Update on update. Just by way of reporting, because I think it’s interesting, as a display of apparently unembarrassed irrationality and Bad Argument. I mean, this is a guy who teaches philosophy, at a university; a guy who, one of our readers reports, has written a book about bad arguments. And yet here he is. He doesn’t have time to answer everyone who disagrees with him, he wrote yesterday, and yet so far he has posted no fewer than five complaints about ‘the lack of decency, civility, and common sense’ and the illogic of people at Crooked Timber who take exception to his doggy analogy. And yet the posts at CT are in fact substantive; B-J could easily have addressed … Read the rest
All entries by this author
Female Genital Mutilation on the Rise in Europe
Nov 27th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
WHO says practice is increasing among immigrants in Europe, Australia, Canada and the US.… Read the rest
Don’t Equate Intellectuals With Academics
Nov 27th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Intellectuals still exist, just not in universities.… Read the rest
Landon Gilkey Obituary
Nov 27th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Theologian who argued for rational coexistence between science and religion.… Read the rest
Physician Heal Thyself
Nov 26th, 2004 7:41 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnother Update. This time on the matter of voting dogs and marrying gays, of the ethics and etiquette of comparing gays to dogs, of Johnson’s joke and rhetorical animalia, of ad hominems and arguments, of substance and style, of professionalism and irony, of sarcasm and insults, of cabbages and kings.
Chris at Crooked Timber posted yesterday about Burgess-Jackson’s, shall we say, provocative simile, with an amusing addendum about canine psephology. Burgess-Jackson commented on Chris’ comment later the same day.
… Read the restThe folks at Crooked Timber are having fun at my expense…What’s interesting (and ironic) is that nobody at the site engaged my argument. In the insular world of liberalism, argumentation is unnecessary. One mocks conservatives; one doesn’t engage their arguments. Perhaps
Or From the Other Direction
Nov 26th, 2004 6:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonUpdate. Well that’s quite funny. Brian Leiter comments on that unnoticed assumption I pointed out in the article on religious law schools – but he views it from a different angle. He’s right of course. In fact I’m hatching a comment to talk about that very issue, and have been ever since I read the article. It really is bizarre how cheerfully people disavow reason and rationality these days. One feels like asking them, solicitously, ‘Do you really want to say that? Are you sure? Have you thought it through?’
… Read the restOnly those on the Left are reasonable…
…according to this article about the growing number of new, overtly religious law schools (such as Regent, Ava Maria, St. Thomas in
Doctors Good but Prayer Makes Crucial Difference
Nov 26th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Girl recovers from rabies after experimental treatment; father credits prayer.… Read the rest
A Coffee-table Philosophy Book
Nov 26th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Review of David Papineau’s Philosophy: The illustrated guide.… Read the rest
Disclaimer Stickers for Science Textbooks
Nov 26th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia BensonTricky 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 Ophelia BensonThere’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 –
… Read the restThese new law schools say they are a sort of counterweight to the views that dominate legal academies in the United States. “The
What Rodinson and Derrida Had in Common
Nov 25th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Adam Shatz on two interpreters of maladies.… Read the rest
On a Hostile Obituary of Derrida
Nov 25th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
Article foolishly conflates rationalism with leftism.… Read the rest
Casino Buys Miracle Ancient Sandwich
Nov 25th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
Some say he ought to keep quiet.… Read the rest
Hey, No Problem!
Nov 24th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Islamist terrorism is driven by an idea, not by an organisation, so it’s not scary. Huh?… Read the rest