Maryam Namazie’s obscurity remains baffling. She ought to be a liberal poster girl.… Read the rest
A S Byatt on Self-Portraits 
Oct 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Iris Murdoch believed Rembrandt’s self-portraits were a philosophic attempt on the truth.… Read the rest
Cosmopolitanism Forever
Oct 15th, 2005 9:07 pm | By Ophelia BensonRoger Scruton (yes, Roger Scruton – he’s not always rhapsodizing about the joys of fox hunting) makes a good point.
… Read the restThe danger that democracy will degenerate into a tyranny of the majority was clearly expressed by Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill. Both of them recognised, however, that democracy is not some kind of new departure which repudiates all that had gone before, but a system of government built upon a specific legal inheritance. Barnett & Hilton rightly refer to the rule of law and individual rights as the first of their principles of democratic government. These were historical achievements of the European legal and judicial systems. They preceded democracy and have not been replicated everywhere. Until they
Mixed Reviews of Pinter Nobel
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Stoppard, Frayn, Hitchens, Redgrave C.… Read the rest
Students Drop Bad Role Model Smith
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘This isn’t an attack upon Adam Smith as a person.’ Whew!… Read the rest
Adam Smith Students Change Name
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Newly named Jennie Lee College Students’ Association refuses to use Smith’s name in correspondence. … Read the rest
A Scientific Theory is Not a Guess
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A scientific theory is a machine that produces sensible explanations. … Read the rest
Delusions Come in Waves
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Mumbo-Jumbo confronts hydra-headed threat to intellectual and scientific foundations.… Read the rest
The Prospect List is a Stupid List
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s not about the best or the most important public intellectuals, but the most famous ones.… Read the rest
Roger Scruton: Democracy or Theocracy?
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Secular government is the sine qua non of democracy, and theocracy is its natural opponent.… Read the rest
Iranian Women Bloggers
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Why don’t women in villages ‘endanger Islam’ by not wearing the hijab?… Read the rest
UN Withdraws Non-essential Staff From Darfur
Oct 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Increase in violence has made most of west Darfur off-limits to aid agencies. … Read the rest
Medievalism Rampant
Oct 14th, 2005 6:54 pm | By Ophelia BensonThe bishops have no right to restrict our right to die…This week’s debate on Lord Joffe’s bill on assisted dying for the terminally ill turned into a remarkable battle between the forces of the enlightenment and a barely disguised medievalism. Who rules here? God or man? How loud the voice of religion sounded in this, the world’s most secular nation. So much religious thinking still permeates every aspect of public life as, somehow or other, the religious occupy disproportionate positions of power wherever you look – from prime minister and half the cabinet to the head of the BBC.
That’s one reason pious cant about ‘ceremonial theism’ won’t fly. It’s never safe to assume that … Read the rest
Gray on Grayling on Descartes
Oct 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Shows Descartes to be more interesting than the closeted introvert in standard histories of philosophy.… Read the rest
Liberals Must Return to Their Paleo-liberal Roots
Oct 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There’s a faction on the left whose sympathies lie with nostalgic fascists. … Read the rest
Bouyeri, Hofstad Network, Burqa Ban
Oct 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Acting out of ‘religious conviction’ is not necessarily problem-free.… Read the rest
Battle Between Enlightenment and Medievalism
Oct 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Religious thinking still permeates public life as the religious occupy positions of power.… Read the rest
Only Greater Rights for Women Can End Poverty
Oct 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Report calls for government action to free women from poverty and ignorance their cultures impose.… Read the rest
Rampant Violence Against Women
Oct 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
UN Population Fund report found 94 percent of women in Egypt think it’s ok to be beaten.… Read the rest
Pinter’s Dramatic Impact
Oct 13th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Pinter remains…a questioner of accepted truths.’ Some of them.… Read the rest
