best sentences I’ve read today

“An isotope is an element with a secret.” — Miyoko Ohtake, Wired Feb. 2008, p 44

“Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?” — William James, from “The Will to Believe” in John Stuhr (ed.) Pragmatism and Classical American Philosophy, p. 235

“Ms. Sunée forked up a bite of achingly sweet tres leches cake and cited the Édith Piaf song ‘Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien’.” –Mimi Read, The New York Times, Feb. 20, 2008, D6

By Noelle McAfee

I am professor of philosophy at Emory University and editor of the Kettering Review. My latest book, Fear of Breakdown: Politics and Psychoanalysis, explores what is behind the upsurge of virulent nationalism and intransigent politics across the world today. My other writings include Democracy and the Political Unconscious; Habermas, Kristeva, and Citizenship; Julia Kristeva; and numerous articles and book chapters. Edited volumes include Standing with the Public: the Humanities and Democratic Practice and a special issue of the philosophy journal Hypatia on feminist engagements in democratic theory. I am also the author of the entry on feminist political philosophy in the online Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and well into my next book project on democratic public life.

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