The difference between the name and the thing 9 Sep 2009 Sometimes, comics do philosophy: Humor Philosophy
Academe Is reality liberal biased? Are liberals reality biased? 15 Jun 201118 Sep 2017 Josh Rosenau has a piece up on Chris Mooney’s latest article on the Republican war on science in the US. Conservative bodies around the western world seem to resist science when it conflicts with policy (usually driven by PR from large corporations), so the point is more than simply American… Read More
General Science Lucretius and the papal secretary 25 Feb 201927 Feb 2019 In 1417, during the Council of Constance that reunited the Catholic Church in the west, a papal secretary took advantage of the location in Germany to visit some libraries, while the papacy was vacant. He was hunting manuscripts, but not the newly written ones. Instead Gian Francesco Poggio was seeking… Read More
Education Tired debates 17 Apr 2010 There’s a whole bunch of arguments that are becoming very tiring, and in which I think we have made no apparent progress for far too long, such as the fooraw between Massimo Pigliucci and PZ Merkel, the German chancellor. I propose, therefore, to say nothing about them after this post… Read More
Richard Feynman put it well, also (paraphrasing): You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing — that’s what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.