There was a time … But was there? Was there ever a time when universities were ideology-neutral, save for that minimal set of commitments required for universities to perform their function? Thinking there was is a bit like Trump wanting… Read More ›
BLM
HACKLES
Jonathan Haidt has argued that a university can seek the truth, or it can pursue social justice, but it can’t do both. This is not because the two are never one. As often as not they are. But that means… Read More ›
WHAT IS WOKEISM?
If I’m going to be anti-woke – by which is meant, presumably, that I’m going to remain asleep – I suppose I should get clear about what Wokeism is. Pluckrose and Lindsay define it as reified post-modernism. That gets us… Read More ›
A CONJECTURE ABOUT THE DANGERS OF SAFETY
My wife is a conjecturer. The one she offered me this morning – though I’m sure it was already in the ether – has three elements, and they are as follows: First, the generation of students I’m now teaching were… Read More ›
WHAT NOT TO SAY WHEN …
All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore Socrates is mortal. Check. All lives matter. Black lives are lives. Therefore black lives matter. Check. But if you say black lives matter, and I respond with all lives matter, I’ll… Read More ›
BLACK LIVES MATTER AND THE SJW’S DILEMMA
Here’s something I do know. As with everywhere else on the planet, there was tribal warfare in Africa long before European colonialism. What I don’t know – but I stand to be instructed – is whether that colonialism mitigated that… Read More ›
A HOUSE DIVIDED, AND KEEPING IT THAT WAY
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 ›
THE RACE WAR THERE WON’T BE
There are certain mantras that are omitted only at the speaker’s peril. For example, whenever there’s a tragedy the politician’s “heart [has to go] out to the friends and family”. And every address must end with “God bless the United… Read More ›
THE MEANING OF BLACK LIVES MATTER
Had Rudolf Carnap been around today, he’d have pointed out that “x lives matter” is not a well-formed formula. Well-formedness requires that “x lives matter to some y”. And at that, perhaps only at some time t, and only under… Read More ›
DOGWHISTLING
If I ask whether the blind date you’re setting me up with is good looking, and you answer that she has a wonderful personality, you’re not just saying something about her personality. Likewise, then, no one denies that all lives… Read More ›
Paulosophical Vimplications 