Jonathan Haidt has argued that a university can seek truth, or it can pursue justice, but not both. He’s right about the dichotomy, but I’m not sure he’s best identified the two choices. Getting the truth is far above anyone’s… Read More ›
Hume
IMPLICIT BIAS TESTING
I’d like to complain about my research assistant. A research assistant is supposed to look into things I need to know about, so that I can write about them without having to just bullshit. Instead, she researches whatever she wants… Read More ›
Guest Post by Pamela Lindsay: A Crash Course in Rhetoric.
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 ›
AN ANALYSIS OF MIRACLES IN THREE AWKWARD PHILOSOPHICAL MOMENTS
I. What is a Law of the Land? Thomas Hobbes thought that in a state of nature there’s “no government at all, except the government of small families, the concord whereof dependeth on natural lust,” I’m not sure the concord… Read More ›
AT THE RISK OF SOUNDING RACIST …
Let’s not quibble about whether they came across the Bering Strait or miraculously burst into being sui generis. Let’s just say that those who descended from those who could be found in the Western Hemisphere prior to 1492 shall be… Read More ›