All entries by this author

Hobbes was right, Rousseau was wrong *

Oct 8th, 2002 | Filed by

Steven Pinker interview explores why sociobiology is so upsetting to both left and right.… Read the rest



Venus and Mars revisited *

Oct 8th, 2002 | Filed by

Studies on jealousy agree on evolutionary origin but differ on how it plays out.… Read the rest



It depends on how you frame the question *

Oct 7th, 2002 | Filed by

Another skirmish in the long-running debate over how evolution shapes sexual differences.… Read the rest



Just another theory, yet again *

Oct 6th, 2002 | Filed by

A Georgia school board, in Postmodern vein, says diversity of opinion is the way to go–at least when it comes to evolution.… Read the rest



Euphemistic evasion or sententious aphorism *

Oct 5th, 2002 | Filed by

Didactic impulses or nationalist piety can shape the work of even the most detached biographer.… Read the rest



Ghastly, shameful, inadvertently hilarious *

Oct 4th, 2002 | Filed by

Marina Warner on the spiral of duplicity between thoughtful men and women and bogus mediums.… Read the rest



Pauline Kael against sleep-inducing lies *

Oct 2nd, 2002 | Filed by

Vulgar Kaelism gets it wrong: she did not think popular movies were automatically art, and she was not a moral relativist.… Read the rest



Self-esteem not a miracle cure after all? *

Oct 1st, 2002 | Filed by

When scholars actually look at evidence, they find rapists and failing students as pleased with themselves as the next person.… Read the rest



When commitments hit home *

Sep 27th, 2002 | Filed by

Croatian President Stipe Mesic tells his fellow Croatians they must honour all their commitments, not only the painless ones.… Read the rest



Duking it out on the air *

Sep 26th, 2002 | Filed by

Shouting match over genes versus parents ruffles calm of Radio 3.… Read the rest



It’s not the parents *

Sep 25th, 2002 | Filed by

Steven Pinker says parents have less influence than they think, while peers have more.… Read the rest



It’s the parents *

Sep 25th, 2002 | Filed by

Oliver James says emphasis on genes to explain human nature is a way to escape guilt.… Read the rest



Truth-skeptics make truth-claims *

Sep 24th, 2002 | Filed by

Bernard Williams points out that Nietzsche did not settle for ironic chat or a smug nod at deconstruction-work, and nor should we.… Read the rest



Deconstructing cant *

Sep 23rd, 2002 | Filed by

Twist and turn, avoid details, oversimplify: such postmodern tricks tarnish the integrity of the left.… Read the rest



Brakes off or on? *

Sep 22nd, 2002 | Filed by

Simon Blackburn on the meaninglessness of exhortations to tolerate all points of view.… Read the rest



But what is the evidence? *

Sep 22nd, 2002 | Filed by

Difference feminism as separate education for schoolgirls relies on few and narrow studies, Margaret Talbot says.… Read the rest



Trickster deity preferred to Darwin *

Sep 21st, 2002 | Filed by

Philip Gosse explained the fossil evidence as God’s little joke.… Read the rest



Is there no justice? *

Sep 19th, 2002 | Filed by

Outraged father wonders who decided that parents should help children with homework. Surely that’s someone else’s duty.… Read the rest



Grade deflation not a good idea either *

Sep 18th, 2002 | Filed by

Exams board chief intervened to mark down bright students by way of making A level scores strike a ‘balance’.… Read the rest



Only an interventionist designer will do *

Sep 17th, 2002 | Filed by

Another entry for the Intelligent Design shelf. No Free Lunch claims that complexity requires intelligence, but reviewer is not persuaded.… Read the rest