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 MEANING OF 6MWE

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 10, 2021 • ( 2 )

  Until last Wednesday I was under the happy delusion that I was the most politically incorrect asshole on the planet. I now have to accept that I’ve been bested. For there, in the rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, and… Read More ›

• A HOUSE DIVIDED, AND KEEPING IT THAT WAY

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 10, 2021 • ( 5 )

  In one my first entries in this blog, “First to the Tribe”, posted on September 14, 2016, I noted – not as a criticism but as a simple observation – that none of us can afford to do all of… Read More ›

• AWFULISERS AND TRIVIALISERS

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 7, 2021 • ( 2 )

  In the wake of the events that took place at the U.S. Capitol building yesterday, things could have gone one of two ways. The Awfulisers worried that Trump would ‘double down’, perhaps even invoking martial law. So, they added, if… Read More ›

• THE CALL CENTRE CONUNDRUM

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 7, 2021 • ( 1 )

  Is it still English if the accent is on the wrong syllable? I want to argue that it’s not. Rebel is a noun. To rebel is a verb. “The rebels opted to rebel.” is English. “The rebels opted to rebel.”… Read More ›

• SENSITIVITY READERS

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 6, 2021 • ( 0 )

  Heaven forfend that books should offend. So I knew that publishers have taken to hiring sensitivity readers. What I didn’t know, but should have guessed, is just how sensitive these sensitivity readers take readers to be. I could regale you… Read More ›

• SOCIAL SCIENCE 100

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 5, 2021 • ( 2 )

  There are five times as many inordinately tall white men as black men in America, and yet there are three times as many blacks in the NBA as whites. Why isn’t this a slam-dunk proof that there’s discrimination against white… Read More ›

• ONE PARADOX OF POWER

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 5, 2021 • ( 0 )

  Last Saturday Donald Trump spent an hour on the phone trying to inveigle the Attorney General of Georgia to ‘find’ him enough votes to overturn the results of the election, in the wake of which some pundits are speculating on… Read More ›

• BREONNA TAYLOR AND NO-KNOCK WARRANTS

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 4, 2021 • ( 3 )

  On the one hand it’s perfectly understandable that law enforcement might not want to give the miscreant the opportunity to flush the evidence before it can be found, or to arm himself so he can go down fighting. But on… Read More ›

• STEREOTYPING

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 4, 2021 • ( 0 )

  It’s a matter of straightforward induction that Great Danes are typically taller than Chihuahuas. So why would it be odd to say that they’re stereotypically taller? Because in normal parlance a stereotype only applies to people. Then why would it… Read More ›

• THE ROLE MODEL ARGUMENT

  By paulosophicalvimplications on January 3, 2021 • ( 2 )

  The role model argument for affirmative action hiring cannot be dismissed out of hand. There may, however, be a few less-than-welcome autonomous consequences to consider.  For one thing, affirmative action hiring is very likely to be sub-optimal by measures other… Read More ›