You Gov poll commissioned by Dignity in Dying showed overall public support for the law.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Lords Block Assisted Dying Bill
May 12th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThank the archbishops if you die in pain.… Read the rest
The Loony Scientist Stereotype
May 12th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow it does linger.… Read the rest
Fired Editor of CMAJ on Editorial Independence
May 12th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The notion that politically sensitive topics can be expunged from a medical journal is folly.’… Read the rest
Poland Bans Some TV Ads During Pope’s Visit
May 12th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAlcohol, underwear, contraceptives (well duh), and – sanitary towels? Because…?… Read the rest
Polly Toynbee Resists Cabal of Believers
May 12th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Today is the day when the forces of superstition will try to cut off any further debate.’… Read the rest
Religious ‘Leaders’ Team Up to Fight Legislation
May 12th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘We believe that all human life is sacred and God-given.’ That’s nice, but so what?… Read the rest
Letters on Breathtaking Arrogance of Christians
May 12th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAtheists need neither heavenly carrots nor hellish sticks to persuade us to be moral, ethical persons.… Read the rest
Threat Threat Threat Bless You
May 12th, 2006 1:27 am | By Ophelia BensonAnd there arose a great noise in the land, and a whirling on the waters, and the people were sore afraid, or upset, or worried, or puzzled, or something. Why? Because of a movie, of course. What movie? you ask, all athirst to know. Well what movie do you think? The Rembrandt code, of course. No no, I know; the Renoir code. No no, I’m just playing silly buggers; the Kandinsky code. Oh all right, the Da Vinci Code. (A title which causes a faint electrical hum of irritation every time I hear or see it, because as any fule kno, Da Vinci is not Leonardo’s surname. It’s like titling a book and movie The Of Devonshire Code after the … Read the rest
The I Word
May 11th, 2006 6:15 pm | By Ophelia BensonThought for the day. From Dave Hill at ‘Comment is Free’.
… Read the restWhy are some progressives turning against identity politics? After all, aren’t they the means for liberating the oppressed? In fact, they have always had their critics from the left. But Islamic terrorism has, I guess, provided a new and more public momentum. Awkward questions are being asked, not least on this site: how can liberals support assertions of Muslim identity when these include the subordination of women and hatred of gays? How can the anti-war left march hand-in-hand with hardline Islamists? Tricky issues. And I’m a bit conflicted about them. I’m wary of accidentally joining in with the dreary right-wing drone about “victim culture”, “multiculturalism” (whatever they think
the Foucauldian in the Leather Jacket
May 11th, 2006 5:42 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis little aside in Scott McLemee’s column made me laugh.
… Read the restFor better and for worse, the American reception of contemporary French thought has often followed a script that frames everything in terms of generational shifts. Lately, that has usually meant baby-boomer narcissism – as if the youngsters of ‘68 don’t have enough cultural mirrors already. Someone like Bernard-Henri Lévy, the roving playboy philosopher, lends himself to such branding without reserve. Most of his thinking is adequately summed up by a thumbnail biography – something like, “BHL was a young Maoist radical in 1968, but then he denounced totalitarianism, and started wearing his shirts unbuttoned, and the French left has never recovered.” Nor are American academics altogether immune to such prepackaged
One Review
May 11th, 2006 5:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonFunnily enough, reviewers aren’t thronging and jostling to review Why Truth Matters. Maybe they figured out that it was actually an extended exercise in irony, or something, and didn’t want to be made to look foolish by taking it seriously. Anyway there is one review from Library Journal, posted at Barnes & Noble.
Benson and Stangroom (coeditors, www. butterfliesandwheels.com) set out to prove why truth matters. Their argument isn’t so much one for truth as one against ideologies and philosophies that minimize truth’s importance. These counterarguments include discourses on basic human thought, cultural relativism, political reasoning, feminism, and other current and historical thought movements. The writing is superbly engaging, and each chapter is well argued. But the … Read the rest
Should Bristol Apologize? If So, to Whom?
May 11th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPerhaps the apology floats in a vacuum and doesn’t need anyone to receive it.… Read the rest
Official Wants Da Vinci Movie Banned
May 11th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCoz it’s blasphemous.… Read the rest
Friends and Colleagues Sign Letter
May 11th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Very anxious about the fate of our friend, we urge his immediate release.’… Read the rest
Worries Over Torture, Forced ‘Confession’
May 11th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJahanbegloo accused of relations with foreigners.… Read the rest
Janet Afary, Juan Cole on Jahanbegloo Arrest
May 11th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMESA and ISIS express concern in letter to Khamenei.… Read the rest
Scott McLemee on Pierre Rosanvallon
May 11th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNeither giving two cheers for democracy, nor calling for more of it; what does that leave a philosopher to do?… Read the rest
Dave Hill on Identity
May 11th, 2006 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhile identity politics can be a rational response to oppression they can also be deeply reactionary.… Read the rest
Go and Sin no More
May 10th, 2006 5:43 pm | By Ophelia BensonLet’s talk about sin. We don’t talk about sin enough, I’ve noticed. We’re very slack that way. Very lax. Very slothy and loose and – well – sinful. So let’s give it a look-see.
First let’s see what a godless philosophy type has to say about it.
…ideas of right and wrong can be entirely separated from ideas of what is sinful. Aristotle, for example, thought of good and bad in terms of what allowed human beings to flourish as rational animals, with no reference to God’s will. Whereas sin separates us from the divine, doing wrong separates us from our true natures or our fellow humans.
Got it. Okay. Sin separates us from the divine, so for those of … Read the rest