The Independent goes along.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche as Business Advice
Sep 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘All around me businesses are going bust and this has made me very philosophical.’… Read the rest
Jonathan Rée on Nietzsche and Rée
Sep 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Robin Small writes on a philosophical friendship.… Read the rest
If You Want to Be a Millionaire, Get Yourself Raped
Sep 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Says Musharraf to the Washington Post. Women in Pakistan disagree.… Read the rest
Trade Union Friends of Israel Meeting
Sep 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jon Pike’s remarks on defeat of AUT boycott were like a sudden breath of fresh air.… Read the rest
Hitchens and Galloway Together at Last
Sep 16th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A debate.… Read the rest
Galileo, Therefore I’m Right
Sep 15th, 2005 6:24 pm | By Ophelia BensonThere was some discussion yesterday of what to call the ‘argument’ that goes along the lines ‘Galileo was ignored/suppressed/censored, I’m ignored/suppressed/censored, therefore my ideas are on a par with Galileo’s ideas.’ I said I simply thought of it as the Galileo fallacy. (Chris Williams on the other hand offered an alternative in the Bozo the clown fallacy. ‘They laughed at Newton, they laughed at Einstein…’ ‘Yes and they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.’ That works.) Once I’d said that, I thought I might as well google it – and behold, a few citations of the Galileo fallacy.
At Bad Logic for instance.
… Read the restJust about every logical fallacy ever imagined turns up in pseudoscience, including: “Galileo Fallacy” “They laughed at
When Feminists Defend an Antifeminist Custom
Sep 15th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Critics of the hijab were repeatedly challenged with a false dichotomy.… Read the rest
Reading Judith Shklar
Sep 14th, 2005 8:48 pm | By Ophelia BensonI’ve just been re-reading Judith Shklar’s 1989 essay ‘The Liberalism of Fear.’ It’s good stuff.
Skepticism is inclined toward toleration, since in its doubts it cannot choose among the competing beliefs that swirl around it, so often in murderous rage. Whether the skeptic seeks personal tranquility in retreat or tries to calm the warring factions around her, she must prefer a government that does nothing to increase the prevailing levels of fanaticism and dogmatism.
I read it the first time several years ago. I liked it – but certain resonances are even more resonant now than they were then (let alone than when she wrote the article, which was for instance before Yugoslavia fell apart).
… Read the restTo call the liberalism of
On the Other Hand
Sep 14th, 2005 6:50 pm | By Ophelia BensonSince I keep picking fights with Michael Ruse’s recent arguments, it’s only fair that I should point out this item I’ve just read on Philosophy of Biology. It’s a letter Ruse sent to the dean, which he posted by way of encouraging others.
… Read the restAs the disaster unfolds in New Orleans, I am sure I am not alone in wondering what I can do. So far, the FSU response seems to be that we must go on with the football game. Is it at all possible to offer something to the students of Louisiana? For instance, could we take some of them in for a semester or two and wave fees? It is surely not too late in the
Necessity, Military Tribunals, and the Law
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Milton Whiggishly said ‘necessity is ever the tyrant’s plea.’… Read the rest
Žižek! the Musical
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Scott McLemee talks to Astra Taylor about her film and popularizing the unpopularizable.… Read the rest
Bin Laden Appeals to the ‘Devout and Dissatisfied’
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He ‘sounds like somebody who would be a very high-minded and welcome voice in global politics.’… Read the rest
Conrad, Chesterton, the ‘Anarchist Epidemic’
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Taking the bus not as ‘a small act of courage and defiance’ but to go from Victoria to Green Park.… Read the rest
Some Opinions Have Changed on Some Things
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Fancy that.… Read the rest
The Da Vinci Code and Nonsense
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The story of the Priory of Sion is an elaborate hoax that first materialised in the 1950s.’… Read the rest
FEMA List Ignores Secular Agencies
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Has Pat Robertson’s ‘Operation Blessing’ in top three.… Read the rest
Opinion Poll on Iraqi Constitution
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
84% of sample support women’s rights.… Read the rest
Collagen Using Skin of Executed Prisoners
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I was very shocked that western countries can make such a big fuss about this.’… Read the rest
Academic Ethics, Accuracy, Retribution
Sep 14th, 2005 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A scholar points out numerous mistakes in Kierkegaard biography, and is censured. Why?… Read the rest