Boston Globe reporter’s book describes how the Bush-Cheney admin has expanded executive power.… Read the rest
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
On Consequentialism 
Sep 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Brad Hooker, a consequentialist himself, outlines and defends his position in this interview with Nigel Warburton.… Read the rest
Simon Blackburn on Moral Relativism
Sep 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Should we just tolerate other ways of living? Can philosophers be experts in morality? … Read the rest
Dawkins Meets (and Reviews) Hitchens
Sep 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
America is far from the know-nothing theocracy that two terms of Bush had led us to fear. … Read the rest
Women’s Rights? What Are They?
Sep 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Proposed law forbids abortions without written permission from the father of the fetus.… Read the rest
Italy Asks UK not to Deport Emambakhsh
Sep 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The case of Pegah Emambakhsh has become front-page news in Italy while going almost unreported in Britain. … Read the rest
Exam Plans are a Betrayal
Sep 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Royal Society of Chemistry head criticizes plans to make science questions easier.… Read the rest
Extract from Natalie Angier’s The Canon
Sep 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Science is huge, a great ocean of human experience; it’s the product and point of having the most deeply corrugated brain of any species this planet has spawned. … Read the rest
Boys Do Ruin Schools for Girls
Sep 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Boys benefit from being in a classroom with girls, but girls do not benefit from being in a classroom with boys.… Read the rest
Simon Caterson Reviews Grayling on Freedom
Sep 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is only in the past few centuries that any human beyond a tiny ruling class had any expectations.… Read the rest
David Thompson Interviews Tahir Aslam Gora
Sep 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘I cannot understand how Islam or any religion could be a complete way of life.’… Read the rest
John Allen Paulos on Goddy Math
Sep 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We read more about the intrusion of pseudoscience into school science curricula in the US.… Read the rest
Why is Academic Writing so Boring?
Sep 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A detective novel written by a good philosophy student would begin: ‘In this novel I shall show that the butler did it.’… Read the rest
Morris Dickstein on the Critical Landscape
Sep 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Books are still read and enjoyed, but the pleasure is had at the expense of analysis and criticism.… Read the rest
Secularism is an ‘Ideology Inimical to Religions’
Sep 4th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Secularists have a right to have a voice but not a voice to denigrate or relegate religions to a non-space.’… Read the rest
Susan Jacoby on Teresa’s Narcissistic Doubt
Sep 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Both the psychonanalysts and the priests think Teresa is even holier because of her doubts.… Read the rest
The Murder of Chauncey Bailey
Sep 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The editor of the Oakland Post was killed last month allegedly for investigating Your Black Muslim Bakery.… Read the rest
Reading the Presidential Advance Manual
Sep 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How to prevent protesters from showing up at public events.… Read the rest
Review of Frederick Crews’s Follies of the Wise
Sep 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Reports on a zone where political preferences often determine fact claims.… Read the rest
Mild Yasmin Alibhai-Brown Chastises Atheists
Sep 3rd, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Brash – fanatic – know they are always right – zealots – hysterical – dishonest – militant – fundamentalist –… Read the rest
