All entries by this author

Disclaimer Stickers for Science Textbooks *

Nov 26th, 2004 | Filed by

This textbook states that the earth is over 4 billion years old. Well who believes that?!… Read the rest



1621: A Historian Looks Anew at Thanksgiving

Nov 26th, 2004 | By Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs

“A Thanksgiving for plenty. O Most merciful Father, which of thy gracious goodness hast heard the devout prayers of thy church, and turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapnesse and plenty: we giue thee humble thankes for this thy special bounty, beseeching thee to continue this thy louing kindnes unto vs, that our land may yeild vs her fruits of increase, to thy glory and our comfort, through Iesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

This prayer of Thanksgiving was not used by the Pilgrims in 1621, but with these words we must begin, if we want to assess the claims that, “The 1621 gathering in Plymouth was not a religious gathering but most likely a harvest celebration much like those the … Read the rest



Questioning

Nov 26th, 2004 3:35 am | By

Tricky evasive rhetoric chapter 7863. A complaint about the New York Times’ obituary of Derrida. The obit was rather unfriendly, I noticed it at the time, but this article – well let’s have a look.

Derrida had advanced deconstruction as a challenge to unquestioned assumptions of the Western philosophical tradition.

Unquestioned assumptions? Really? Derrida single-handedly woke philosophy from its dogmatic slumbers? The ‘Western philosophical tradition’ was full of assumptions that no one had ever questioned until Derrida came along? Maybe that’s not what he means to say – but if it’s not, he’s a very bad writer, because that’s certainly what the article seems to be saying. And Derrida’s fans so often do seem to say things like that – … Read the rest



God Told Me The Defendant Did It

Nov 25th, 2004 9:55 pm | By

There’s nothing like going directly from John Stuart Mill to the kind of drivel one finds in, say, law schools that intend “to bring a religious perspective to the law and to legal practice.” The move from clarity and precision to muddle and sloppiness can be quite a shock to the system. As William Whewell must have found when he read what Mill had to say about his work. Poor guy. But maybe he didn’t read it.

The article in question is itself muddled, as well as reporting on an inherently muddled subject. Here for example –

These new law schools say they are a sort of counterweight to the views that dominate legal academies in the United States. “The

Read the rest


What Rodinson and Derrida Had in Common *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Adam Shatz on two interpreters of maladies.… Read the rest



On a Hostile Obituary of Derrida *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Ross Benjamin accuses the New York Times of rehashing old affronts against deconstruction.… Read the rest



Why Rashomon and not Inorganic Chemistry? *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Why does cultural literacy mean literature and music but not science?… Read the rest



Law Schools With Religious View of the Law *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Article foolishly conflates rationalism with leftism.… Read the rest



Casino Buys Miracle Ancient Sandwich *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

10 year-old grilled cheese sandwich resembling virgin Mary sold on Ebay for $28,000.… Read the rest



US Congress Approves Anti-abortion Clause *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

New clause in spending bill undermines state laws requiring hospitals to provide abortions.… Read the rest



Charles Tries to Take it Back *

Nov 25th, 2004 | Filed by

Some say he ought to keep quiet.… Read the rest



Hey, No Problem! *

Nov 24th, 2004 | Filed by

Islamist terrorism is driven by an idea, not by an organisation, so it’s not scary. Huh?… Read the rest



A Philistine Rant About Philistinism *

Nov 24th, 2004 | Filed by

Carlin Romano on a dumbed-down complaint at dumbing-down.… Read the rest



Faulkner Avoided Universities *

Nov 24th, 2004 | Filed by

Autodidact novelist shunned academics but became academic subject.… Read the rest



Dogs

Nov 23rd, 2004 10:18 pm | By

By way of contrast, here is Richard Chappel at Philosophy Etcetera actually thinking about the subject instead of just issuing dictats. Makes a change. He takes empirical evidence into account, linking to the New Scientist, and he looks at some feeble arguments. It’s good stuff. He also takes on a rather unpleasant analogy of Keith Burgess-Jackson’s. I was especially interested in that because a couple of readers have recommended KB-J to me, thinking that he and B&W have a lot in common. But I don’t think so. I haven’t bothered reading him much, but that’s because what I did read struck me as pure boilerplate. Uninspired, familiar, and peevish. The post Richard discusses is (in my view) somewhat worse than … Read the rest



Jeremy Bentham and Marvin Olasky

Nov 23rd, 2004 9:52 pm | By

Some more thought for the day. Because some days need more than one thought. And because Bentham is out of copyright, and because this is funny stuff. I haven’t been used to think of Bentham as a funny guy, but that just shows how much I know.

In looking over the catalogue of human actions (says a partizan of this principle) in order to determine which of them are to be marked with the seal of disapprobation, you need but to take counsel of your own feelings: whatever you find in yourself a propensity to condemn, is wrong for that very reason…In that same proportion also is it meet for punishment: if you hate much, punish much: if you hate

Read the rest


J S Mill

Nov 23rd, 2004 7:46 pm | By

Thought for the day. From John Stuart Mill’s ‘Whewell on Moral Philosophy’:

The person who has to think more of what an opinion leads to, than of what is the evidence of it, cannot be a philosopher, or a teacher of philosophers. Of what value is the opinion on any subject, of a man of whom everyone knows that by his profession he must hold that opinion?…Whoever thinks that persons thus tied are fitting depositaries of the trust of educating a people, must think that the proper object of intellectual education is not to strengthen and cultivate the intellect, but to make sure of its adopting certain conclusions: that, in short, in the exercise of the thinking faculty, there is

Read the rest


Studies on Politcal Affiliation in US Universities *

Nov 23rd, 2004 | Filed by

Dems outnumber Reps 9 to 1 at Stanford & Berkeley even in professional schools.… Read the rest



Life on Planet Charles *

Nov 23rd, 2004 | Filed by

Lecturing cancer doctors on Gerson therapy, struggling to live on £11.9m, scolding uppity proles.… Read the rest



‘Biblical Values’ Guy Interviews Peter Singer *

Nov 23rd, 2004 | Filed by

Ew, ick, gross, sex with corpses, how wicked.… Read the rest