Word: argumentativeness
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What happened a year ago on Wall Street is exactly an example of what Smith was warning [about]. Society is not really made to be a purely competitive operation. And I think we have learned that lesson, but I don't know for how long. The whole argument that nature is red in tooth and claw, and for that reason society ought to be like that, is flawed. Because nature is not like that. If you look at our close relatives, you see animals who survive by cooperating. Yes, there is competition. There is dominance, hierarchy. They sometimes fight. They...
...Generosity,” Richard Powers’ stunning new novel, the charming businessman and geneticist Robert Kurton participates in a public debate with an unnamed novelist. The subject: genetic enhancement of human beings. The shy author begins, awkwardly reading from a prewritten speech. But his argument is complex, as Powers writes, “The writer’s thought is so dense that every clause tries to circle back for another try before plunging on.” Even the narration has trouble following the train of thought. Kurton takes stage, joking, “Every divide between...
...supporter, and friend, fellow poet Charles Armitage Brown. Brown, played with gusto by Paul Schneider (“Lars and the Real Girl”), disapproves of the relationship between Keats and Brawne and actively attempts to dissuade his friend from pursuing her. This conflict climaxes in a heated argument between the three parties after Brown delivers a mock valentine to Brawne.Had Campion chosen to focus solely on this triangular relationship, perhaps elaborating on the reasons why Brown was so staunchly opposed to his friend’s relationship, she could have composed an engaging romance. However, almost directly following...
...primary focus is academic rather than aesthetic, art is used to stimulate such discussion out of which academic truth can emerge. “It’s not at all about balance,” he says, referring to an equal presentation of two contrasting sides of an argument. “I think balance is used to pigeonhole stuff; I think it’s about understanding.” But this thoughtfulness does not have to promote a particular agenda.“For me, what separates propaganda from art is not the place from which...
...price of corn used for food. You also say that eating locally grown food isn't practical for everyone. Locavorism as a consumption preference makes sense. Right now where I am, locally grown apples are coming up. Peach season just ended. I enjoy eating that stuff. But the environmental argument doesn't hold up. I watched a documentary about Portland, Ore., and in it there was a woman who drove her minivan 25 miles to a local farm to buy a few days' worth of produce. So that's a 50-mile round trip for maybe 10 lb. of groceries...