Mood Swings

 Semrad proved clinically what philosophers seek to explain logically: delusions are not just about faulty cognitions or biological abnormalities (though they usually involve both) - they also involve something more deeply human, a basic existential fault, perhaps, reminding us that even in the most severely ill psychiatric patients, our clinical work involves - first and foremost - contacting the person beneath the patient, and saying hello. Read More

Of the many cultural implications of Darwinism one of the least recognized is its conceptual core, which is this: There is no essence to anything. Read More

As always, it is not a matter of simply saying one or the other extreme is correct, but rather one of holding two opposite views in our heads at the same time. Read More

American diplomacy is based on the principle of rational self-interest. Indeed standard American political theory, dating to the Founders, is based on this view. Yet, to paraphrase the great diplomat General William Sherman, reason has very little influence on human affairs: we decide by the gut, not the brain. Read More