Concern about unintended consequences of civilizational encounters.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Salman Rushdie on the Danger of Taboo-thought
Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe moment you say any idea system is sacred, freedom of thought becomes impossible. … Read the rest
The Star-nosed Mole and ‘Intelligent Design’
Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEvolutionary biologists have offered hypotheses for how complex things evolve in nature. … Read the rest
Taboo Mentality at Odds With Free Inquiry
Feb 9th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow much we want to believe a proposition is not a reliable guide as to whether it is true.… Read the rest
Behe Jumps the Shark
Feb 9th, 2005 | By P Z MyersNick Matzke has also commented on this, but the op-ed is so bad I can’t resist piling on. From the very first sentence, Michael Behe’s op-ed in today’s NY Times is an exercise in unwarranted hubris.
In the wake of the recent lawsuits over the teaching of Darwinian evolution, there has been a rush to debate the merits of the rival theory of intelligent design.
And it’s all downhill from there.
Intelligent Design creationism is not a “rival theory.” It is an ad hoc pile of mush, and once again we catch a creationist using the term “theory” as if it means “wild-ass guess.” I think a theory is an idea that integrates and explains a large body of observation, … Read the rest
PZ Myers Gently Takes Issue With Michael Behe
Feb 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Behe doesn’t get to just wave his hands and have all the evidence for evolutionary biology magically disappear’… Read the rest
Should Biology be Taught via the Bible?
Feb 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonNo. Why bother debating?… Read the rest
‘Didn’t God do That?’
Feb 8th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIn Kansas, the state-approved answer might soon be Yes. … Read the rest
How Do I Look in This Beret?
Feb 7th, 2005 11:21 pm | By Ophelia BensonNorman Levitt has some very pointed things to say about Harvard.
… Read the restHarvard University, the oldest in the USA and the wealthiest in the world, thinks very well of itself…It is an open secret that [Summers] was handed the helm at Harvard out of a growing sense that the place had grown stale, complacent, and narcissistic. Too many Harvard professors had settled into the habit of assuming that any old doctrine, opinion, or casual observation they chanced to utter was, ipso facto, profound and epochal merely because it issued from the great faux-Georgian citadel on the Charles. In truth, the place had grown somewhat dowdy, intellectually speaking, and, even worse, had proved itself susceptible to the vagaries of academic fashion…In some
Dennis Banks on ‘Academic and Indian Fraud’
Feb 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘Ward Churchill has been masquerading as an Indian for years behind his
dark glasses and beaded headband.’… Read the rest
No Evidence That Ward Churchill Is Indian
Feb 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘The image of an angry Indian’ – as seen at your local multiplex.… Read the rest
Michael Behe Argues from Personal Incredulity
Feb 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLacking ‘convincing’ non-design explanation, justified to think intelligent design was involved in life.… Read the rest
Freeman Dyson on Seeing the Unseen
Feb 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonTwo very different ways of thinking about science: via tools or concepts.… Read the rest
Norman Levitt on Revealed Truth at Harvard
Feb 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBarbarity of refusing to examine a theory because it contradicts favourite pieties.… Read the rest
Colin McCabe on Francis Wheen
Feb 7th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonSaying ‘pull up your socks, Baudrillard minor’ is not quite enough.… Read the rest
Churchillian
Feb 6th, 2005 10:05 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis Ward Churchill guy is quite funny. I shouldn’t say that, I suppose, but he is. He’s so…obvious. The hair, the shades, the jaw, the flocks of doting students. You can tell he thinks he’s Nick Nolte crossed with Russell Means with just a dash of Springsteen. Yeah dude you’re just like totally cool man.
Ward L. Churchill has been angry for years, shaking a clenched fist at American power from the streets of Denver and the lecterns of academia.
Where it’s both safe and profitable to do so, one can’t help noting.
Born near Peoria, Ill., Churchill has a master’s degree in communications and is a U.S. Army veteran.
He’s also a full professor. Usually people need … Read the rest
Why Did Churchill Get Hired in the First Place?
Feb 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHow did he get hired, tenured and named the head of a department?… Read the rest
Can Spinal Manipulation Cure Skin Diseases?
Feb 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonDo you need lots of treatment because your body is out of balance?… Read the rest
No Florida State University Chiropractic School
Feb 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHundreds of FSU professors signed petitions against the school.… Read the rest
Churchill Clarifies Some Points
Feb 6th, 2005 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAnd leaves others opaque.… Read the rest