Tribal Sentimentalism a Threat to Democracy *

Nov 28th, 2004 | Filed by

A Wala feels superior to a Dagarti, the Dagombas and Gonjas feel superior to neighbours, the Asante feel superior to the lot.… Read the rest



What to Do About Chelsea Tractors *

Nov 28th, 2004 | Filed by

Try health-warning labels.… Read the rest



Belief

Nov 27th, 2004 8:42 pm | By

There’s a larger subject lurking behind (and propping up, motivating, triggering, etc) a lot of the issues we’ve been discussing lately. Belief. Belief in the sense of belief full stop, belief tout court, belief undefended and unexplained. Belief just because; belief because I said so; belief as intuition or instinct or inner voice or gnosis; belief that doesn’t have to give an account of itself; belief that is self-justified, which in other kinds of discourse is called a vicious circle or begging the question. The kind of thing Mill quotes Bentham teasing:

One man says, he has a thing made on purpose to tell him what is right and what is wrong; and that it is called a

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It’s Up to Five

Nov 27th, 2004 6:06 pm | By

Update on update. Just by way of reporting, because I think it’s interesting, as a display of apparently unembarrassed irrationality and Bad Argument. I mean, this is a guy who teaches philosophy, at a university; a guy who, one of our readers reports, has written a book about bad arguments. And yet here he is. He doesn’t have time to answer everyone who disagrees with him, he wrote yesterday, and yet so far he has posted no fewer than five complaints about ‘the lack of decency, civility, and common sense’ and the illogic of people at Crooked Timber who take exception to his doggy analogy. And yet the posts at CT are in fact substantive; B-J could easily have addressed … Read the rest



Female Genital Mutilation on the Rise in Europe *

Nov 27th, 2004 | Filed by

WHO says practice is increasing among immigrants in Europe, Australia, Canada and the US.… Read the rest



Don’t Equate Intellectuals With Academics *

Nov 27th, 2004 | Filed by

Intellectuals still exist, just not in universities.… Read the rest



Landon Gilkey Obituary *

Nov 27th, 2004 | Filed by

Theologian who argued for rational coexistence between science and religion.… Read the rest



Physician Heal Thyself

Nov 26th, 2004 7:41 pm | By

Another Update. This time on the matter of voting dogs and marrying gays, of the ethics and etiquette of comparing gays to dogs, of Johnson’s joke and rhetorical animalia, of ad hominems and arguments, of substance and style, of professionalism and irony, of sarcasm and insults, of cabbages and kings.

Chris at Crooked Timber posted yesterday about Burgess-Jackson’s, shall we say, provocative simile, with an amusing addendum about canine psephology. Burgess-Jackson commented on Chris’ comment later the same day.

The folks at Crooked Timber are having fun at my expense…What’s interesting (and ironic) is that nobody at the site engaged my argument. In the insular world of liberalism, argumentation is unnecessary. One mocks conservatives; one doesn’t engage their arguments. Perhaps

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Or From the Other Direction

Nov 26th, 2004 6:00 pm | By

Update. Well that’s quite funny. Brian Leiter comments on that unnoticed assumption I pointed out in the article on religious law schools – but he views it from a different angle. He’s right of course. In fact I’m hatching a comment to talk about that very issue, and have been ever since I read the article. It really is bizarre how cheerfully people disavow reason and rationality these days. One feels like asking them, solicitously, ‘Do you really want to say that? Are you sure? Have you thought it through?’

Only those on the Left are reasonable…

…according to this article about the growing number of new, overtly religious law schools (such as Regent, Ava Maria, St. Thomas in

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Doctors Good but Prayer Makes Crucial Difference *

Nov 26th, 2004 | Filed by

Girl recovers from rabies after experimental treatment; father credits prayer.… Read the rest



A Coffee-table Philosophy Book *

Nov 26th, 2004 | Filed by

Review of David Papineau’s Philosophy: The illustrated guide.… Read the rest



Disclaimer Stickers for Science Textbooks *

Nov 26th, 2004 | Filed by

This textbook states that the earth is over 4 billion years old. Well who believes that?!… Read the rest



1621: A Historian Looks Anew at Thanksgiving

Nov 26th, 2004 | By Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs

“A Thanksgiving for plenty. O Most merciful Father, which of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers of thy church, and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapnesse and plenty: we giue thee humble thankes for this thy special bounty, beseeching thee to continue this thy louing kindnes unto vs, that our land may yeild vs her fruits of increase, to thy glory and our comfort, through Iesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

This prayer of Thanksgiving was not used by the Pilgrims in 1621, but with these words we must begin, if we want to assess the claims that, “The 1621 gathering in Plymouth was not a religious gathering but most likely a harvest celebration much like those the … Read the rest



Questioning

Nov 26th, 2004 3:35 am | By

Tricky evasive rhetoric chapter 7863. A complaint about the New York Times’ obituary of Derrida. The obit was rather unfriendly, I noticed it at the time, but this article – well let’s have a look.

Derrida had advanced deconstruction as a challenge to unquestioned assumptions of the Western philosophical tradition.

Unquestioned assumptions? Really? Derrida single-handedly woke philosophy from its dogmatic slumbers? The ‘Western philosophical tradition’ was full of assumptions that no one had ever questioned until Derrida came along? Maybe that’s not what he means to say – but if it’s not, he’s a very bad writer, because that’s certainly what the article seems to be saying. And Derrida’s fans so often do seem to say things like that – … Read the rest



God Told Me The Defendant Did It

Nov 25th, 2004 9:55 pm | By

There’s nothing like going directly from John Stuart Mill to the kind of drivel one finds in, say, law schools that intend “to bring a religious perspective to the law and to legal practice.” The move from clarity and precision to muddle and sloppiness can be quite a shock to the system. As William Whewell must have found when he read what Mill had to say about his work. Poor guy. But maybe he didn’t read it.

The article in question is itself muddled, as well as reporting on an inherently muddled subject. Here for example –

These new law schools say they are a sort of counterweight to the views that dominate legal academies in the United States. “The

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What Rodinson and Derrida Had in Common *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Adam Shatz on two interpreters of maladies.… Read the rest



On a Hostile Obituary of Derrida *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Ross Benjamin accuses the New York Times of rehashing old affronts against deconstruction.… Read the rest



Why Rashomon and not Inorganic Chemistry? *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Why does cultural literacy mean literature and music but not science?… Read the rest



Law Schools With Religious View of the Law *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Article foolishly conflates rationalism with leftism.… Read the rest



Casino Buys Miracle Ancient Sandwich *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

10 year-old grilled cheese sandwich resembling virgin Mary sold on Ebay for $28,000.… Read the rest