Briefly 13 Jul 2009 Just a short note to interrupt the no doubt by now telepathic game of Mornington Crescent being played on this blog… I have give both my papers, one the the local conference and one to the international. It’s always really comforting when the leading historians in the field are sitting in your audience as you deliver some revisionary historical interpretation (in this case about Whewell and Mill)… and they’re nodding vigorously! Happened once before when I was criticising Ernst Mayr and one of his doctoral students, Jon Hodge, was in the audience at Exeter a couple of years ago. This is the first time my talk was on the first day of the conference, so I can now go and get pissed for the remaining three days. I may not be back for some time. Also, I seem to have lost my power supply for the Mac. But fear not! I am alive, and will return to blogging anon. Administrative History
History Reality, academe and the liberal bias 21 Feb 2008 The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article discussing a study as to why there are so few conservative academics, in the light of the campaign by conservative activist David Horowitz to propose and “academic bill of rights”. The answer? John Stuart Mill put it best: What I stated was,… Read More
Evolution Gods above 6 Jul 200922 Jun 2018 It’s no real coincidence that the standard metaphor for approaching gods is one of height. Humans not only defer to those who are “above” them in the social hierarchy, they also tend to defer to people who are literally taller than they are. Taller individuals tend to have higher status… Read More
Administrative Sorry for the absence 11 Sep 2010 I’m preparing my semester’s teaching. It starts Monday so I may be a little quiet for a while. Contribute to a discussion or write a HPS piece for Whewell’s Ghost. Read More