‘Scientist’ starts from absurd premise and arrives at ridiculous conclusion.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Norm Geras Encounters Some Nonsense 
Mar 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And wonders if there’s a way to decide whether it’s right or wrong.… Read the rest
Using the Word ‘Genocide’
Mar 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Turkish scholars challenge government version of 1915 Armenian genocide.… Read the rest
Back From Syracuse, Dr. Heidegger?
Mar 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What is it with intellectuals and dictators? Mark Lilla has a look.… Read the rest
Hemingway at his Most Eloquent
Mar 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bulls are great – they don’t write, they’re not queer, they’re not old women, and you can kill them.… Read the rest
Like Gibbon and Frazer Only in Bulk
Mar 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
William Vollmann’s seven volume work is swept away on a flood of logorrhea.… Read the rest
Postpositivist Realism
Mar 6th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Identity is fluid, until we have to deal with other people.… Read the rest
That’s an Accomplishment?
Mar 6th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘one of literary theory’s accomplishments…has been its bid to protect “the privacy of its language.”‘… Read the rest
Some People Disapprove of French Ban
Mar 5th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
US State Department, al Qaeda frown at ban on religious attire.… Read the rest
Ah, Sweet Mystery
Mar 5th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Popular science books ought to help nonspecialists distinguish sense from nonsense. … Read the rest
UK Still Dithering About GM Crops
Mar 5th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Parliarmentary committee calls for more trials.… Read the rest
Chris Mooney on ‘Sound Science’
Mar 5th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The phrases ‘sound science’ and ‘peer review’ may not mean what you think.… Read the rest
What We Don’t See
Mar 4th, 2004 8:08 pm | By Ophelia BensonWhat was that I was saying only a day or two ago about smelly little orthodoxies and the hijab? This article from the BBC certainly gives a good illustration of what I mean. Two mentions of Muslim opposition to the ban, and no mentions at all of Muslim support for the ban. If you don’t already know a little about the subject, and read that article, you’ll be left with the impression that Muslims who have any opinion on the matter are opposed. But that is simply not true. Forty percent of Muslim women support the ban, according to news reports I’ve seen.
… Read the restMost of France’s political parties, and around 70% of the population, support the ban which some Muslim
Elephants Can Be Irritating
Mar 4th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There are good reasons why Africans don’t view their fauna with the same sentimentality that Europeans do.… Read the rest
French Upper House Backs Hijab Ban
Mar 4th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Huge majority in favour of the ban.… Read the rest
A Basin of Nice, Thin Gruel
Mar 3rd, 2004 11:55 pm | By Ophelia BensonI want to talk just a little more about this question of morality and motivation. The more I think about it the more of a wall it seems. A dead stop, an aporia, a permanent undecideable. A six of one half dozen of the other. Norm Geras put it very well:
… Read the restI have read that in the Nazi camps, those who did best at maintaining their moral bearings, at not going to pieces in face of the horrors they daily had to experience, were people of very firm and definite convictions: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jewish rabbis, hardened communist militants. On the other hand, intellectuals, liberal and professional people, sometimes suffered a precipitous moral collapse…To have had to get used to conditions
Science Journal Publishers Defend Profits
Mar 3rd, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Journal bosses claim that academic institutions would suffer if the system were changed.… Read the rest
My, the Unabomber Writes Well
Mar 3rd, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How to grade millions of university-entrance essays? Clumsily.… Read the rest
Science in the Arab World
Mar 3rd, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What are the factors that contribute to the low level of scientific research?… Read the rest
GM Crops Can Help the Poor
Mar 3rd, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The strongest argument in favour of developing GM crops is the contribution they can make to reducing world poverty, hunger and disease.… Read the rest
