A best-seller about Leonardo, the Holy Grail and ‘the Goddess’ is a tad shaky on the facts.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Revolting Drivel
Aug 3rd, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe serpent stands for rationalist mischief, says godbothering ethicist Leon Kass.… Read the rest
A Degree in Sleeping and Not Washing
Aug 3rd, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDegrees in surfing, watching tv, games – vocational training or a waste of time and money?… Read the rest
When in Doubt, Pontificate
Aug 3rd, 2003 1:51 am | By Ophelia BensonWhat was that we were saying about certainty, and religion, and the Vatican? There just keeps on being more to say. There is for instance this lovely story about a Calgary bishop who announced that the Canadian Prime Minister’s eternal salvation is in jeopardy and that he could burn in hell. Oh well I suppose I could look on the bright side, couldn’t I. He didn’t say ‘The Prime Minister is definitely without question going to burn in hell,’ he said that he could. He said his salvation is in jeopardy, not that it’s already lost. Quite admirably flexible and latitudinarian, really! Or perhaps he is just (as we vulgar Yanks like to put it) covering his ass. Hedging … Read the rest
Canadian PM Could Burn in Hell
Aug 2nd, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCalgary bishop declares Chrétien’s eternal salvation is in jeopardy.… Read the rest
Edward Said on the Importance of Edward Said
Aug 2nd, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow odd – his book came out 25 years ago, and yet people still aren’t obeying it.… Read the rest
Ann Widdecombe Approves, Anyway
Aug 2nd, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Telegraph doesn’t mention any other MPs who like the Vatican’s statement on marriage.… Read the rest
The Vatican is Being Gravely Silly
Aug 2nd, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonShocking, cruel language, not open to argument – the Catholic church is being another Soapy Sam.… Read the rest
Funnier Than Anything Hope Ever Said
Aug 2nd, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonChristopher Hitchens’ loving tribute to a comedian whose only fault was total absence of humour.… Read the rest
Certainty
Aug 1st, 2003 8:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonWe’ve been talking about certainty…haven’t we? Oh yes, I remember, it was in the comments on Comments (Notes and) last week, the ones that got tragically swept away in the server mishap. But then in some sense B and W is always talking about things like certainty; about skepticism and doubt, relativism and foundations, truth and truth claims, accuracy and error, and how to know the difference. So I always pay extra attention when people talk about certainty. Mind you, that’s been true for years, since long before B and W was even a half-formed idea in its founder’s mind.
A rather frightening Tory politician by the name of Ann Widdecombe was on Start the Week the other day talking … Read the rest
A Bigoted, Misanthropic Elitist
Aug 1st, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow we miss him! Wendy Kaminer reviews a book on Mencken and religion.… Read the rest
How Are False Memories Formed?
Aug 1st, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStudy suggests how to increase memory without also increasing corresponding false memories.… Read the rest
Why Books Level the Playing Field
Aug 1st, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonStudents prefer prettier professors, and may learn more from them.… Read the rest
The Vatican Clears Things Up
Aug 1st, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHomosexual marriage not analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family. Oh.… Read the rest
Skepticism is not Cynicism
Aug 1st, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘To doubt claims that are not backed by evidence…seems only reasonable.’… Read the rest
Our Mole
Aug 1st, 2003 12:18 am | By Ophelia BensonHow B and W does keep rising in the world. A couple of weeks ago we had our first plagiarist, and now we have our first mole. I’m very chuffed. A mole in the Open University, this is, who has discovered a little vein of woolly thinking there.
… Read the restStudents of the Open University current undergraduate course on Renaissance studies have to learn of “the occult sciences, and … their very great contribution to scientific developments in this period” – something which might raise the eyebrows of one or two scientist historians of science. But I think most scientists, and many philosophers, might question the assertion “natural magic is best thought of as an esoteric form of physics”. I did physics
What’s the Problem?
Aug 1st, 2003 12:17 am | By Ophelia BensonThere is a highly interesting article in the July Prospect on a subject that, not surprisingly, keeps recurring on B and W: the quarrelsome relationship between journalism and truth. We examined the issue via the tale of Jayson Blair and the New York Times, for example, and also the self-contradictions and one-eyed views of the Guardian.
It is, after all, an important matter, isn’t it. Journalism is of necessity where most of us get our knowledge of what’s going on in the world. Even the movers and shakers, even the people who make things go on in the world, get some of their knowledge from journalism, and the rest of us naturally get most or all of it there. What … Read the rest
‘Journalists Aren’t Supposed to Tell Lies?!’
Jul 31st, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhen they tell a pack about him, John Lloyd discovers how unbothered they are about it.… Read the rest
Do Humans Make Progress?
Jul 31st, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAdair Turner says John Gray’s pessimism is overstated and his economics all wrong.… Read the rest
Science Does Progress
Jul 31st, 2003 | Filed by Ophelia BensonScience is not a matter of opinion, John Gribbin says.… Read the rest