Author Archives

I'm a philosophy professor at the University of Lethbridge in Southern Alberta, Canada. I specialize in philosophy of war, game theory, contractarianism, and theodicy (the Problem of Evil). I am bald, fat, and ugly, but my wife loves me, so I don't care.

• MAR-A-LAGO, DOBBS, AND THE UNFORESEEABLE BUT SURE-TO-BE-COMEDIC FUTURE

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 14, 2022 • ( 0 )

  The raid on Mar-a-Lago has done little to dampen the conviction that there’s a deep-state conspiracy against the Donald, and one designed to ensure that the Democrats remain in power. And the Dobbs decision has motivated many women to try… Read More ›

• THE ROAD TO PERDITION

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 14, 2022 • ( 0 )

  The road to perdition is almost always paved with the very best of intentions. For example, in 2000 the Government of Canada instituted and funded a highly ambitious Canadian Research Chair program. Tier Two rewards were designed to encourage scholars… Read More ›

• MAGA (MAKING THE ACADEMY GREAT AGAIN)

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 14, 2022 • ( 0 )

  Today I heard an account I’d never heard before. White males are losing interest in a university education because the oil patch is paying too much. So to survive universities have to attract non-whites, and to do that it has… Read More ›

• PARSING THE EDI INITIATIVES

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 13, 2022 • ( 2 )

  All the palaver aside, EDI is just the latest rebranding of quota hiring. Quota hiring is justified by one or both of two claims: 1) social justice requires it and/or 2) performance excellence does. Hiring a nigh-illiterate indigenous women as… Read More ›

• THE WHO-STARTED-IT GAME

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 13, 2022 • ( 0 )

  When two parties are having at each other, strictly speaking somebody has to have delivered the first blow. But how far back are we to reconstruct? Or, what amounts to the same thing, what’s the statute of limitations on retaliation?… Read More ›

• TALK AS STUPID AS IT IS CHEAP

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 12, 2022 • ( 1 )

  Just when I thought I’d plumbed the depth of Administration stupidity with my entry entitled “The Dean’s Letter”, Pamela Lindsay, my part time research assistant and full time wife – has just brought to my attention what makes Matt Letts… Read More ›

• IN DEFENCE OF RAPE

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 12, 2022 • ( 5 )

  When someone argues in defence of x, at least in the realm of ethics, he usually means x is morally defensible, by which he need not be urging us to do x, but rather and only that it would be… Read More ›

• A CORRECTIVE TO THE ABORTION DEBATE

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 12, 2022 • ( 0 )

  Abortion is no longer an issue in Canada, and let’s hope, touch wood, it remains that way. This is because Canada, unlike its unfortunate neighbour to the south, is a civilised country. As is most of Europe and the Antipodes…. Read More ›

• “YOU KEEP USING THAT WORD. I DON’T THINK IT MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS”

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 1, 2022 • ( 0 )

  From the Most-Memorable-One-Liners-in-Cinema file, this one’s from The Princess Bride. And here are just some of my favourite words or phrases that don’t mean what either the speaker or the listener thinks they mean: BLACK LIVES MATTER: No one thinks all… Read More ›

• A CALL TO ARMS

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 30, 2022 • ( 0 )

  Don’t demand to know what these words mean. Just accept that EDI programs are assigned three prima facie laudable objectives: equity, diversity, and inclusion. Let’s look at each in turn from this particular stakeholder’s perspective, a perspective shared, I suspect,… Read More ›