All entries by this author

Brenda Maddox on Republican War on Science *

Oct 31st, 2005 | Filed by

It’s a mistake to credit corporations with the same capacity for intellectual independence as academics.… Read the rest



Fleming, Bond, and Popular Culture *

Oct 31st, 2005 | Filed by

Who wants to read about hitherto unlit quarters of the human condition all the time? … Read the rest



China Daily on the Need for Philosophers *

Oct 31st, 2005 | Filed by

In a society geared towards immediate gains, philosophy seems unable to produce tangible benefits.… Read the rest



Soluble Fish in a Sea of Discourse *

Oct 31st, 2005 | Filed by

Raymond Tallis on peculiar ideas about humans.… Read the rest



At Least 58 Killed in Delhi Bombings *

Oct 30th, 2005 | Filed by

Explosions in crowded markets and a bus on the eve of a festival of light.… Read the rest



Kelly Accused of Double Standard on Interviews *

Oct 30th, 2005 | Filed by

‘interviewing…insufficiently objective to form part of the admission process for a state-maintained school’… Read the rest



Communalism in Education Run Mad *

Oct 30th, 2005 | Filed by

‘They have a right to a Jewish education and…the state has a duty to provide an alternative.’… Read the rest



Smug Theist Calls Atheists Smug *

Oct 30th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Our culture’s criterion of acceptability is not “Is it right?” but “Does it work?”’… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on Sectarianism in Birmingham *

Oct 30th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Our leaders aren’t diminishing the importance of race, but fuelling sectarianism.’… Read the rest



Birmingham Riots Thirty Years in the Making *

Oct 30th, 2005 | Filed by

Birmingham city council and government funding regimes have fuelled this hostility.… Read the rest



Fuller Transcript

Oct 30th, 2005 1:20 am | By

More Fuller. I’ve been reading the transcript (and so has Stewart, see his comments on I Employ Methods). It’s time to share.

A. Well, you might say as a philosopher I’m
professionally dissatisfied with all explanations that
claim to be final. And so there is going to be a
special suspicion sort of drawn toward the
taken-for-granted theories in any given discipline.

Q. So you’re not saying that intelligent design
is the correct or the better explanation for
biological life?

No, I’m not. I’m certainly not. They’re
not – they haven’t developed it enough to really be
in a position to make any kind of definitive judgment
of that kind…I want to see where
intelligent design goes, frankly. I mean,

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Transcripts of Steve Fuller’s Testimony *

Oct 29th, 2005 | Filed by

Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District transcripts and more. Pdf files.… Read the rest



I Employ Methods

Oct 28th, 2005 9:11 pm | By

Steve Fuller. I’ve been browsing in some of my books, leafing through indexes, consulting bibliographies. Steve Fuller.

Here is a passage from Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont’s Fashionable Nonsense pp. 97-98:

Let us read it as a methodological principle for a sociologist of science who does not himself have the scientific competence to make an independent assessment of whether the experimental/observational data do in fact warrant the conclusions the scientific community has drawn from them. In such a situation, the sociologist will be understandably reluctant to say that ‘the scientific community under study came to conclusion X because X is the way the world really is’ – even if it is in fact the case that X is the way

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Iran Defiant Over ‘Slur’ *

Oct 28th, 2005 | Filed by

Blair, more accurately, refers to threats.… Read the rest



NSS Warns Kelly Over Religious School Expansion *

Oct 28th, 2005 | Filed by

The more religious schools there are, the more children will be separated by religious categories.… Read the rest



First International Congress on Islamic Feminism *

Oct 28th, 2005 | Filed by

Islamic Feminism cites misogynistic distortions of the teachings in the Koran. … Read the rest



Press Reaction to Ahmadinejad’s Statement *

Oct 28th, 2005 | Filed by

Calls for wiping people off maps tend to raise alarm.… Read the rest



Libby Charged in Plame Case *

Oct 28th, 2005 | Filed by

Aide to Dick Cheney resigns after indictment.… Read the rest



Chaos of Religious Hatred Law in Australia *

Oct 28th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Even if no prosecutions are brought, the Act will inhibit public debate on issues of great importance.’… Read the rest



Two Thirds Oppose State Aided ‘Faith Schools’ *

Oct 28th, 2005 | Filed by

Guardian/ICM poll shows 64% agree ‘the government should not be funding faith schools of any kind’.… Read the rest