Colin Blakemore says MRC’s 2001 review of autism research highlighted gaps in knowledge. … Read the rest
All entries by this author
Surely Ethical Tobacco is an Oxymoron? 
Jul 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Well but they grow it with ever such nice organic fertilizer.… Read the rest
Campaigns Against Vaccinations Can Do Harm
Jul 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
How can doctors be persuaded to comport themselves as scientists? … Read the rest
Hear Blunkett on Today
Jul 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No worry, we can say what we like about religion, as long as it’s sensible.… Read the rest
Hormonal Birth Control as ‘Silent’ Abortionist
Jul 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Pharmacists and doctors are denying patients access to birth control pills.… Read the rest
Blunkett’s Well-meaning Waffle
Jul 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Beyond the remit and power of home secretaries to compel people to be kind.… Read the rest
That’s a Relief
Jul 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We can criticise religion, as long as we do it sensibly.… Read the rest
Blunkett Renews Bid to Outlaw Religious Hatred
Jul 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Inappropriate to punish those who merely offend people’s religious sensibilities?… Read the rest
What Price ‘Life of Brian’?
Jul 8th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
David Blunkett wants to outlaw ‘inciting religious hatred’.… Read the rest
Lesson Plans
Jul 8th, 2004 | By Daniel GreenAlthough Elaine Showalter’s Teaching Literature is clearly intended to be read primarily by graduate students or instructors just beginning their teaching careers, one can also read the book, against the grain of the author’s own rhetorical goals, perhaps, as a guide for the academic outlander to the curious practices of that disciplinary subculture responsible for what still passes as literary study. Those who retain an image of the English professor as a high-minded if pedantic guardian of the treasures of Literature will find provided here what amounts to the finishing touches on the recast image the profession has been working on for at least twenty years. Just as high-minded but in a more earnest, socially-conscious way, even more firmly attached … Read the rest
Blunkett on Today
Jul 8th, 2004 3:42 am | By Ophelia BensonWow – that was scary. I just listened to David Blunkett on the Today programme, talking about this new law against inciting hatred against religion. It’s – let’s see – 3:30 in the morning in the UK, so a new Today will be starting in two and a half hours, and I think the archive is only good for one day – until it’s replaced by the next one. So only a few Yanks, if anyone, will likely listen to this, but I’m going to stick it in here anyway.
Update: Oh, the link does still work. I was wrong about ‘Today’s’ archive. So listen – it’s scary stuff.
Because it really is quite disgusting. He wants unity and community … Read the rest
A Theosophical Heir to the Throne
Jul 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Much of this assault on contemporary rationalism flows from the prince’s rather eclectic spiritualism.’… Read the rest
BHL Has Views That Annoy
Jul 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘The Palestinian “victimocracy” has a tendency to hide wars that are infinitely longer and more murderous.’… Read the rest
Is There a Shortage of Scientists in the US?
Jul 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The inaccuracy of past pronouncements creates a woof-woof problem.… Read the rest
On Alexis de Tocqueville
Jul 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The physics of democracy.… Read the rest
Interview with Ernst Mayr
Jul 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Biology is an autonomous science and should not be mixed up with physics.’… Read the rest
In Biology Everyone Stands in Mayr’s Shadow
Jul 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Mayr’s life defies the myth that elderly scientists are incapable of changing their minds.’… Read the rest
The Nuances of That Word
Jul 7th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
You? Yourself? Or off? Hitchens suggests off is best.… Read the rest
There Are Limits, After All
Jul 6th, 2004 11:21 pm | By Ophelia BensonOkay, that does it. I’m going to have to put my foot down. (Ooh, scary.) I’m going to have to get all authoritarian and domineering – all prescriptive instead of descriptive. There’s no help for it.
There was a discussion on Crooked Timber the other day about the odd usage whereby ‘argue that’ means the opposite of what it means. The example that caught Harry’s attention was this one: ‘Though few would argue that children should be protected from exposure to Internet pornography, COPA, the law designed to protect them has been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.’ You see the problem? It’s confusing, and stupidly confusing – you realize (from the context) when you get to the end … Read the rest
Judy, Judy, Judy
Jul 6th, 2004 8:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonHere we go again. What is it about Judith Butler that makes people come over all delusional? That causes them 1) to exaggerate her fame and celebrity and stardom and name-recognition in an utterly grotesque manner and 2) causes them to overestimate her real as opposed to apparent or fame-related importance, interest, originality, ‘insight’, profundity, originality, and brilliance?
Well, I suppose one answer is, shall we say, a certain lack of nous. At least on the evidence of this article in Salon that seems to be one answer. [Note: you have to click through a brief advert to read article.] For instance there is the sentence ‘Butler even made headlines in the New York Times when she won an … Read the rest
