| Description |
xix, 427 pages ; 25 cm |
| Note |
Articles originally published by the New York Times. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
"From 1995 to 2013, Stanley Fish's provocative New York Times columns consistently generated passionate discussion and debate. In Think Again, he has assembled almost one hundred of his best columns into a thematically arranged collection with a substantial new introduction that explains his intention in writing these pieces and offers an analysis of why they provoked so much reaction. Some readers reported being frustrated when they couldn't figure out where Fish, one of America's most influential thinkers, stood on the controversies he addressed in the essays--from atheism and affirmative action to plagiarism and postmodernism. But, as Fish says, that is the point. Opinions are cheap; you can get them anywhere. Instead of offering just another set of them, Fish analyzes and dissects the arguments put forth by different sides--in debates over free speech, identity politics, the gun lobby, and other hot-button topics--in order to explain how their arguments work or don't work. In short, these are essays that teach you not what to think but how to think more clearly. Brief and accessible yet challenging, these essays provide all the hard-edged intellectual, cultural, and political analysis one expects from Fish. At the same time, the collection includes a number of revealing and even poignant autobiographical essays in which, as Fish says, "readers will learn about my anxieties, my aspirations, my eccentricities, my foibles, my father, and my obsessions--Frank Sinatra, Ted Williams, basketball, and Jews." Reflecting the wide-ranging interests of one of today's leading critics, this is Fish's broadest and most engaging book to date."-- Publisher description. |
| Contents |
Part 1: Personal Reflections. My Life Report -- 'Tis the Season -- Max the Plumber -- Is It Good for the Jews? -- My Life on the Court -- The Kid and Old Blue Eyes -- Travel Narrows -- I Am, Therefore I Pollute -- Why We Can't Just Get Along -- Truth and Conspiracy in the Catskills -- Moving On -- Part 2: Aesthetic Reflections. Why Do Writers Write? -- Two Aesthetics -- Norms and Deviations: Who's to Say? -- The Ten Best American Movies -- Giving Kim Novak Her Due -- Larger than Life: Charlton Heston -- Vengeance Is Mine -- Little Big Men -- Narrative and the Grace of God: The New True Grit -- Les Misérables and Irony -- No Way Out: 12 Years a Slave -- Stand Your Ground, Be a Man -- Country Roads -- Part 3: Cultural Reflections. Professor Sokal's Bad Joke -- French Theory in America -- Dorothy and the Tree: A Lesson in Epistemology -- Does Philosophy Matter? -- What Did Watson the Computer Do? -- None of the Answers: Charles Van Doren Finally Speaks, or Does He? -- Can I Put You on Hold? -- So's Your Old Man -- Two Cheers for Double Standards -- Favoritism Is Good -- Part 4: Reflections on Politics. Condemnation without Absolutes -- The All-Spin Zone -- Against Independent Voters -- When "Identity Politics" Is Rational -- Blowin' in the Wind -- Looking for Gas in All the Wrong Places -- When Principles Get in the Way -- Revisiting Affirmative Action, with Help from Kant -- Is the NRA Un-American? -- All You Need Is Hate -- How the Right Hijacked the Magic Words -- Part 5: Reflections on the Law. Why Scalia Is Right -- How Scalia Is Wrong -- Intentional Neglect -- What Did the Framers Have in Mind? -- What Is the First Amendment For? -- How the First Amendment Works -- What Does the First Amendment Protect? -- The First Amendment and Kittens -- Sticks and Stones -- The Harm in Free Speech -- Hate Speech and Stolen Valor -- Going in Circles with Hate Speech -- Our Faith in Letting It All Hang Out --Part 6: Reflections on Religion. The Three Atheists -- Atheism and Evidence -- Is Religion Man-Made? -- God Talk -- Suffering, Evil, and the Existence of God -- Liberalism and Secularism: One and the Same -- Are There Secular Reasons? -- Serving Two Masters: Sharia Law and the Secular State -- Religion and the Liberal State Once Again -- Religion without Truth -- Is the Establishment Clause Unconstitutional? -- The Religion Clause Divided against Itself -- When Is a Cross a Cross? -- Being Neutral Is Oh So Hard to Do -- Part 7: Reflections on Liberal Arts Education. Why We Built the Ivory Tower -- There's No Business like Show Business -- Tip to Professors: Just Do Your Job -- Devoid of Content -- What Should Colleges Teach? -- Will the Humanities Save Us? -- The Uses of the Humanities -- The Value of Higher Education Made Literal -- A Classical Education: Back to the Future -- Deep in the Heart of Texas -- The Digital Humanities and the Transcending of Mortality -- Mind Your P's and B's: The Digital Humanities and Interpretation -- Part 8: Reflections on Academic Freedom. Conspiracy Theories 101 -- Always Academicize: My Response to the Responses -- A Closing Argument (for Now) -- The Two Languages of Academic Freedom -- Are Academics Different? -- The Kushner Flap: Much Ado about Nothing -- Sex, the Koch Brothers, and Academic Freedom -- To Boycott or Not to Boycott, That Is the Question -- Academic Freedom against Itself: Boycotting Israeli Universities -- Boycotting Israeli Universities: Part 2 -- So Long, It's Been Good to Know You. |
| Subject |
Criticism.
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Civilization, Modern.
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Constitutional history -- United States.
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Political culture -- United States.
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Religion.
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Education, Humanistic.
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Academic freedom.
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Fish, Stanley Eugene.
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Intellectuals -- United States -- Biography.
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Fish, Stanley Eugene. (OCoLC)fst00001281
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Academic freedom. (OCoLC)fst00794987
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Civilization, Modern. (OCoLC)fst00863073
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Constitutional history. (OCoLC)fst00875777
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Criticism. (OCoLC)fst00883735
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Education, Humanistic. (OCoLC)fst00903134
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Intellectuals. (OCoLC)fst00975799
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Political culture. (OCoLC)fst01069263
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Religion. (OCoLC)fst01093763
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
|
| Genre/Form |
Biography. (OCoLC)fst01423686
|
| ISBN |
9780691167718 (hardcover alkaline paper) |
|
0691167710 (hardcover alkaline paper) |
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