On the biodiversity of science

The economic potential of Nobel Prize-winning discoveries has rarely been known or intended. A defence of the "aimlessness" of science and a call for a three-pronged system of universities, scientific societies and academies. [more]

How to defend the Enlightenment

"To say that reason is only desiccating and too dry is a dangerous caricature. No less dangerous is to eliminate the place for arts, for myth, which is a different kind of knowledge of the world." Tzvetan Todorov in conversation with AC Grayling about his new book, "In Defence of the Enlightenment". [more]

Banking regulation? Malfunction!

The few regulatory measures introduced since the financial collapse are being supervised by the same banking sector that caused it in the first place, writes Lucas Zeise. Governments' delegation of regulatory responsibilities has deeply negative implications for democracy. [more]

The structure and silence of the cognitariat

Only a small "creative class" achieves the freedom stereotypically attributed to knowledge workers, writes Christopher Newfield. Increasingly, recipients of higher education are prepared for working life in a knowledge economy where independence has been eroded. [more]

Structure et silence du cognitariat

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Fair game

350 million do it regularly. It offers levels of complexity and human interaction beyond any other art form. We can't continue to ignore the cultural impact of online gaming, says Michael Bywater. [more]

Nature: Object of science and aesthetic category

In the natural sciences, transformation is more important than diversity, writes Hansjörg Küster. Conservation laws prevent us thinking about our landscapes, which are not always as natural as they seem. More research is needed into how landscape can be managed. [more]

The defender of contingency

An interview with Ernesto Laclau

Ernesto Laclau talks to the Greek journal "Intellectum" about the uses of populism, why radical democracy has nothing to do with liberalism, and how lack of political competition benefits the far-Right. [more]

The ecological imperative

Reductions in greenhouse gases demand major economic and political changes. Dominique Bourg writes that we must abandon our obsessively humanist ideology if we wish to preserve humanity itself. This is an ecological imperative in its true, moral sense. [more]

Anger as the ship goes down

Obama's proposed banking reforms are likely to face insurmountable opposition from Congress, where lobby interests have become all-powerful. Worse still, writes George Blecher, the proposals themselves don't go far enough. [more]

Abstracts for Intellectum 6 (2009)

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Lessons learned and open questions

Welfare state building in post-communist EU member states

The dissatisfaction expressed by the many not to have benefited from transition suggests post-commmunist welfare states have a long way to go before they attain western levels of credibility. Their democracies depend on that gap being bridged, argues Claus Offe. [more]