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.

• THE REPUBLIC OF GILEAD

  By paulosophicalvimplications on September 3, 2021 • ( 4 )

  In the Morgentaler Decision (1988), the Supreme Court of Canada very wisely did an end-run around the metaphysical status of the foetus and chose instead to decriminalize abortion on the grounds that variability in access violated the constitution’s equal protection… Read More ›

• A TALE OF TWO CITIES

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 27, 2021 • ( 1 )

  Salvador Allende was elected President of Chile in 1970 with about a third of the popular vote. Though lionized in places like U of C Berkeley, his popularity never did improve in Chile. Alas, a prophet is never honoured in… Read More ›

• COLLABORATORS NEVER LEARN

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 27, 2021 • ( 1 )

  When a foreign army invades and occupies your country, you need to compare the short-term payoff for collaboration with the probability of being executed by the resistance, or by your countrymen if and when the occupier is driven out. Assurances… Read More ›

• THE FORTHCOMING FALL OF KABUL

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 13, 2021 • ( 1 )

  When the Americans overthrew the Taliban in 2001 the latter were given the same advice that was given to the Vietcong when the Americans sent their ‘advisors’ into Saigon in the early ’60’s. Stay militarily relevant and wait. Fifteen years… Read More ›

• TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION DAY

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 12, 2021 • ( 6 )

  A couple of years ago, here at the University of Lethbridge, we went from a thirteen week semester to twelve, and so from 32.5 hours of instruction per course to 30. Much of what counts as instruction at the primary… Read More ›

• IN PRAISE OF COLONIALISM

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 31, 2021 • ( 1 )

  There’s a German film called Run Lola Run, which explores the radically different ways things would have gone if some seemingly inconsequential happenstance had been nigh-indiscernibly different. And there’s an American Christmas classic called It’s a Wonderful Life, in which… Read More ›

• Guest Post by Pamela Lindsay: A Crash Course in Rhetoric.

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 20, 2021 • ( 1 )

  Apropos Paul’s post Of Decolonisation and Marranos , re: the perlocutionary force of language. The extent to which language controls thought is a hotly debated topic. John McWhorter, for one, argues language doesn’t control thought as much as some believe. … Read More ›

• THE PERSONAL ECONOMICS OF TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 19, 2021 • ( 1 )

  The notions of truth and reconciliation – from post-Apartheid South Africa to post-genocide Rwanda to post-residential schools here in Canada – have always been an oxymoron. The idea is that first we elicit a confession of wrongdoing. Next the victim… Read More ›

• CULTURAL GENOCIDE

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 18, 2021 • ( 4 )

  Culture is the language you speak, the gods you worship, the food you eat, the behaviours that make you cringe, the sounds your ears recognise as pleasant and discordant. It’s where you shit, and what you do with your shit… Read More ›

• GENOCIDE 101

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 18, 2021 • ( 1 )

  (Note: This is the first in a series of two entries. The second will be on the meaning, if any, of cultural genocide.) Genocide is not a success term. If it were there wouldn’t be any victims left to complain… Read More ›