The majority view is that global warming is real. The minority view is that it’s not. The majority view is that masks save lives. The minority view is that they don’t. Since nothing in my own behaviour hangs on who’s… Read More ›
Angst
WHY PATRON AND FARBER?
Of the hundreds of entires I’ve posted since starting this blog, the least interesting, as far as I can see, is the passing banal comment I made on the contretemps between Travis Patron and Bernie Farber. And yet, for some… Read More ›
KUMBAYA
Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Well, if true that pretty much puts the kibosh on Creationism. But doesn’t it also rule out the Doctrine of Bodily Ascension? That is, at the moment of Mary’s ascension, the mass of… Read More ›
THE MEANING OF LIFE
In an entry I posted on March 30 entitled “A Walk in the Sun”, I predicted the Covid crisis would be over by the beginning of summer. I was wrong. There now appears to be no way to predict how… Read More ›
THE DEVIL’S LAMENT
They say the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist. Not so. In fact his greatest frustration is that he can’t convince the world he does. I have a recently retired colleague for whom… Read More ›
A WALK IN THE SUN
There’s a remote possibility that … Hang on. To assert that something is highly unlikely – for example that civilization as we know it will come to an end as a result of this Covid 19 pandemic – presupposes a… Read More ›
THE PLIGHT OF THE ANTI-SEMITIC SEMITE
Down the hall in the English Department, we have an otherwise highly respected colleague who believes, and I quote, that “Any criticism of the State of Israel is anti-Semitism.” I take this to mean that if the Israelis decided to… Read More ›
THE RHETORICIAN AND THE PHILOSOPHER
A Janus word is one that means one thing but also its opposite. Example: sanction. There are word-pairs that sound like they mean the opposite but don’t, like flammable and inflammable. And then there are word-pairs that sound like they… Read More ›
SMALL TALK AND LARGE
They’ve been out on a date, he invites her up for a nightcap, she accedes, he makes a pass, and she cries sexual assault. Wouldn’t it be so much easier for all concerned, for the two of them and for… Read More ›
THE MOVIE THEATRE INSIDE OUR HEADS
There’s a movie theatre inside our heads. The projector turns on automatically when we shut our eyes to go to sleep but haven’t yet arrived there. Both sci fi and fantasy flicks leave me cold. They’re like playing dealer’s choice… Read More ›
Paulosophical Vimplications 