Introductory Post

Hello. My name is David Nagy, and this is my blog, "The Beautiful Night." Here, I will mainly be talking about politics, philosophy, and fiction.

1) Politics: Politics is my main theoretical interest, and has been for a while. When I was a teenager, I was a libertarian; until a few years back, I was a liberal; now, I'm a leftist, though I don't identify with any particular stream of leftist thought. If I had to apply a label to myself, it would be "radical democrat" (with a lowercase 'd'). Much more information on all of this, as well as commentary on other political theories, particular political issues, social justice stuff, etc., will be coming in the weeks, months, and years to come.

2) Philosophy: I'm currently studying for a PhD in philosophy (at the ABD stage). As I've said, my main interest is politics, but more political theory than individual issues/activism; moreover, I enjoy other subfields of philosophy other than just politics. As such, I will also be posting about non-political (or at least, seemingly non-political) philosophical topics here, though I will strive to do so in an accessible way.

3) Fiction: I have a huge amount of respect for fiction, both as a way of understanding the world and as a way of seeing how other people understand the world. I also respect, and am interested in, analysis and critique of fiction, especially so-called "pop-cultural" fiction. Part of this blog, then, will be reviews and analyses of various narrative-driven artistic works. Since my favorite type of fiction is Japanese anime and manga, that will be my focus, though Western movies, TV shows, books, etc. will also show up occasionally.

For now, I will be posting twice a week, on Thursdays and Sundays by 12pm midnight. Once I get used to it, I will attempt to speed up this posting rate.

I hope you enjoy reading my blog!