Which was not JC but some of the forces of clerical reaction and feudal injustice.… Read the rest
Pope Could Be Even More Reactionary
Nov 14th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLucky us then.… Read the rest
It Gets in Everywhere
Nov 13th, 2005 11:01 pm | By Ophelia BensonIt’s funny about this piece by Ziauddin Sardar – it gave me quite a turn when I read it a few days ago, because I’ve been writing an article that talks about exactly, but exactly, an issue he discusses. It’s a rather important one, too, and one in need of as much clarity of thought as possible. Getting it wrong causes suffering all over the place.
… Read the restThe bearded and elegantly attired supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), the fundamentalist Muslim group, like to emphasise the non-violent nature of their party. As a recent press release put it, they “have never resorted to armed struggle or violence”. This is correct as far as it goes. While HT has openly engaged in the
Contributions
Nov 13th, 2005 7:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonA couple of amusing items sent by readers – by readers who are the creators of said amusing items.
John Emerson has a little rumination on Freud – possibly scurrilous, he says, but surely that’s a good thing.
Read Civilization and its Discontents lately? Remember the part about men peeing on fires to put them out? And why women like to weave? (Hint: it has to do with pubic hairs. Funny old women.)
So John pondered.
… Read the restI imagined a band of cave men gathered around a fire like the one I saw, incontinently and ecstatically squirting their tiny streams of urine in the futile effort to extinguish the raging fire, while at the same time their resentful, feminist wives tried
French Intellectuals Speak Up at Last
Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAndre Glucksmann and Bernard-Henri Levy say a few words.… Read the rest
Olivier Roy: Fundamentalists Conspicuously Absent
Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonContrary to the calls of many liberals, increased emphasis on multiculturalism is not the answer.… Read the rest
A C Grayling on Libertines and Free Thought
Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAtheists were libertines, libertines were naughty, because atheists were naughty.… Read the rest
Epistemology Quiz
Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUndiscovered ants in the Amazon…… Read the rest
Nick Cohen Says Food is a Class Issue
Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA healthy eater would brand herself as a toff and be picked on for being ‘too healthy’ and ‘too brainy’.… Read the rest
Warning of Epidemic of School Bullying in UK
Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Children are being brought up in a society where violence is the norm in many ways.’… Read the rest
Victimising Professor Mubarak Ali
Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIshtiaq Ahmed on a distinguished historian of Pakistan faced with absurd accusations.… Read the rest
The Interview
Nov 11th, 2005 7:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonI like this, so I thought I’d share. There’s this job interview for a prospective philosophy teacher, see…
… Read the restOther candidates should create distractions. One man illustrated proper logic with this syllogism:
All men are mortal.
Socrates is mortal.
Therefore, Socrates is a man.
I raised my hand. “Birds are mortal too, aren’t they?” I asked, hoping he would correct his error.
“Yes,” our teacher agreed.
“So Socrates could be a bird?”
He smiled benignly. “No. Socrates doesn’t have feathers.”
Legal Action Against God, Resident in Heaven
Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘God even claimed and received from me various goods and prayers in exchange for forgiveness.’ Cheater.… Read the rest
Debate on ‘Faith’ Schools
Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBritish Humanist Association education officer debates Bishop of Guildford.… Read the rest
Footballer Claims Vote Fraud in Liberia
Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonObservers have declared the vote peaceful and transparent.… Read the rest
The Badness of Two Books on Prayer
Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPeople who pray the hardest – for martyrdom, purity, the defeat of the infidel – pose the greatest threat.… Read the rest
Interviewing Philosophy Teachers Can Be Tricky
Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHe drew Plato’s cave on the board, complete with men, sun, shadows, and perhaps mice and lollipops.… Read the rest
Pat Robertson Pitches Fit at Dover Voters
Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTells them to ask Darwin for help if disaster strikes.… Read the rest
Daylight
Nov 10th, 2005 7:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonI was somewhat cryptic in that post ‘Interpretation’ yesterday. Deliberately, I suppose, because I wasn’t trying to make a flat assertion, but rather to point out possibilities – areas of murk, of darkness, of fog, of confusion. Of more than one possibility. Of epistemic uncertainty. Also because that post was only preliminary; I thought I would probably try to look at the subject further, later.
So, one thing I’m not saying is that there’s no reason for people in the banlieues to be angry. Hardly. No – but it’s not a choice between ‘people in the banlieues have every reason to be angry therefore the riots are political rebellion and nothing else’ and ‘people in the banlieues have no reason … Read the rest
Ziauddin Sardar on Hizb ut-Tahrir
Nov 10th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe caliphate of Hizb ut-Tahrir’s vision can be established only by doing violence to the rest of the world.… Read the rest