So this is where blather about identity and diversity gets you.… Read the rest
Carlin Romano on Literary Reading
Jul 20th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCould newspapers and their cultural coverage have an influence?… Read the rest
Martha Nussbaum Interview
Jul 20th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCommunitarianism is rooted in idea of homogeneous groups defined as ‘normal’ – shame for the others.… Read the rest
Kennewick Man Case May be Over
Jul 20th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTribes have decided not to appeal to Supreme Court, so KM will not be reburied.… Read the rest
Funniest Book Review Ever
Jul 20th, 2004 12:00 am | By Ophelia BensonSince OB was talking about books below, I thought I’d just quickly flag-up the funniest book review I’ve ever come across.
I vow that if I ever get a review like this, I’ll frame it and stick it by my bedside table. Along with the letter from the guy from Australia who wrote to tell me that one of my books was “A disgrace to publishing”!*
*I should say I haven’t actually framed the letter because I lost it, but otherwise I would have done…… Read the rest
Oh That Old Thing
Jul 19th, 2004 8:02 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis again. Will it never go away? (No, of course not, because it serves a purpose, however wrong-headedly.) The old ‘atheism is a belief just as theism is’ number. This time it’s in a thread on secularism at Harry’s Place, in which Harry points out how indispensable active secularism has become.
… Read the restOnce was a time when the National Secular Society gave the impression of being one of those curious leftovers from the 19th century, membership of which was the preserve of eccentrics who enjoyed rehashing their Oxbridge debates about theology. Sadly, given the times in which we live, it is now a much-needed organisation and one which I intend to join and urge others to do so. The weekly
Ten Books That Shook the World
Jul 19th, 2004 6:34 pm | By Ophelia BensonNow that’s an idea. There are all these lists all the time – Prospect’s list of the top intellectuals, the BBC’s list of Favourite Reads or whatever it was called, Norm’s lists of everyone’s favourite movies, three novels (was it?), rock groups (that last one actually incited my colleague to vote, though he usually thinks he’s too good for such frivolities) (that’s a tease, obviously), and so on. Now Norm has a new list, just his own this time, of
… Read the rest10 great books of my life (sort of). Though I’ve been thinking about the list for some time, I protect myself against assault by saying that these are not necessarily what I judge to be the 10 most important of
Hansard Report on Blogging
Jul 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNew research shows that blogging can increase transparency and accessibility of parliamentarians.… Read the rest
Robert Owen Discovered the Moa
Jul 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonReconstructed iguanadon & archaeopteryx, and disagreed with Darwin.… Read the rest
Insane People Run Across US
Jul 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUltra athletes run ultra far in ultra events thus demonstrating ultra lunacy.… Read the rest
Animal Research
Jul 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonProtests and vandalism make research using animals difficult.… Read the rest
Who Does the Dying in Wars Against Tyrants?
Jul 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd who does the dying if the tyrants stay? Eve Garrard looks at the difficulty.… Read the rest
No Other Nation Has Witheld Funds
Jul 18th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Netherlands and others have increased donations to compensate for US reduction of funds.… Read the rest
US Witholds Funds From UN Population Agency
Jul 18th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLack of evidence no bar to decision that will cost lives.… Read the rest
‘What is not possible is not to choose’
Jul 18th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonJulian Baggini on the Kanto-Sartrean background of political emphasis on autonomy.… Read the rest
Quotations
Jul 17th, 2004 11:35 pm | By Ophelia BensonInteresting. I was about to type up a quotation from Simon Blackburn for something I’m working on, and before doing so thought I might as well check our Quotations in case we already had it there (then I would only need to copy it instead of typing). We don’t, but we do have one that is pleasingly relevant to the subject we’ve been discussing lately, along with Brian Leiter. So I thought I would put it here. It’s from Prospect, April 2003.
… Read the restIt is not the slavish remnant of a religious worldview to admit that the person who has gone and looked is more of an authority than one who has not. It is not just convention which
What Dictionary?
Jul 17th, 2004 11:03 pm | By Ophelia BensonAh good. Amazon has corrected the little oddity whereby it named the alphabetically first author of the Fashionable Dictionary and disappeared the alphabetically second one. I filled out the correction thing last week, but it looks as if Amazon has also heard from the publisher, because the jacket flap copy is now on the page, which it wasn’t last week. So here is the page. You can order your copy or copies right now, thus making a first printing of fifty thousand copies necessary. Or at any rate you can admire the page, and the jacket copy, and the presence of two names instead of just one, and the mention of B&W. Or you can just roll your eyes … Read the rest
Royals Have Reason to Fear Modernity
Jul 17th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChange is hazardous for the next incumbent of an office built on mystical tradition and continuity. … Read the rest
US Scientists Forbidden to Attend AIDS Conference
Jul 17th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘It is anti-intellectual and it is interfering with scientists and the scientific process’… Read the rest