‘Yes, for me, it’s always been entirely natural to be literary and political at the same time.’… Read the rest
Marko Attila Hoare Reviews Occidentalism 
Jun 14th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Anti-imperialist ideas can become hostility to democracy, pluralism, the emancipation of women.… Read the rest
Libraries Matter
Jun 14th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Free public libraries have been an engine of social and intellectual improvement.… Read the rest
Brigham Young Philosophy Instructor Dismissed
Jun 14th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
BYU says philosophy department chose not to renew contract: editorial contradicted church statement.… Read the rest
On Teaching Philosophy to Teenagers
Jun 14th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
France worries about low marks, but UK universities find undergraduates bored by Descartes.… Read the rest
Interview With Rebecca Goldstein
Jun 14th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Spinoza’s system presents one of the most ambitious projects in all of Western philosophy.… Read the rest
Philosopher Rattles Cage of Abortion Opponents
Jun 14th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Luc Bovens of LSE argues that rhythm method may increase risk of early embryonic death.… Read the rest
Whereof we can speak
Jun 13th, 2006 7:12 pm | By Ophelia BensonOne reason I’m insisting on this idea that rational inquiry and discussion and argument are continuous rather than discontinuous with ‘the scientific method’ and empiricism is that non-rational, evidence-free truth claims are not arguable or discussable, which means that they’re authoritarian and coercive. That’s all obvious enough, but I think it needs spelling out. So people who try to argue that humanist truth-claims are radically discontinuous with scientific ones (apart from giving the game away by arguing themselves) are giving hostages to fortune. They risk handing us all over to people who make ‘faith-based’ arguments and expect the rest of us to accept them. You know, the ‘homosexuality is a sin and that’s all that needs to be said’ crowd. … Read the rest
NASA Admits Deutsch Muzzled a Scientist
Jun 13th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Internal inquiry reveals that a media request for an interview was inappropriately declined.… Read the rest
The View From Nairobi
Jun 13th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Islamist militia supported because populace fed up with secular warlords perpetuating violence.… Read the rest
Which is Worse: Sharia or Warlordocracy?
Jun 13th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No music, no dancing, no football in Mogadishu.… Read the rest
Review of Book on Amartya Sen’s Work
Jun 13th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Defining development as the process of improving human lives is not something we have always done.… Read the rest
Trial of Oriana Fallaci for Defaming Islam Begins
Jun 13th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Fallaci is alleged to have made 18 blasphemous statements in recent book.… Read the rest
Not Entirely Fuzzy, Actually
Jun 13th, 2006 1:24 am | By Ophelia BensonOne interesting and valuable current in the comments on Scott McLemee’s interview at Inside Higher Ed was the discussion triggered by Adam Kotsko’s comment:
… Read the restI’m glad to see that she at least concedes the existence of more fuzzy kinds of truth at the beginning and restricts the empirical kind to science and history — too often, arguments “defending” the existence of scientific empirical truth head down the slippery slope of asserting that such truth is the only real or worthwhile kind and that anything else is mere charlatanism. There are ways of making interesting and even (validly) persuasive claims about the world that do not mimic the scientific method. It would be great if everyone could agree on that principle.
Wales Millennium Centre Refuses to Cancel JSTO
Jun 12th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
More than 100 church leaders have signed a letter calling for the cancellation of the show.… Read the rest
What’s Up With Ann Coulter?
Jun 12th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
People like Coulter and Moore drive serious, nuanced conversation out of the market.… Read the rest
Milt Rosenberg Interviews Frederick Crews
Jun 12th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A great skeptic on psychoanalysis, intelligent design, and contemporary literary theory. … Read the rest
Shalini Umachandran on Human Rights Discourse
Jun 12th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Current human rights discourse only speaks of equality of opportunity.’ Really?… Read the rest
Julian Baggini on the Scottish Enlightenment
Jun 12th, 2006 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The French provided the Enlightenment with style, but it was Scotland that gave it its substance.’… Read the rest
Introducing Follies of the Wise
Jun 12th, 2006 | By Frederick CrewsOn the day after Christmas, 2004, as everyone knows, a major earthquake and tsunami devastated coastal regions around the Indian Ocean, killing as many as 300,000 people outright and dooming countless others to misery, heartbreak, and early death. Thanks to video cameras and the satellite transmission of images, that event penetrated the world’s consciousness with an immediate force that amounted, psychologically, to a tsunami in its own right. The charitable contributions that then poured forth on an unprecedented scale expressed something more than empathy and generosity. They also bore an aspect of self-therapy—of an attempt, however symbolic, to mitigate the calamity’s impersonal randomness and thus to draw a curtain of decorum over a scene that appeared to proclaim too baldly, … Read the rest
