Dhananjay Jagannathan
@dhananjayj.bsky.social
academic, essayist
Substack (on culture and identity): https://culturedopinion.substack.com/
Writing portfolio: https://dhananjayj.com/
Books: ARISTOTLE'S PRACTICAL EPISTEMOLOGY (OUP 2024); CULTURE AS CONVERSATION (PENGUIN forthcoming 2026)
Substack (on culture and identity): https://culturedopinion.substack.com/
Writing portfolio: https://dhananjayj.com/
Books: ARISTOTLE'S PRACTICAL EPISTEMOLOGY (OUP 2024); CULTURE AS CONVERSATION (PENGUIN forthcoming 2026)
Pinned
Cultured Opinion | Dhananjay Jagannathan | Substack
Philosophical and personal essays about culture, politics, music, food, travel, &c. Click to read Cultured Opinion, by Dhananjay Jagannathan, a Substack publication. Launched 3 hours ago.
culturedopinion.substack.com
Hey y'all, I've launched a newsletter focused on culture and identity. I'll be writing about food, travel, music, religion, politics, and other topics, as I work toward my first trade book CULTURE AS CONVERSATION, to be published by Penguin Press in 2026. Subscribe here: culturedopinion.substack.com
This is it.
a “Space Force”, if you will
we need a department of kerning
November 13, 2025 at 5:51 PM
This is it.
Don Quixote has both.
books have no tech tree, no fog of war
November 11, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Don Quixote has both.
I gave lectures on Kant’s Groundwork, Aristotle’s Physics, and Plato’s Philebus today. It might the most challenging trio of texts I’ve ever taught in a day.
November 10, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I gave lectures on Kant’s Groundwork, Aristotle’s Physics, and Plato’s Philebus today. It might the most challenging trio of texts I’ve ever taught in a day.
In the calm of day, I have a slightly more sober analysis than last night when my only feeling about Chuck Schumer and the Collaborators’ Caucus was “what chickenshits”.
Schumer thought this was the best policy outcome: end short-term pain while forcing the GOP to vote down Obamacare subsidies.
Schumer thought this was the best policy outcome: end short-term pain while forcing the GOP to vote down Obamacare subsidies.
November 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
In the calm of day, I have a slightly more sober analysis than last night when my only feeling about Chuck Schumer and the Collaborators’ Caucus was “what chickenshits”.
Schumer thought this was the best policy outcome: end short-term pain while forcing the GOP to vote down Obamacare subsidies.
Schumer thought this was the best policy outcome: end short-term pain while forcing the GOP to vote down Obamacare subsidies.
For any wondering about Schumer's role, from yesterday: "The mystery is why Schumer keeps flirting with capitulation in exchange for nothing. Democrats have the political momentum, Republicans are divided, and a majority of voters blame Republicans for the shutdown."
prospect.org/2025/11/08/w...
prospect.org/2025/11/08/w...
Why Does Schumer Keep Trying to Cave? - The American Prospect
The Senate Democratic leader and his Gang of Eight keep trying to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. On Thursday, they told their caucus colleagues they had ten votes to reopen the government—i...
prospect.org
November 10, 2025 at 4:42 AM
For any wondering about Schumer's role, from yesterday: "The mystery is why Schumer keeps flirting with capitulation in exchange for nothing. Democrats have the political momentum, Republicans are divided, and a majority of voters blame Republicans for the shutdown."
prospect.org/2025/11/08/w...
prospect.org/2025/11/08/w...
I’m just trying to understand how someone can get behind their podcast mic, thinking they’re prepared to talk about NYC housing, and not know the difference between affordable housing and rent-stabilized housing.
EK first pushes back, saying “This is affordable housing” and his editor replies “You’re saying affordable housing but this [policy discussion] is [about] rent-stabilized housing”. All EK can say is “That’s fair”. Hang up your boots, son. Listen to the moment here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Blue Wave Cometh?
Podcast Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 11/07/2025 · 59m
podcasts.apple.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:58 PM
I’m just trying to understand how someone can get behind their podcast mic, thinking they’re prepared to talk about NYC housing, and not know the difference between affordable housing and rent-stabilized housing.
I’ve listened to the Ezra Klein show for years. I find it useful to understand the mindset of technocratic liberalism. But roughly once per episode Klein has a moment that would make me quit and find something else to do. This week: EK is talking with his editor about housing affordability in NYC.
November 9, 2025 at 10:50 PM
I’ve listened to the Ezra Klein show for years. I find it useful to understand the mindset of technocratic liberalism. But roughly once per episode Klein has a moment that would make me quit and find something else to do. This week: EK is talking with his editor about housing affordability in NYC.
Sweden and Denmark have vibrant far-right parties predicated on the idea of welfare chauvinism: a welfare state for “us” (white, native-born) and not for “them” (non-white, immigrants). Scandinavia is not some kind of political paradise.
The GOP is petrified of Zohran Mamdani because they know once democratic socialism works here, as it has in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, they will never be elected again.
November 8, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Sweden and Denmark have vibrant far-right parties predicated on the idea of welfare chauvinism: a welfare state for “us” (white, native-born) and not for “them” (non-white, immigrants). Scandinavia is not some kind of political paradise.
lmao. See if I wanted prime ballot position I would simply have run an actual campaign to win my party’s primary instead of posting AI slop and reminding people that they liked my father a long time ago.
November 7, 2025 at 7:45 PM
lmao. See if I wanted prime ballot position I would simply have run an actual campaign to win my party’s primary instead of posting AI slop and reminding people that they liked my father a long time ago.
The tariff case seems open and shut as a legal matter, which means we may get a 5-4 decision striking them down. But can Americans please also learn the basics of style and address and stop referring to the solicitor-general as “GENERAL so and so”, or is that simply too hard?
This is an important question: when has Congress ever said you can do tariffs by saying "regulate commerce?" (The answer is never). /5
November 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
The tariff case seems open and shut as a legal matter, which means we may get a 5-4 decision striking them down. But can Americans please also learn the basics of style and address and stop referring to the solicitor-general as “GENERAL so and so”, or is that simply too hard?
Reposted by Dhananjay Jagannathan
andrew cuomo ran one of the worst political campaigns in modern history but i think my favorite part was in this ai ad, the pregnant bill cited chatgpt as a source and a chatgpt phone walks onto the screen and goes “that’s right”
November 5, 2025 at 10:16 PM
andrew cuomo ran one of the worst political campaigns in modern history but i think my favorite part was in this ai ad, the pregnant bill cited chatgpt as a source and a chatgpt phone walks onto the screen and goes “that’s right”
TURN
THE
VOLUME
UP
THE
VOLUME
UP
November 5, 2025 at 4:37 AM
TURN
THE
VOLUME
UP
THE
VOLUME
UP
Beautiful design. But they really should've made it the N train (or the W).
A sneak peek at the cover of next week’s issue, which celebrates Zohran Mamdani’s historic win. #NewYorkerCovers
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/451hFM
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/451hFM
November 5, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Beautiful design. But they really should've made it the N train (or the W).
Yes! And as a reminder, the "paper of record" that happens to be headquartered here doesn't even have a City desk any more. Support local journalism. Turn off the outrage machine. I am particularly pleased to be a @hellgatenyc.com subscriber, since it is worker-owned.
Regular reminder that the best work covering this city is done by local outlets - @wnyc.org @thecity.nyc @spectrumnewsny1.bsky.social @hellgatenyc.com and others. You don’t have to rely tonight on the newspaper you are constantly annoyed at!
November 5, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Yes! And as a reminder, the "paper of record" that happens to be headquartered here doesn't even have a City desk any more. Support local journalism. Turn off the outrage machine. I am particularly pleased to be a @hellgatenyc.com subscriber, since it is worker-owned.
Zohran Mamdani has the Mamdate of Heaven.
November 5, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Zohran Mamdani has the Mamdate of Heaven.
Derek’s overarching claim here — that clothing communicates, in a standard language, cultural affiliation while affording possibilities of individual expression within that affiliation, is likewise one of the central claims of my chapter on clothing in my forthcoming book CULTURE AS CONVERSATION.
I can answer this. I interviewed Peterson's tailor a few years ago, although the interview was never published because I fell behind on work. Here is the story of this suit. 🧵
What is happening with this outfit?
October 31, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Derek’s overarching claim here — that clothing communicates, in a standard language, cultural affiliation while affording possibilities of individual expression within that affiliation, is likewise one of the central claims of my chapter on clothing in my forthcoming book CULTURE AS CONVERSATION.
Reposted by Dhananjay Jagannathan
No neede for expensyve consultinge firmes. Heere ys a planne for excellent higher education:
1) Hire manye facultye
2) Small class syzes
3) Emphasyze engagemente & delighte
4) Sustayne & cultivate a varietye of fieldes and disciplines, even currentlye unfashionable ones -- thys ys ed, not retail
1) Hire manye facultye
2) Small class syzes
3) Emphasyze engagemente & delighte
4) Sustayne & cultivate a varietye of fieldes and disciplines, even currentlye unfashionable ones -- thys ys ed, not retail
October 29, 2025 at 4:25 PM
No neede for expensyve consultinge firmes. Heere ys a planne for excellent higher education:
1) Hire manye facultye
2) Small class syzes
3) Emphasyze engagemente & delighte
4) Sustayne & cultivate a varietye of fieldes and disciplines, even currentlye unfashionable ones -- thys ys ed, not retail
1) Hire manye facultye
2) Small class syzes
3) Emphasyze engagemente & delighte
4) Sustayne & cultivate a varietye of fieldes and disciplines, even currentlye unfashionable ones -- thys ys ed, not retail
You can read the rest of the essay here, which is partly about how I came to study ancient Greek political thought and partly about the current mess our political culture is in, with reference to two recent interviews by Isaac Chotiner and Ezra Klein: culturedopinion.substack.com/p/on-public-...
October 29, 2025 at 7:02 PM
You can read the rest of the essay here, which is partly about how I came to study ancient Greek political thought and partly about the current mess our political culture is in, with reference to two recent interviews by Isaac Chotiner and Ezra Klein: culturedopinion.substack.com/p/on-public-...
"Twenty years ago, at the height of the Iraq War, I left the benighted small town in Texas in which I grew up. To this day, when I meet someone else from Texas, who is usually from somewhere like Dallas or Houston or San Antonio, and tell them where I’m from, they tend to wince. The people I knew...
I'm teaching Plato's Gorgias this week, so I was moved to write a (wild) essay about how reading the dialogue changed my life, got me interested in whether philosophy was an alternative to the seemingly endless irrationality of political life, and why the latest Chotinering has me feeling depressed.
October 29, 2025 at 4:39 AM
"Twenty years ago, at the height of the Iraq War, I left the benighted small town in Texas in which I grew up. To this day, when I meet someone else from Texas, who is usually from somewhere like Dallas or Houston or San Antonio, and tell them where I’m from, they tend to wince. The people I knew...
I'm teaching Plato's Gorgias this week, so I was moved to write a (wild) essay about how reading the dialogue changed my life, got me interested in whether philosophy was an alternative to the seemingly endless irrationality of political life, and why the latest Chotinering has me feeling depressed.
October 29, 2025 at 4:35 AM
I'm teaching Plato's Gorgias this week, so I was moved to write a (wild) essay about how reading the dialogue changed my life, got me interested in whether philosophy was an alternative to the seemingly endless irrationality of political life, and why the latest Chotinering has me feeling depressed.
Yet more cultural illiteracy. I refer to my parent’s cousins this way. One of my father’s cousins is among the relatives I am closest to. She’s my aunt, and we refer to cousins as sisters and brothers sometimes too!
In a bit of a tense moment, one of the La Mega co-hosts presses Mamdani on why he "lied" about his "aunt" having been scared to ride the subway after 9/11 while wearing a hijab.
Mamdani says it was "not a lie" because he refers to his father's cousin as his "aunt."
Mamdani says it was "not a lie" because he refers to his father's cousin as his "aunt."
October 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Yet more cultural illiteracy. I refer to my parent’s cousins this way. One of my father’s cousins is among the relatives I am closest to. She’s my aunt, and we refer to cousins as sisters and brothers sometimes too!
Reposted by Dhananjay Jagannathan
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
HEPATITAS ANDRONICUS
October 26, 2025 at 11:27 PM
HEPATITAS ANDRONICUS