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The Marquise du Châtelet, a philosopher in the French Enlightenment, has been overshadowed by her relationship with Voltaire. However, Andrew Janiak, a professor of philosophy at Duke University, argues in his book "The Enlightenment's Most Dangerous Woman" that Du Châtelet has been unjustly excluded from the canon of Enlightenment philosophers. Du Châtelet's contributions to philosophy and science, including her work on Newton's physics, have been overlooked and her role in the dissemination of knowledge in the Encyclopedia has been hidden. Janiak emphasizes the importance of acknowledging Du Châtelet's role in the Enlightenment and challenges the sexist biases that persist in the academic world. [Extracted from the article]

The article reports that post-structuralism, a type of French critical theory, is profoundly influencing the way of thinking in the U.S. The said theory gives importance to the reader or listener rather than the author. It denies the link between what is intended and what is expressed. Post-structuralism in the U.S. first exerted its influence in literature and film.

Discusses the intellectual ideas known as Radical Orthodoxy, part of a broader postsecularism movement. Idea that theologians involved in Radical Orthodoxy are the real postmodernism, and that they are the ones who are critiquing modernity without wanting to go back; Comments by the movement's founder John Milbank of the University of Virginia.

Reports on the reactions to the encyclical issued by Pope John Paul II on the 20th anniversary of his papacy on October 16, 1998, titled `Fides et Ratio,' or Faith and Reason. Treatment of the pope of Father Hans Kung and Father Charles Curran; Evidence of the pope's openness to the study of modern philosophy; Use of inclusive language; Remarks from John Caputo of Villanova University.

The article presents a profile of philosopher Peter Sloterdijk. Information is provided on his education at the Universities of Munich and Hamburg in Germany, his early career as a freelance writer, and current work as a professor of philosophy and aesthetics and a television program host in Germany. In addition, Sloterdijk's debates and conflicting views with fellow German philosopher Jürgen Habermas is covered. Other topics discussed include his book "The Art of Philosophy: Wisdom As a Practice," his views on modern philosophy, and historical figures from German philosophy.

The author relates her experience as a ten-year-old, watching the film "Come Back, Little Sheba" while her parents went to a party on New Year's Eve. Her big existential realization happened when she understand that Sheba, the dog, was a metaphor for how depressing marriage was, and how depressing life was in general. The sudden appearance of existentialism destroyed the night and changed her life forever. Since that time, she has lost most of her existential angst, but whenever New Year's Eve comes around, she feels a hint of trauma and darkness.

The article reports on the background of French founders of post-structuralism. Jacques Derrida, a philosophy teacher at the Ecole Normale Supérieur in Paris and a visiting professor at the University of California at Irvine, espoused the theory of deconstruction which is regarded as the leading form of post-structuralism. Michel Foucault, professor at the Collège de France, was a post-structuralist who theorized that knowledge is not a reflection of reality.

The article offers information on conceptual-based artist Agnes Denes, who excels in the field of art. It says that in show entitled "Sculptures on the Mind: 1968 to Now," the artists has expressed his talent. It states that the graphics of lithograph in 1984 called "Dialectic triangulation: A Visual Philosophy," was based on the symbolic logic developed by Denes in 1970. It adds that Denes created a two-acre wheat filled near the New York's World Trade Center in 1982.

It was the Great Train Robbery of French intellectual life: thousands of treasured documents that vanished from the Institut de France in the mid-1800s, stolen by an Italian mathematician. Among them were 72 letters by Rene Descartes, the founding genius of modern philosophy and analytic geometry. Now one of those purloined letters has turned up at a small private college in eastern Pennsylvania, providing scholars with another keyhole into one of the Western world's greatest minds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Persian New Year, or Norouz, is celebrated this month, often with great extravagance. Among its traditions is jumping over a bonfire while declaiming: ''Take away my yellow complexion and give me your red glow of health.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The title suggests a love affair gone awry, but there's precious little romance to be found in ''Damaged Romanticism: A Mirror of Modern Emotion.'' There is, however, the disappointment of art that doesn't live up to big ideas. The ''damage'' in ''Damaged Romanticism'' is a slippery term. It refers chiefly to a pragmatism that would have been alien to 19th-century Romantics. It's also shorthand for apocalypse fantasies, or what the curators call ''an aftermath aesthetic.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

THE big surprise, viewed from my own narrow perspective five years later, has taken place in the mysterious zones of extremist ideology. In the months and weeks before the invasion of Iraq, I wrote quite a lot about ideology in the Middle East, and especially about the revolutionary political doctrine known as radical Islamism. I tried to show that radical Islamism is a modern philosophy, not just a heap of medieval prejudices. In its sundry versions, it draws on local and religious roots, just as it claims to do. But it also draws on totalitarian inspirations from 20th-century Europe. I wanted my readers to understand that with its double roots, religious and modern, perversely intertwined, radical Islamism wields a lot more power, intellectually speaking, than naive observers might suppose. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses the study of alternate universes by quantum physicists who study subatomic events. Statements which have been made that question objective reality; Attempts of scientists during the 1990s to connect scientific ideas to social and political issues; Insights on how the questions scientists pursue and what counts as evidence are shaped by the cultural surround; Discussion of the paper by physicist Alan Sokal, "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity," which parodied postmodernism.

Focuses on the concept of modernity. Background on the start of modern philosophy by Rene Descartes; Information on the exhibition of Mary Cassatt's paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois, called `Modern Women'; Aspects of modernism.

Focuses on philosophers who attended the World Philosophy Congress of the 20th century on August 12, 1998 in Boston, Massachusetts. Names of philosophers who attended the convention; Remarks by William Van Orman Quine, a philosopher of Harvard University; What the philosophers who attended the session have learned from philosophy in the 20th century.