March 2004
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Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Needs to Raise Money
Details here. Help them out if you can, it really is an excellent resource.
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It Doesn’t Have the Ring of “Texas Taliban”…
…but this article on “the Christian Taliban” comes to the same thing. The author writes: “During the Taliban rule of Afghanistan the world got a good look at what happens when religious zealots gain control of a government. Television images of women being beaten forced to wear burkas and banned from schools and the workplace…
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Philosopher Tim O’Connor Staying at Indiana
Timothy O’Connor (philosophy of mind and action, metaphysics, philosophy of religion) has declined the offer from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and will be remaining at Indiana University at Bloomington.
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“One Nation Under God”
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about whether it is constitutional to require those who want to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States to also affirm that the nation exists “under God.” My colleague Douglas Laycock, primary author a number of years ago of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (designed…
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Welcome Episteme, a new journal of social epistemology
I see that Episteme is now up-and-running; quite some time ago, it now seems, I happily accepted an invitation to be one of the many Consulting Editors for this new venture. One indication of the timeliness of this journal is the Intelligent Design debate in the United States, where, it appears, there are large numbers…
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More Fallout from the Harvard Law Review ID Scandal
Details here: “An effective program to prevent misstatements of fact in the context of stating opinions is also a critical component of credibility, even if it is not specifically identified as such. Exhibit A: The raging controversy over Van Dyke’s deceptive—even mendacious—’book note’, which has probably resulted in serious harm to the credibility of not…
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A Humanitarian Case for War in Iraq?
Generous reader Rob Sica wrote months ago as follows: “As a great admirer of your acute work on Nietzsche, I’m particularly well-disposed towards being disabused by you of my long-standing conviction that the humanitarian warrant for the war in Iraq trumps the countervailing considerations of its critics. As far as I can tell, David Rieff’s…
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Philosophers on the Move: Lots of News
Andy Clark (philosophy of mind/cognitive science), currently at Indiana University at Bloomington, has accepted the Chair in Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh, previously held by Huw Price (who is now back at the University of Sydney) and, before that, by Timothy Williamson (who is now Wykeham Professor of Logic at Oxford). Clark’s…
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Busy: Freud, David Lewis Syndrome, Epistemology of Proof, etc.
There’s been light posting as I’m just coming off two very busy days, though busy in the ways that make scholarly life so very satisfying. On Thursday, I spoke to the Philosophy Department at Texas A&M University about “The Hermeneutics of Suspicion: The Case of Freud,” and I’m grateful to the graduate students and faculty–especially…
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Smith Zaps Ackerman
Tom Smith (San Diego Law) brings his wicked wit to bear on Bruce Ackerman (Yale Law) who, together with my former colleague James Fishkin, has proposed a national “deliberation day” holiday prior to elections. Smith has another idea: “As an alternative, I propose that Congress appropriate $500,000, to be paid to Bruce Ackerman on the…
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Aleinikoff to be new Georgetown Law Dean
T. Alexander Aleinikoff, a leading immigration law scholar who moved to Georgetown from Michigan about a decade ago, has been named the new Dean of the law school at Georgetown. Details here.
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Another Voice on Intelligent Design and the Harvard Law Review
Kevin Drum, aka the Political Animal at Washington Monthly, aka, the former CalPundit, has kindly weighed in with his take on my critique of the Harvard Law Review, and the resulting brouhaha. (For my review of the whole business, start here and follow the links.) Mr. Drum, it is worth noting, is one of the…
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Chomsky Blog
It appears that Noam Chomsky now has a blog, at the Z magazine web site. Surprisingly, he has activated comments, which have already filled up with the typical brainless abuse one would expect a comments section on a Chomsky blog to have. The consequence, of course, will be that no one will look at the…
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A Poem for George Bush: “Sound Science”
Maybe Laura can read this one to him? Thanks to Mr. Hanrott for sharing it. “Sound Science” Robert Hanrott Washington, D.C. Three hundred years of Western science Were intended to reduce reliance On charlatans and superstition Improving knowledge, health, nutrition. Humans were expected to progress Out of an obscurantist mess, And, alchemy and ignorance spent,…
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Justice Scalia’s Ethical Problems Keep Getting Worse
Details here: “In a 21-page memo explaining his decision not to recuse himself from a case involving the vice president, Justice Scalia wrote, ‘We purchased (because they were the least expensive) round-trip tickets that cost precisely what we would have paid if we had gone both down and back on commercial flights…. “Justice Scalia and…
I respond to this report here https://jasonstanleyantifascist.substack.com/p/on-the-philosophical-muddle-that