Discourse.net

It probably helps to have a little background in microeconomics, literary theory and political philosophy to appreciate the full playfulserious subversive brilliance of Brad DeLong’s A Non-Socratic Dialogue on Social Welfare Functions, but even if you don’t have that background you will enjoy it. If you do have such a background, don’t read it while drinking coffee or there’s a serious risk to your keyboard.

What makes this entry particularly brilliant is not just the self-deprecating manner in which it clubs you over the head with its intelligence, but the hidden subversive message aimed at great philosophers of past, present, and future ages.

Answer key:

Plato - obvious from the cast
Marx - obvious from the text
Pirandello - well, it’s only two characters in search of an author, but it’s short
Stoppard - Think ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’
D-Squared - look here for more twisted economic theory edginess; alas there’s less of it here
Leo Strauss: If I explained that one I’d have to kill you. But look very very carefully at the last few lines of Brad’s essay.