A philosophy blog 24 Jul 2010 I have only just found the blog Journeyman Philosopher by Paul Mealing, a fellow Australian. It is a thoughtful and infrequent blog in which he deals with everything from quantum mechanics and time through to popular culture and speciation. I strongly recommend subscribing to this one. Mealing is a writer, not a professional philosopher (as you might have inferred from the title), which makes his posts the more remarkable. And he’s even been mentioned by Larry Niven! Administrative Philosophy AdministrativePhilosophy
Philosophy New book on Land Ethics 7 Aug 20247 Aug 2024 A friend and colleague, Roberta L. Millstein, who is emerit at UC Davis, has published a new book: The Land Is Our Community: Aldo Leopold’s Environmental Ethic for the New Millennium, which is available from The University of Chicago Press here. She defends Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic. The publisher’s blurb:… Read More
Administrative The “who” thread 8 Jul 2010 I am, as they say in The Home Country, gobsmacked. I expected that I would have a few geeks (I’m a Geek! Say it Loud!) who read me because I was sort of interesting. Instead I find Phuds, scientists, philosophers and just plain interesting people. If one is judged by… Read More
Administrative YAD (yet another delay) 16 Nov 201716 Nov 2017 So, I have been lax in posting lately. I ate’nt dead. I have been checking the proofs for my book, revising a chapter in a book, and revising a paper on species (or the lack of them as a theoretical category). Also, I’ve been running the AAHPSSS website and helping… Read More
Well, after a few comments with him. I’m afraid that either I’m pretty ordinary (as in brain dead) at thinking or Paul is just someone who finds it profound to proffer arguments from ignorance and incredulity. He finds the statement ‘The greatest mystery of the universe is that it created consciousness,’ even meaningful. It’s like asking why is there something rather than nothing? Argument from ignorance.
Just to demonstrate my militant atheist qualities. What does he mean by the universe creating anything? Is it god? Spinoza…..
For my part, I was rather unimpressed at Brian’s commenting style. Leaving aside the content of his comments, what irks me more is Brian’s failure to take responsibility for saying what he intends to say the first time he says it. At one point Brian posts three comments in a row, and later a further two comments in a row. We all occasionally need to write a postscript, but doing so with such regularity smacks both of laziness and of hogging the microphone. (It did not take long for Brian to dominate the ‘recent comments’ widget.) I think this is a bad habit. If it were my blog, I would have edited Brian’s comments by putting some of the postscripts in with the originals, and then deleting the former.
I think it’s just a very emotive topic for some folks Flesh eating dragon and one that it is difficult to grasp opposing perspectives or find any value in diffrent approaches. Presenting a fundamental and exagerated argument and going on academic jihad can be usefull and certainly in my time at uni. somewhat typical in the early stages of a debate. But it’s when both sides start to move, identify the fault lines in there own approach and meet in the middle that they are most succesfull. Somewhat problematic when they don’t and a particular identity becomes static and entrenched.