Some religious groups have said the laws will force them to promote gay sex.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Challenge to Gay Rights Law Fails 3 to 1
Jan 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Call to annul the regulations was defeated by 199 votes to 68.… Read the rest
Polly Toynbee on Interfaith Homophobia
Jan 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Good reasons why the state should step back from infatuation with faith provision of social services.… Read the rest
Graffiti of the Wandjina not Allowed
Jan 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Depicting the Wandjina without permission would traditionally have resulted in spearing.… Read the rest
ID is a Science
Jan 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And ‘Darwinism’ is a religion.… Read the rest
Religions Unite in Opposing Gay Rights
Jan 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And citing own ‘right’ to discriminate in provision of goods and services.… Read the rest
Fred Halliday on the World’s Twelve Worst Ideas
Jan 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Post’-feminism, anti-secularism, no need for condoms, force is all ‘they’ understand.… Read the rest
Pat Robertson the Mad Mullah
Jan 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Says god told him there would be mass killing in US late in 2007. God told me Pat’s a chump.… Read the rest
Archbishop gets Dewy-eyed Over Nazi Era
Jan 9th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘We had everything we wanted,’ says Jan Sokol mistily.… Read the rest
‘Desperate Crossing’ Gets Things Wrong
Jan 8th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Instead of discussion and analysis of evidence, we see its mangling to conform with modern sentiment.’… Read the rest
Getting it all Wrong
Jan 8th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
By tutting at culture of conformity while conforming all the same.… Read the rest
Alain de Botton on Philosophy for Adolescents
Jan 8th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The book ends with the reassuring news that philosophy can change your life for the better.’… Read the rest
Howard Gardner on Peter Kramer on Freud
Jan 8th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘No reader of Kramer alone would appreciate the extent to which Freud airs doubts.’ Hmm.… Read the rest
Moroccan Journalists Prosecuted for Jokes
Jan 8th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Government says attacking religion is one of the most serious offences a journalist can commit. … Read the rest
Taboos
Jan 7th, 2007 1:31 pm | By Ophelia BensonWhile we’re on the subject of biases and the difficulty of spotting one’s own (especially compared to the extreme ease of spotting everyone else’s) – Nigel later asked me a follow-up question for that interview he did at Virtual Philosopher, about just this issue. I didn’t see it until after he posted the interview, so I’ll post the q and a here, on account of relevance.
… Read the restNW: Do you really believe we can eliminate our prejudices, the political, ideological and moral commitments that usually infect our judgements? I’m thinking of what Nietzsche said about how philosophers end up simply confirming their own prejudices under the guise of applying reason dispassonately…
OB: Well, I don’t really believe there’s any certainty
Biases
Jan 7th, 2007 12:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonBiases are just endlessly interesting, don’t you think? Apart from anything else they remind us (if we’re paying attention anyway) that we all have them; they’re like kidneys, or toenails; part of the standard issue equipment. In fact the idea that we’re too clever to have them (or anything like them) is one of them.
… Read the restSocial and cognitive psychologists have identified a number of predictable errors (psychologists call them biases) in the ways that humans judge situations and evaluate risks. Biases have been documented both in the laboratory and in the real world, mostly in situations that have no connection to international politics. For example, people are prone to exaggerating their strengths: About 80 percent of us believe that
Hubble Telescope Data on Dark Matter
Jan 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Suggest an invisible scaffold around which the ordinary matter of stars and galaxies has formed.… Read the rest
Kahneman and Renshon on Why Hawks Win
Jan 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
People have deep decision-making biases, and almost all favor conflict rather than concession.… Read the rest
Utopian Dreams Ultimately Maddeningly Vague
Jan 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Tobias Jones fails to interrogate the doctrinal element of religion.… Read the rest
Martha Nussbaum on Public Philosophy
Jan 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
US a difficult place for public philosophy because the media are so sensationalistic and anti-intellectual.… Read the rest