''The Point'' is a thrice-yearly

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

established in autumn 2008 by editors Jon Baskin, Jonny Thakkar, and Etay Zwick, then doctoral students at the University of Chicago's

Committee on Social Thought The John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought is one of several PhD-granting committees at the University of Chicago. It was started in 1941 by historian John Ulric Nef along with economist Frank Knight, anthropologist Robert Redfield, and Univers ...

. The magazine, based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, publishes essays in literature, culture,

critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from soci ...

, politics, and the arts, as well as original art; its contributors are principally academics, although it is not an

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

. ''The Point'' was founded as a forum in which ideas of philosophical significance could be discussed “as active forces in our lives and cultures.” It was intended as a remedy to what its editors perceived as shortcomings in the intellectual climate, particularly to the deficit of “seriousness” in the content of popular magazines for an educated audience such as ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

''. Its issues typically feature a

symposium In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...

around which a number of essays are organized. The symposium is structured around a central question; past symposia have included, among others, the questions ''What is science for?'' and ''What are animals for?''. The magazine's editorial perspective strives to bridge scholarly writing and popular accessibility by preserving an attitude of intellectual rigor without abstruseness or academic jargon. ''The Point'', according to its statement of purpose, “is for anybody who is frustrated with the intellectual poverty of the majority of today's journalism and public discourse.” In the wake of the departure of numerous long-time editors at ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'', ''The Point'' established a campaign to position itself as a “home for strenuous cultural and literary criticism.”''Chicago Reader''. “''The Point'': Is the new ''New Republic'' published in Chicago?” February 24, 2015. http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2015/02/24/the-point-is-the-new-new-republic-published-in-chicago

Contributors

Notable contributors: *

Bill Ayers William Charles Ayers (; born December 26, 1944) rose to prominence during the 1960s as a domestic terrorist. During the 1960s, Ayers was a leader of the Weather Underground militant group, described by the FBI as a terrorist group. In 196 ...

Thomas Chatterton Williams Thomas Chatterton Williams (born March 26, 1981) is an American cultural critic and author.Lorraine Daston Lorraine Daston (born June 9, 1951 in East Lansing, Michigan) is an American historian of science. Director emerita of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin, and visiting professor in the Committee on Social Thoug ...

Raymond Geuss Raymond Geuss, FBA (; born 1946) is a political philosopher and scholar of 19th and 20th century European philosophy. He is currently Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge. Geuss is primarily known for three r ...

Yuval Levin Yuval Levin (born April 6, 1977) is a conservative American political analyst, academic, and journalist. He is the founding editor of ''National Affairs'' (2009–present), the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the Americ ...

Martha Nussbaum Martha Craven Nussbaum (; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philosoph ...

Robert Pippin Robert Buford Pippin (born September 14, 1948) is an American philosopher. He is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, and the College at the Univ ...

Steven Poole Steven Poole (born 1972) is a British author and journalist. He particularly concerns himself with the abuse of language and has written two books on the subject: ''Unspeak'' (2006) and ''Who Touched Base In My Thought Shower?'' (2013). Biograph ...

Lucy Sante Lucy Sante (formerly Luc Sante; born May 25, 1954) is a Belgium-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to ''The New York Review of Books''. Her books include '' Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York'' (1991) ...

Erik Olin Wright Erik Olin Wright (February 9, 1947 – January 23, 2019) was an American analytical Marxist sociologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, specializing in social stratification and in egalitarian alternative futures to capitalism. He w ...

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek (, ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New Y ...

Agnes Callard Agnes Callard (born Agnes Gellen; January 6, 1976) is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Chicago. Her primary areas of specialization are ancient philosophy and ethics. She is also noted for her popular writings and work on pub ...

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Point, The 2008 establishments in Illinois Committee on Social Thought Literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 2008 Magazines published in Chicago Triannual magazines published in the United States

Contributors

See also

Footnotes