Politics The hate that dare not speak its name 18 Sep 2009 It’s self-evident that a movement that calls the president a lying, socialist, Nazi eugenicist with a fake birth certificate is about something more than deficit spending. People don’t brandish automatic weapons and pray for the president’s death because they want to keep their employer-sponsored health plans. But to name the… Continue Reading
Biology Griffiths on Human Nature, report 14 Aug 2009 I see that Michael Fridman at a Nadder! has given a short rundown of Paul Griffiths’ lecture on Human Nature. I feel very guilty not to have done my own account. I have been trying to get my motorcycle registered, and it wasn’t that easy in New South Wales… So… Continue Reading
Freedom On the Gates arrest 26 Jul 200918 Sep 2017 I’m a long way away from this event which is taking up so much of the media’s attention in the States. So of course that means I have to say something about it. Continue Reading
Biology Some more reading 21 Jul 2009 While I compose my haiku philosophical masterpieces, read these links: Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
Ecology and Biodiversity Evolution and the law 17 Jun 2009 A new paper by Brian Leiter and Michael Weisberg entitled “Why Evolutionary Biology Is (So Far) Irrelevant To Legal Regulation” argues that evolution does not provide the legal system with any useful rules or guidance. Here’s the abstract: Evolutionary biology – or, more precisely, two (purported) applications of Darwin’s theory… Continue Reading
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Who’s responsible? 11 Jun 200922 Jun 2018 Also, it seems that one only is motivated by religion if one is not Christian. By Dan Mathewson. Continue Reading
Politics Christian soldiers 30 May 2009 When George Bush Shrubbery announced the invasion of Iraq, he called it a “crusade”, to the chagrin and horror of Muslims inside the US and out. The White House quickly backed down, but it now looks very like that is exactly how the US military has been pursuing the war…. Continue Reading
Evolution Blumenbach on the unity of the human species, and on species 19 Mar 200918 Sep 2017 Johann Friedrich Blumenbach is often criticised for his racial classification and supposed racism, but in this work, published in 1775, he not only argues for the unity of the human species, but in other passages for their general equality of intelligence, contrary to the use his ideas were later put… Continue Reading