baithak: Baithak World May 13: Modes, Mushrooms, Measure, Headlines, RealNews

Should philosophy have something to say to non-philosophers? Should philosophy be pursued only by those trained in philosophy? Should academic teachers of philosophy consider themselves philosophers in virtue of the fact that they teach philosophy? And should analytic philosophers deny that continental philosophers are philosophers at all, or acknowledge that they represent different modes of philosophizing? Cogito poses some big questions to four prominent British and US philosophers. Modes of philosophizing

6 ways mushrooms can save the world

I think there is a clear solution to this problem. Literary studies should become more like the sciences. Literature professors should apply science's research methods, its theories, its statistical tools, and its insistence on hypothesis and proof. Instead of philosophical despair about the possibility of knowledge, they should embrace science's spirit of intellectual optimism. If they do, literary studies can be transformed into a discipline in which real understanding of literature and the human experience builds up along with all of the words. Measure for Measure

These days, when any icky nouveau riche can buy a Gulfstream jet and show his face at Davos, the real ruling class has to do something to distinguish themselves from the plebes. When you're a true member of what David Rothkopf, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, refers to as the "superclass," you belong to exclusive and often secretive clubs that keep out the moneyed riffraff. Membership in one of the following four groups is essential if you want to count yourself among the upper reaches of society. Of course, any closed society is bound to have detractors, those sad little men and women outside the gilded gates who claim that the members of the superclass secretly pull the strings of all the world's governments and continue to oppress the poor and middle classes. But, as any true member of the superclass knows, the oppression is half the fun. Inside the world's elite secret societies

It is crucial therefore that the Taliban's and al-Qaeda's grip in the Pakistani tribal areas is broken. All efforts to date have failed. The US and its allies might now have to expand the war to make this happen. Another D-Day for Pakistan over militants By Syed Saleem Shahzad

Headlines

Death toll in China earthquake up to nearly 9,000
Credibility? Reality challenge for India TV ratings

China's weakness the greater danger

THE MOGAMBO GURU : Stranger than fictional balance sheets

War of the Babies--When Modern Warfare and Demography Square Off, Demography Wins
West Virginia, Personified (by the FT)
Eric Margolis: Who's in charge in the Kremlin?

P oetry workshop