All entries by this author

Interview With Daniel Dennett *

Mar 13th, 2006 | Filed by

‘There were too many presumptions in the air about the elevated status of religious presuppositions.’… Read the rest



Marek Kohn on Breaking the Spell *

Mar 13th, 2006 | Filed by

Scientists must develop accounts of how religion arises from the way the mind works. … Read the rest



Public Disclosure Versus Free Speech *

Mar 13th, 2006 | Filed by

A conflict inherent in the pairing of money and politics.… Read the rest



Science Fuller Religion

Mar 13th, 2006 12:15 am | By

Good, someone else besides Richard Dawkins and PZ and me who thinks science and religion are not compatible.

At an August 2005 City College of New York conference featuring a panel of Nobel Laureates, one scientist created a stir by arguing that belief in God is incompatible with being a good scientist and is “damaging to the well-being of the human race.”…Hauptman: The only significant negative reaction came from Cornelia Dean, a reporter from The New York Times. I was later told by several of the other Nobel Laureates that they agreed with me, but for reasons of their own, they just did not respond…[O]bviously this view is unpopular in this overly religious society. People who are outspoken

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The Marshy Ground Between

Mar 12th, 2006 8:15 pm | By

And more again. It seems worth trying to figure all this out and get clear what we’re talking about (I think discussions about free speech tend to be surprisingly unclear). With clarity goes honesty, rather than the hypocrisy that cartoon-offended Muslims accuse defenders of ‘blasphemous’ cartoons of, in some ways with justice.

To repeat, or restate. I’m claiming that disputes like the ones over the prophet cartoons and over Irving and Holocaust denial are not simply a matter of Free Speech full stop, or of Free Speech unless there is imminent danger of physical harm. They’re also not a matter of either-or, all or nothing; not a matter of: either criminalization or unqualifed Right; it’s a matter of what lies … Read the rest



Wafa Sultan Talks on Al Jazeera *

Mar 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Working on a book that, if it is published, is going to turn the Islamic world upside down.… Read the rest



Steve Fuller is Back *

Mar 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Prattling of demonization, disciplinary narrative, uniformly establishmentarian scientific sympathies.… Read the rest



Dan Brown a Crap Writer but Must Win Case *

Mar 12th, 2006 | Filed by

If ideas can be copyrighted, intellectual life is doomed.… Read the rest



Badiou and Critchley Have a Chat *

Mar 12th, 2006 | Filed by

Badiou’s close questioning of such concepts as evil and democracy have gained attention.… Read the rest



Islamists of Sudan Claim Liars are Libeling Them *

Mar 12th, 2006 | Filed by

‘Fashion matters and today the fashion is to ignore genocide.’… Read the rest



Belief in God Incompatible With Science *

Mar 12th, 2006 | Filed by

‘A good scientist insists that, before one assents to a claim, there must be good evidence for that claim.’… Read the rest



What Trumps What

Mar 11th, 2006 6:56 pm | By

Another thought or two on free speech and lying.

Part of what I think I disagree with is Norm’s implication that there are only two possibilities, protection of lying as free speech or criminalization of it.

Now, even though Ophelia puts the point interrogatively and not as a conclusion, one can only assume she does so to leave open the possibility that falsehood, lying and such shouldn’t be protected under norms of free speech, and therefore may in certain circumstances be criminalized.

I’m not sure that ‘therefore’ is a therefore. I’m not sure that failure or refusal to protect X translates to a belief that X should or may be criminalized. It seems to me it can fall well short … Read the rest



Vatican, Confused, Endorses School ‘Islamic Hour’ *

Mar 11th, 2006 | Filed by

Islamic hour one in a string of demands by a group close to the Muslim Brotherhood.… Read the rest



Resisting Creationism and ID *

Mar 11th, 2006 | Filed by

The Alliance for Science.… Read the rest



Review of Making Sense *

Mar 11th, 2006 | Filed by

‘A philosophical primer that also offers readers a modest critical apparatus.’… Read the rest



Where Nationalism and Ethnic Identity End Up *

Mar 11th, 2006 | Filed by

‘Whole populations were forced from their homes, for some the fate was far worse.’… Read the rest



Milošević is Dead *

Mar 11th, 2006 | Filed by

First head of state indicted for crimes against humanity found dead in cell in The Hague.… Read the rest



Must not Strive Officiously to Keep Alive

Mar 10th, 2006 7:01 pm | By

Norm wrote a post a few days ago on lying as speech, taking off partly from some of my posts on Irving. I’ve been wanting to consider the subject a little more.

I think we may be talking about slightly (or perhaps not so slightly) different things.

Now, even though Ophelia puts the point interrogatively and not as a conclusion, one can only assume she does so to leave open the possibility that falsehood, lying and such shouldn’t be protected under norms of free speech, and therefore may in certain circumstances be criminalized.

Hmm. No, it’s not really criminalization that I’m talking about. I don’t think Irving should be in prison, but I’m not sure I therefore think … Read the rest



Guardianophobia

Mar 10th, 2006 5:13 pm | By

This is an immensely irritating article. Very typical, and symptomatic, and all the more irritating for that.

More than half of Americans believe there are more violent extremists within Islam than in any other religion and that the faith encourages violence against non-Muslims, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll yesterday…Analysts blame the surge on a confluence of factors…above all, the riotous protests across the Muslim world against Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.

Analysts ‘blame the surge’ on ‘riotous protests’ in which a lot of people were killed – killed dead, over some cartoons, the most ‘offensive’ of which was faked. Well, yes, that probably was a factor. In other words analysts ‘blame the surge’ on real events, … Read the rest



‘Islamophobia’ Worse in US *

Mar 10th, 2006 | Filed by

Analysts say ‘demonisation’ of Islam by politicians and the media has eroded tolerance.… Read the rest