I was watching Gladiator not long ago, and it just hit me: I’ve seen this movie before. Or rather, I am seeing it again. Donald Trump is the Emperor Commodus. He’s all about show. He… Continue reading…
From Feb. 5, 2017
What Steve Bannon really wants
When I’m at parties or generally out in the world, and someone finds out that I’m a philosopher, I sometimes get the dreaded question, “So… Continue reading…
From Feb. 3, 2017
Yeah, I think that ship has sailed. You know, the one where the church has lost its prophetic voice, and is corrupt, lazy and unpersuasive. I know, not all churches…. Continue reading…
From Feb. 3, 2017
https://www.aaup.org/JAF7/free-space-academy#.WlF-OZdzJ1O
I’ve been thinking about academic freedom in this new age, especially in light of the violent protests at Berkeley. Under the guise of representing all perspectives, I’m afraid that… Continue reading…
From Feb. 1, 2017
American exceptionalism always struck me (and, I have to say, most of the rest of the world) as a strange conceit. This article argues that, whatever it was, the… Continue reading…
From Jan. 28, 2017
A week of shock and awe pronouncements and diktats from the US emperor-president finishes with an unconstitutional, immoral, and hypocritical directive to bar people from specific countries to enter the US…. Continue reading…
From Jan. 26, 2017
My Deleuzian impulses make me want to resist some of the implicit stories we are telling in the current crisis (and it is, without question, a crisis). A great deal of… Continue reading…
From Jan. 24, 2017
This feels like the opposite of Nobel prize week. Instead of a celebration of ideas that were successful, this is a week of really bad ideas.
Physics anti-prize –… Continue reading…
From Jan. 21, 2017
I want to know the numbers of marchers not just in DC but in all the marches across the country, total. I’m sure some news source will add this up at… Continue reading…
From Jan. 20, 2017
Prognostication is always, by definition, a gamble. Maybe this is right. I think the idea that California is the future is quite likely, although the article doesn’t really deal… Continue reading…
From Jan. 15, 2017
The press as the opposition party, being evicted from the newly won battleground, which is the White House.
“Another senior official, though, called the press the “opposition party.” “I… Continue reading…
From Jan. 14, 2017
What’s wrong with hypocrisy? We usually think that it’s a violation of integrity, or that it’s a form of lying. These researchers argue that it’s about virtue signalling. We’re offended… Continue reading…
From Jan. 12, 2017
Florida’s governor with his latest proposals for higher education. Pull quote:
“In business, you are expected to create more efficiencies or more value,” Scott said. “Our institutions need to… Continue reading…
From Jan. 9, 2017
https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2017/01/no-core-identity
I posted this comment on someone else’s thread (h/t Ross Emmett) and I thought it might be worth posting here.
The article has a kind of… Continue reading…
From Jan. 4, 2017
Canada as postnational? Maybe. It’s at least a useful fiction, and perhaps the only place in the world where that fiction might be aspirational, as this article suggests. I… Continue reading…
From Jan. 3, 2017
Yeah, not quite buying this argument. Ok, I know this isn’t my field. Creative writing is what (full disclosure) my spouse does. But I do know a few things… Continue reading…
From Dec. 28, 2016
http://today.ucf.edu/like-think-main-job-help-people-ask-better-questions/
I find myself at the end of 2016 thinking about how differently we all make sense out of our shared experiences this year. “Common wisdom” seems to have it… Continue reading…
From Dec. 21, 2016
Trump = Dear Leader. Term of respect, obeisance, and uncritical acceptance of all things dispensed by our Orange Oracle.
Trump apologist = Trumpologist. Like an astrologist, someone who truly believes in… Continue reading…
From Dec. 21, 2016
Here’s a chunk of text from a contribution I’m making to a volume in African philosophy. This is not just about African philosophy, obviously, but about what it means to be… Continue reading…
From Dec. 19, 2016
Philosophers affect the world, not always in good ways. Apparently the “Kremlin-approved philosopher Alexander Dugin” is the custodian of the “Kremlin-approved nationalist philosophy”. I’ve seen various attempts at national… Continue reading…
From Dec. 10, 2016
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america
Teen Vogue, now part of the liberal elite mainstream media. Teen Vogue. Thing is, they’re right. This is gaslighting, this is an attempt to establish a new normal in… Continue reading…
From Dec. 9, 2016
https://www.city-journal.org/html/real-war-science-14782.html
Well, I think it’s safe to say that I disagreed with pretty much everything in this article, but the reason for posting it is that it is at least… Continue reading…
From Dec. 3 2016
I was reading through my June 1903 copy of The American Boy, as one does, and came across this little racist nugget in an article on lacrosse:
“It is characteristic of… Continue reading…
From Dec. 1, 2016
Yes, America, there’s still a “rest of the world.” What’s happening out there? Well, likely lost in all the fear and uncertainty in the US is an economic experiment… Continue reading…
From Nov. 28, 2016
http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/
This is an ongoing proposal, already passed within 11 states with 165 electoral votes, for tying the votes of the electors in each state by law to the national… Continue reading…
Nov. 28, 2016
The following was originally posted to Twitter by Timothy Snyder, historian of the Holocaust and of modern Europe at Yale University. I think these points are well taken no matter who one… Continue reading…
From Nov. 27, 2016
Devos as education secretary is a clear case of putting ideology over students, empirical results, and the public good. While her experience is with primary and secondary education, I also… Continue reading…
From Nov. 25, 2016
NYT: “Many in Florida Count on Obama’s Health Law, Even Amid Talk of Its Demise”
So, for all those who said that they took Trump seriously but not… Continue reading…
From Nov. 22, 2016
FiveThirtyEight: “Education, Not Income, Predicted Who Would Vote For Trump” http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/education-not-income-predicted-who-would-vote-for-trump/
The statisticians do the correlations here. At the end, there are some guesses as to causation.
“Education levels may be… Continue reading…
From Nov. 21, 2016
This Socrates fellow might have been on to something. Some of the charges at his trial included that “Socrates is a doer of evil, who corrupts the youth; and who does… Continue reading…