All entries by this author

Olivier Roy: Fundamentalists Conspicuously Absent *

Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by

Contrary to the calls of many liberals, increased emphasis on multiculturalism is not the answer.… Read the rest



A C Grayling on Libertines and Free Thought *

Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by

Atheists were libertines, libertines were naughty, because atheists were naughty.… Read the rest



Epistemology Quiz *

Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by

Undiscovered ants in the Amazon…… Read the rest



Nick Cohen Says Food is a Class Issue *

Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by

A healthy eater would brand herself as a toff and be picked on for being ‘too healthy’ and ‘too brainy’.… Read the rest



Warning of Epidemic of School Bullying in UK *

Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by

‘Children are being brought up in a society where violence is the norm in many ways.’… Read the rest



Victimising Professor Mubarak Ali *

Nov 13th, 2005 | Filed by

Ishtiaq Ahmed on a distinguished historian of Pakistan faced with absurd accusations.… Read the rest



The Interview

Nov 11th, 2005 7:17 pm | By

I like this, so I thought I’d share. There’s this job interview for a prospective philosophy teacher, see…

Other candidates should create distractions. One man illustrated proper logic with this syllogism:

All men are mortal.

Socrates is mortal.

Therefore, Socrates is a man.

I raised my hand. “Birds are mortal too, aren’t they?” I asked, hoping he would correct his error.

“Yes,” our teacher agreed.

“So Socrates could be a bird?”

He smiled benignly. “No. Socrates doesn’t have feathers.”

Read the rest


Legal Action Against God, Resident in Heaven *

Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by

‘God even claimed and received from me various goods and prayers in exchange for forgiveness.’ Cheater.… Read the rest



Debate on ‘Faith’ Schools *

Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by

British Humanist Association education officer debates Bishop of Guildford.… Read the rest



Footballer Claims Vote Fraud in Liberia *

Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by

Observers have declared the vote peaceful and transparent.… Read the rest



The Badness of Two Books on Prayer *

Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by

People who pray the hardest – for martyrdom, purity, the defeat of the infidel – pose the greatest threat.… Read the rest



Interviewing Philosophy Teachers Can Be Tricky *

Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by

He drew Plato’s cave on the board, complete with men, sun, shadows, and perhaps mice and lollipops.… Read the rest



Pat Robertson Pitches Fit at Dover Voters *

Nov 11th, 2005 | Filed by

Tells them to ask Darwin for help if disaster strikes.… Read the rest



Daylight

Nov 10th, 2005 7:16 pm | By

I was somewhat cryptic in that post ‘Interpretation’ yesterday. Deliberately, I suppose, because I wasn’t trying to make a flat assertion, but rather to point out possibilities – areas of murk, of darkness, of fog, of confusion. Of more than one possibility. Of epistemic uncertainty. Also because that post was only preliminary; I thought I would probably try to look at the subject further, later.

So, one thing I’m not saying is that there’s no reason for people in the banlieues to be angry. Hardly. No – but it’s not a choice between ‘people in the banlieues have every reason to be angry therefore the riots are political rebellion and nothing else’ and ‘people in the banlieues have no reason … Read the rest



Ziauddin Sardar on Hizb ut-Tahrir *

Nov 10th, 2005 | Filed by

The caliphate of Hizb ut-Tahrir’s vision can be established only by doing violence to the rest of the world.… Read the rest



Chris Mooney on Abductive Reasoning *

Nov 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Susan Clancy investigates how otherwise sane people come to accept abduction accounts.… Read the rest



Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Winning Election in Liberia *

Nov 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Has 59% of vote. Inexplicably, BBC uses epithet in headline.… Read the rest



Navid Shahzad on Amartya Sen *

Nov 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Sen continues to stretch his prodigious talent as professor of both philosophy and economics at Harvard.… Read the rest



Amartya Sen on Science, Argument and Scepticism *

Nov 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Dismayed that links between heterodoxy and scientific creativity get so little attention.… Read the rest



Ask Philosophers *

Nov 10th, 2005 | Filed by

Questions. It helps them get out more.… Read the rest