All entries by this author

Science Teachers Refuse to Read ID Statement *

Feb 12th, 2005 | Filed by

The struggle between ‘Godly America’ and ‘Worldly America’ continues.… Read the rest



Happy Darwin Day *

Feb 12th, 2005 | Filed by

Science is our most reliable knowledge system, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity.… Read the rest



High Tension

Feb 11th, 2005 8:50 pm | By

A couple of further thoughts on the Taboo question. There is a lot of tension in all this – because there are some rational, non-ostrich-like, non-fingers-in-ears, non-You Can’t Say That reasons for worry about, for instance, saying that a particular identifiable set of people may have, in however small a statistical sense, less of a given ability than another set or sets. One such reason is the self-fulfilling prophesy. The worry is that if you tell people – especially and all the more so if you tell them officially academically scientifically studies have shownically – that they are, or they belong to a group or subset of the population that is, statistically, however slightly and tail end effectly, innately less … Read the rest



More Republican Fans Than He Wants *

Feb 11th, 2005 | Filed by

Hitchens was getting bored with politics and politicians.… Read the rest



Death of a Playwright *

Feb 11th, 2005 | Filed by

Michael Billington: ‘He had to create a tradition rather than inheriting one.’… Read the rest



Arthur Miller *

Feb 11th, 2005 | Filed by

Writing plays was for him like breathing.… Read the rest



Marxist Storm Eats Toast With Neocons *

Feb 11th, 2005 | Filed by

Sunday Times meets Norm Geras.… Read the rest



Norman Geras on the Reductions of the Left *

Feb 11th, 2005 | Filed by

When imperialism is the only thing and everything else is epiphenomenal.… Read the rest



Samantha Power on Bush Admin and ICC *

Feb 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Admin has denounced genocide in Darfur, good, but blocked ICC, bad.… Read the rest



US Opposes Criminal Court Action on Darfur *

Feb 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Bush administration doesn’t want to ‘legitimize’ the International Criminal Court.… Read the rest



No, US Was not Founded on ‘Christian Principles’ *

Feb 10th, 2005 | Filed by

The founders were deists and atheists, not godbotherers.… Read the rest



Michael Ruse’s Eulogy for Ernst Mayr *

Feb 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Long, detailed, indispensable.… Read the rest



Taboo U

Feb 9th, 2005 8:04 pm | By

There is a lot of discussion of the Taboo mentality going on right now – which is good, in the sense that the dangers of the taboo mentality are being pointed out, but it’s bad, in the sense that there is also a lot of Taboo mentality around right now. Is it worth it to have some people thinking badly to give an occasion for other people to explain what’s wrong with bad thinking? Wouldn’t it be better and simpler just to have everyone thinking clearly to begin with? Yes, probably, but since that’s not going to happen, it’s a good thing there are people around to do some nudging.

Salman Rushdie at Open Democracy, for example.

At Cambridge

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Brown v Churchill *

Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by

Is the issue free speech or academic standards?… Read the rest



A Genocide That Wasn’t? *

Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by

Thomas Brown says Ward Churchill invented a story of intentional smallpox infection.… Read the rest



Statement of Prof. Yakin Ertürk After Visit to Iran *

Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by

Discriminatory laws perpetuate violence against women. … Read the rest



Noah Feldman Reviews Books on Political Islam *

Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by

Concern about unintended consequences of civilizational encounters.… Read the rest



Salman Rushdie on the Danger of Taboo-thought *

Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by

The moment you say any idea system is sacred, freedom of thought becomes impossible. … Read the rest



The Star-nosed Mole and ‘Intelligent Design’ *

Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by

Evolutionary biologists have offered hypotheses for how complex things evolve in nature. … Read the rest



Taboo Mentality at Odds With Free Inquiry *

Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by

How much we want to believe a proposition is not a reliable guide as to whether it is true.… Read the rest