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.

• CARTOGRAPHICAL IMPERIALISM AND BINARIES

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 20, 2018 • ( 0 )

  Some things could be other than they are. And if they were, well, then I guess things would be different, wouldn’t they? That’s not very interesting. What we find interesting is that decisions could have been made other than they… Read More ›

• LEAVE IT BE

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 7, 2018 • ( 0 )

  I think there might be some tension in my position. ‘Tension’ is the term professionalized philosophers have been trained to use in place of the less charitable terms ‘inconsistency’ or ‘contradiction’. Okay, I think I might have inadvertently saddled myself… Read More ›

• THE NEXT FOURTEEN YEARS

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 7, 2018 • ( 0 )

  In the words of Shakespeare’s Mark Anthony, “The evil that men do live after them. The good is oft interred with their bones.” Fortunately it’s the opposite with political prognostications. No one remembers if you get it wrong. But if… Read More ›

• THE RECURSIVITY OF SELF-DOUBT

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 7, 2018 • ( 0 )

  If I retired now – which not long ago, at sixty-eight, people would have thought was well overdue – how would my life change? I might have to tighten my belt a little, but probably by only one notch. I’d… Read More ›

• DON QUIXOTE’S BLESSING

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 2, 2018 • ( 0 )

  Why is it that some truths have to be learned over and over and over again? I suppose it’s because they’re just too hard to believe. I learned about fifteen years ago that many of the people I work with… Read More ›

• THE HAIDT HYPOTHESIS

  By paulosophicalvimplications on August 1, 2018 • ( 0 )

  Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has argued, quite convincingly, that a university can dedicate itself to the search for truth, or to the promotion of social justice, but not both. Truth and justice are seldom about the same thing. But when… Read More ›

• ISRAEL’S NEW NATION STATE LAW

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 31, 2018 • ( 0 )

  Eighty-three years after the National Socialist government of Germany passed the Nuremberg Race Laws in 1935, the Zionist government of Israel has decided to follow suit. It wasn’t inevitable, but perhaps predictable. Eighty-three years is a long time to hope… Read More ›

• A MODEST WORRY AND A MODEST PROPOSAL

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 31, 2018 • ( 0 )

  Living next to the American juggernaut puts Canadians in an ambiguous position. It’s not that we’re worried that the current American drift towards fascism is going to spill over the border. Not all, but I think enough Canadians find the… Read More ›

• CAN UNSOLICITED POETRY BE SEXUAL ASSAULT?

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 31, 2018 • ( 0 )

  I have no problem with your sexual orientation provided you stop calling it that. You say you’re not attracted to women. Well, I’m not attracted to most of them either. And of the ones I am attracted to, the last… Read More ›

• THINGS YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW

  By paulosophicalvimplications on July 31, 2018 • ( 0 )

  We all have things we’re better off not knowing. I don’t want to know how my meat gets from field to supermarket. Others don’t want to know just how fair Fair Trade coffee really isn’t. And I’m betting you don’t… Read More ›