September 2005
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Thus Spoke Hume
A propos the item on the dysfunctionality of religious societies in comparison to secular ones, Huw Price (Philosophy, Sydney) calls to my attention the following sharp observations of Hume: How happens it then…if vulgar superstition be so salutary to society, that all history abounds so much with accounts of its pernicious consequences on public affairs? …
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Religious Societies More Dysfunctional than Secular Ones, According to New Study
One suspects the 700 Club won’t give this a lot of play: RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today. According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may…
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APA Book Prize…
…awarded to Robert Pasnau at Colorado (and David Boonin, also at Colorado, received honorable mention). The Colorado press release is here. UPDATE: I just found out the other honorable mention for the Book Prize: it went to Russ Shafer-Landau at the University of Wisconsin, Madison for his book Moral Realism: A Defence.
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Fellowship Opportunities for Humanities Scholars Affected by the Hurricanes
Thanks to Terry Pinkard for passing this along: The Alice Berline Kaplan Center for the Humanities at Northwestern University invites humanities scholars displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita to apply for short-term fellowships, effective immediately. We are located in Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago and can offer an office with a computer, visiting scholar…
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In Memoriam
M. David Gelfand (1949-2005) This message from Tulane Dean Lawrence Ponoroff reports the information presently available about this tragic loss to the Tulane and wider academic communities.
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Blogging Schedule
With the move to London, and a variety of other professional obligations, on the horizon, blogging will be a good bit lighter the next couple of months than during the summer. Happily, William Edmundson, a law and philosophy professor at Georgia State University, who I’m sure is known to many of my philosophical and jurisprudential…
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Why Have Blogs on the Left Grown Much More Than Blogs on the Right the Last Two Years?
According to a recent study, the highlights of which are noted here, blogs "on the left" have grown much more in readership than blogs "on the right." The interesting question is why? My guess would be that the blogs "on the left" are actually fairly far to the left of the traditional media, so they…
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How to Understand Intelligent Design Creationism…
…in four easy steps. (Warning: this is, quite literally, bathroom humor.)
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U.S. News to Resume Using Medians, Instead of Mid-Points, on LSAT and GPA Data
In the rankings published last Spring, U.S. News used the mid-point of the 75th/25th LSAT and GPA for each school, rather than the median that the school reported. This had the virtue of being public and thus reliable information, since the ABA also collects that data, but not the medians. However, the mid-point approach produced…
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Historical Precedents for Preventive War
Very illuminating essay; a few excerpts: The resort to fear by systems of power to discipline the domestic population has left a long and terrible trail of bloodshed and suffering which we ignore at our peril. Recent history provides many shocking illustrations. The mid-twentieth century witnessed perhaps the most awful crimes since the Mongol invasions.…
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Thus Spoke Thucydides
Pericles, in his Funeral Oration to the relatives of dead soldiers: "It is not possible for people to give fair and just advice to the state, if they are not exposing their own children to the same danger when they advance a risky policy." –Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (Thanks to Jim Klagge for…
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A note from a student about the PGR
The critics of the Philosophical Gourmet Report have largely packed up and gone home (even Harvard, to its credit, has removed the link to Richard Heck’s attack on the PGR from December 2001). A recent note from a student nicely captures how I’ve always felt about these attacks: As someone who is applying to graduate…
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American Democracy at Work: You Can Choose Between Two Pro-War Parties
An excerpt: As the anti-war movement arrives in Washington this weekend, many top Democrats are leaving. Nationally known Democratic war critics, including Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Russell Feingold of Wisconsin and John Kerry of Massachusetts, won’t attend what sponsors say will be…
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British Journalist and Incisive Critic of US-British Policy in Iraq Barred from Entering U.S.
Details here; an excerpt: The internationally renowned correspodent for The Independent — the great British journalist Robert Fisk — has been banned from entering the United States. Fisk has been covering war zones for decades, but is above all known for his incisive reporting from the Middle East for more than 20 years. His critical…
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In Memoriam
John M. Dolan (1937-2005) The University of Minnesota Department’s memorial notice is here.
With regard to the paper, it should not be much of a surprise that my views have substantially evolved over…