White, who passed away this week at the age of 89, was a teacher and friend of mine -- and a role model to me, intellectually and personally. I treasure the memory of our many conversations in California and Italy over the years. Knowing that I am far from ...
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Hayden White

The German Geist Dwells Nowhere

The turmoil surrounding Heidegger’s Black Notebooks achieved new heights recently, with Freiburg University’s announcement that its legendary Heidegger Lehrstuhl would be abolished and converted to a junior professorship in logic (!) and analytic philosophy, as if to deliberately obliterate Heidegger’s legacy. Apparently, the Lehrstuhl has become too controversial. This decision may well ...

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What is Shakespearean Tragedy?

An excerpt from ‘What is Shakespearean Tragedy?’ forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespearean Tragedy

The question ‘What is Shakespearean Tragedy?’ can understandably prompt one to start listing distinctive features of various plays by Shakespeare — as if a successful enumeration of its characteristics would amount to an understanding of the ...

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What is Shakespearean Tragedy?