All entries by this author

There It Is Again

Oct 4th, 2004 8:08 pm | By

A small point. But I’m going to make it anyway, because I think it matters. Just the other day (well, September 21, actually, I find upon looking) I was talking about that translation problem – when sensible people say ‘There is evidence/there is no evidence that etc.’ and their hearers translate that (apparently without even realizing that they are translating) into ‘That is proved/proved not.’ I’ve just noticed another example, in a teaser at Arts & Letters Daily (where you would really expect them to know better, frankly, since Denis Dutton is a bit of a shark about Bad Thinking himself).

Capital punishment. Janet Reno says it doesn’t cut murder rates, Orrin Hatch says it does. Who’s right? Easy question?

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Next Week?!

Oct 4th, 2004 5:46 pm | By

Well here’s a surprise – things are speeding up. The book is not coming out on October 28 after all, it’s coming out next week. It will be in all good bookshops (and, let us hope, in all bad ones as well, and mediocre ones besides, as well as adequate, so-so, okay, crapulous, and pathetic ones) for your viewing and buying pleasure. And I’ll be able to get off the plane and take my tiny red eyes into the first bookshop I see and there it will be (unless it isn’t). (Perhaps it won’t be because there will have been a rush and all copies will have sold out. Because people are finding it funny, you know. People at Smiths, … Read the rest



Comparative Studies v Econometrics *

Oct 4th, 2004 | Filed by

Econometric studies are not useful when relying on limited data – as with capital punishment.… Read the rest



Versatile Jon Stewart *

Oct 4th, 2004 | Filed by

Combines political satire and a critique of post-Hegelian philosophy?… Read the rest



Education, Race and Culture

Oct 3rd, 2004 9:38 pm | By

Harry at Crooked Timber had an interesting post a couple of days ago on an issue that has been kicking around for quite awhile now: the issue of minority underachievement in school and what causes it. Another way to characterize the issue might be whether it’s just one thing that causes the underachievement or an array of factors, and if it is an array of factors, what they are and how significant each is, and whether and why some get more attention than others. Whether and why some factors are downplayed or ignored while others are exaggerated and overfocused on.

Harry puts it this way:

Our school district devoted another in-service training to the Courageous Conversations program; every employee (except

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Walking Down the Runway in a Donna Karan Creation

Oct 3rd, 2004 8:43 pm | By

My colleague has been slaving over a hot stove for days, and at last the meal is just about cooked. And I must say I think it’s a triumph and worth the wait. Check it out. That’s TPM’s (The Philosophers’ Magazine Online’s) new look. Is that gorgeous or what. Look at the magical quotations thing. Look at the new section for News. Look at the bright clean colourful sparkle of it all. That’s what I call Web design.

And if you notice any problems (‘glitches’ I believe they’re called), don’t hesitate to comment or to email JerryS.… Read the rest



Are Racist Teachers the Problem? *

Oct 3rd, 2004 | Filed by

Or are there other reasons for minority school achievment gap?… Read the rest



‘Faith-based’ Solutions Have Evidence Problem *

Oct 3rd, 2004 | Filed by

Rhetoric of results but no accountability.… Read the rest



14th Annual Ig Nobel Awards *

Oct 3rd, 2004 | Filed by

It’s not exactly a joke, it’s found satire.… Read the rest



Beyond the Multicultural Ghetto *

Oct 3rd, 2004 | Filed by

The cure for bad history is not more bad history.… Read the rest



Review of Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century *

Oct 3rd, 2004 | Filed by

Not about womanizing of Russell and Ayer or Ryle’s influence on The Police.… Read the rest



Assorted Cheeses

Oct 2nd, 2004 7:23 pm | By

This interview with Jamie Whyte is full of good quotable remarks. So I think I’ll quote some for your Saturday enjoyment.

It has always driven me mad to see people saying things that are well known to be rubbish. And I’ve never understood how they can bear it.

A good beginning.

The really big mistake comes when you treat people as authority figures when they are not expert but simply well known. There is a terrible tendency to treat people as reliable sources of fact when in fact they are simply “important” people or people who happen to be in the news. It is doubly perverse when you consider who gets counted as “important”.

Yup. We noticed that in connection … Read the rest



Moral and Political Dilemmas *

Oct 2nd, 2004 | Filed by

Cheap food, liberty v security, problem neighbours, asylum, justice v forgiveness…… Read the rest



Get it Right or Shut Up *

Oct 2nd, 2004 | Filed by

Jamie Whyte on beliefs as part of your wardrobe.… Read the rest



Not Galileo

Oct 1st, 2004 8:51 pm | By

I was reading a book by Philip Kitcher, Science, Truth, and Democracy, earlier this morning. He says some interesting things about people doing the Galileo thing. Page 101 for instance –

People who publish findings purporting to show that behavioral differences stem from matters of race or sex often portray themselves as opposing widely held views in the interest of truth.

And page 106 and 107 –

Prejudice can be buttressed as those who oppose the ban [on research into race differences in IQ] proclaim themselves to be gallant heirs of Galileo…So long as the conditions driving the argument are not appreciated, champions of the forms of inquiry that should be eschewed can always make use of the rhetoric

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Under Discussion

Oct 1st, 2004 7:02 pm | By

Funny, that comment I did on Arundhati Roy was a catch-up item, as I said, left over from weeks ago, but I no sooner post it than there is a small flurry of posts on Roy because of an interview with her in Outlook India (which I hadn’t seen). She does say one or two woolly things there.

Mind you – to be fair, she also says some okay things. I may be unfair to her because her manner puts me off – and that’s not really a very compelling reason. She may not be as smug as she appears (just as I may not be as deranged and malicious as I appear – who knows). Though I am not … Read the rest



Total Entertainment All the Time *

Oct 1st, 2004 | Filed by

You mean consumption and entertainment is not what education is about?… Read the rest



Anything Wrong With the Academic Bill of Rights? *

Oct 1st, 2004 | Filed by

How could there possibly be a problem with legislators micromanaging universities?… Read the rest



Who Loses in the Truth Wars?

Oct 1st, 2004 | By Julian Baggini

Freud once wrote, “Intolerance of groups is often, strangely enough, exhibited more strongly against small differences than against fundamental ones.” This is certainly true of intellectuals. The problem is that if you look at anything very closely, including ideas and ideals, differences which appear small from the wider perspective suddenly appear very large indeed. And so it should be. It is precisely our ability to examine the objects of intellectual endeavour closely and discern differences invisible to the naked mind’s eye which allows us to deepen and extend our learning in the humanities and the sciences.

However, if we never step back and examine the broader picture, we can become blinded to some important features of intellectual life which should … Read the rest



Archive

Oct 1st, 2004 1:34 am | By

Archive

August ’04

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January 2004

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