The aim of determining the truth of a statement is distinct from that of assigning epistemic blame or praise to a cognitive agent.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Yoga is not as old as you think
Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNor very Hindu, either. Meera Nanda takes on some nationalist myths.… Read the rest
Orlando
Mar 6th, 2011 11:42 am | By Ophelia BensonRemember Orlando Figes? Remember what he got up to?
The future of one of Britain’s leading historians was looking increasingly uncertain tonight after he admitted that he was the author of anonymous reviews that praised his own work as “fascinating” and “uplifting” while rubbishing that of his rivals.
Oh that. He used a pseudonym to trash people. This was considered a bad thing. Not an excusable little lapse in manners, but a seriously bad thing.
… Read the restJohn Sutherland, professor of English at University College London, suggested Figes’s position at Birkbeck could be under threat. “On the whole academics are pretty tolerant,” he said. “Clearly in the present climate he’s a star, and Birkbeck needs stars because of the upcoming research
Pakistan becomes a country at war with its minorities
Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt is becoming a country at war with its individuals, with itself, with you and with me, with the human desire to be allowed to believe what we believe.… Read the rest
“Pro-life” Republicans cut funding for poison control
Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonPoison control centers actually save far more money than they cost.… Read the rest
Jahanshah Rashidian on International Women’s Day
Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe world practically ignores the fate of hundreds of millions of Muslim women, who are victims of Islamic states or dominant Islamic traditions of misogyny.… Read the rest
Iran appointed to UN commission for status of women
Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA nation where we can be arrested for getting a suntan, or wearing too much makeup, will opine on ways to safeguard our rights.… Read the rest
Muslim physicist threatened for evolution lecture
Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia Benson“I seek Allah’s forgiveness for my mistakes and apologise for any offence caused,” physics lecturer Dr Usama Hasan said.… Read the rest
Nick Cohen on the assassinations in Pakistan
Mar 6th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWestern writers who want to criticize religious misogyny, homophobia, racism and censorship must also live with accusations of “Islamophobia.”… Read the rest
Kamila Shamsie on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonFrom the first, the new and expanded blasphemy laws were used as tools of persecution.… Read the rest
Ahmed Rashid on the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAs leaders worldwide strongly condemn Bhatti’s murder, the reaction of the Pakistani government has been vapid.… Read the rest
Worship is immoral
Mar 5th, 2011 4:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonAikin and Talisse (potentially startling many readers of 3 Quarks Daily) argue that religious belief is morally wrong.
The thought is frequently associated with Bertrand Russell: The worship of anything is beneath the dignity of a rational creature. That is, we argue that worship is immoral. Consequently, for any type of religious belief, if it requires one to worship anything, then it is intrinsically immoral. The argument turns on the claim that any conception of worship that’s worth its salt will involve the voluntary and irrevocable submission of one’s rational faculties to those of another.
That idea resonates with me, whether I know how to defend it or not. It addresses what I dislike about “faith,” even (or … Read the rest
Joseph Hoffmann on a secular ethics
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonA secular ethic will always require that religion enjoy no privileged status based on assertions of authority that are widely regarded as untrue.… Read the rest
Aikin and Talisse on the moral argument for atheism
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe hold that there’s something intrinsically morally wrong about holding religious beliefs. This perhaps is a startling claim.… Read the rest
Susan Jaboby on revolutions and women
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEgypt has many university-educated women. Will they be invited to the table when the organization of political parties begins in the post-Mubarak era?… Read the rest
When regulation is secretive, trust is all you have
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonScience is built on transparency, but the pharmaceutical industry is regulated behind closed doors; trust is all that’s left.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on torpedoing cherished ideas
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSuch as the efficacy of sniffer dogs, who turn out to be doing a Clever Hans.… Read the rest
Lying about Obama
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMike Huckabee said Obama’s perspective was shaped by “growing up in Kenya.”… Read the rest
PZ Myers reviews David Brooks’s sciencey novel
Mar 5th, 2011 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe neuroscience in the book feels a micrometer deep and a boring lifetime long.… Read the rest
Why Evolution is not Faith
Mar 4th, 2011 | By Franco HenwoodNine years ago, controversy erupted regarding a Christian school in the UK (Emmanuel College, Gateshead), which openly challenged the theory of evolution in its lessons and taught creationism alongside evolution.
One of the school’s defenders, journalist Melanie Phillips, quoted Emmanuel’s head teacher Nigel McQuoid and the former head John Burns, who stated that ‘the school should teach both evolution and creation theory [my italics], and that both are ‘faith positions [my italics].’[1]
You may think that this issue is now old hat, a storm in a tea cup that has long subsided. You may well be mistaken; if opinion polls are to be believed, such views appear to be gaining traction in the UK. One recent … Read the rest