Geneticist Steve Jones predicts redundancy for men, and is aghast at popularity of ‘masculinity industry’ in American universities.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Politics and science must be disentangled 
Sep 16th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Steven Pinker chides critics of Wilson and Dawkins for ’25 years of pointless attacks’… Read the rest
Three cheers for Balkanization
Sep 16th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Home secretary David Blunkett is under attack for saying English is a useful language in the UK.… Read the rest
Time to sweep up Angela’s ashes
Sep 15th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Oxford historian Roy Foster takes on tearful or nostalgic myths of Ireland’s past.… Read the rest
The Ancient World As Seen By Afrocentrists
Sep 15th, 2002 | By Mary LefkowitzIntroduction
At some schools and universities in the USA today students are learning a version
of ancient history that is strikingly different from what is being taught to
their counterparts in Europe.[1] This new narrative cannot be reconciled with
the traditional account, which is still being taught in the vast majority of
schools and universities. Advocates of the revisionist version ("the Afrocentric
narrative") claim that because of their inherent prejudice against Africans
and peoples of African descent, the traditionalists have ignored a significant
body of evidence. Advocates of the traditional version of ancient history insist
that their version ("the Eurocentric narrative") offers the best available
account of the known facts. Thus in the debate between the two groups there
is … Read the rest
Biography as Story Time
Sep 14th, 2002 8:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonTwo articles in The New Republic in the past year or two, one about Theodore Roosevelt and the other about John Adams, are also about the oversimplification of history. Wilentz says the Adams biography is too reverential and respectful, too much of a hagiography. Stansell says the Roosevelt is too incurious, too movie-like and you-are-there-ish, too long on detail and much too short on questions and analysis. Is this inevitable in writing popular biography and history? Does one absolutely have to choose between writing a book that’s fun and entertaining and not too difficult, and one that actually explores and interrogates the subject rather than merely telling a story about it? Is it entirely out of the question to present … Read the rest
‘I prefer unification to reduction’
Sep 14th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Steven Pinker talks to the New York Times about worries over equality and free will that influence our views of the mind.… Read the rest
Astronaut thumps moon landing doubter
Sep 14th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Would faking a moon landing be more difficult than actually doing one? Probably, but the myth lives on.… Read the rest
Disturbances in the field
Sep 13th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In a frivolous-Friday mood, The Guardian offers links to both credulous and skeptical material on crop circles.… Read the rest
Education does not rule out credulity
Sep 12th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Michael Shermer in Scientific American says the siren song of pseudoscience can be too alluring to resist.… Read the rest
Suspicion fills the gap
Sep 12th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The new president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science says the gap between scientists and the public leads to a widespread distrust of rational inquiry.… Read the rest
Teaching is not propaganda
Sep 11th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Education professor propounds eccentric notion that teachers may know more than students.… Read the rest
Blunt opinions
Sep 10th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘Naipaul has always eschewed the rhetoric of marginality.’… Read the rest
Uncertain terrain
Sep 10th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Skeptic editor Michael Shermer explains the difference between science and pseudoscience, and explores the intermediate area where the jury is still out.… Read the rest
Perhaps not so radically different
Sep 10th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Margaret Talbot takes Carol Gilligan to task for her claim that there are radical differences between male and female minds.… Read the rest
Fantasy beats reason every time
Sep 10th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Philosopher Simon Blackburn in despair at humanity’s capacity for self-deception.… Read the rest
Kennewick Man to be studied
Sep 10th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A federal magistrate judge has ordered the US government to let scientists study the bones of Kennewick Man, an ancient skeleton discovered on the banks of the Columbia River.… Read the rest
End the excuses
Sep 10th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ian Buruma argues that it is time that people stopped hiding behind a sloppy relativism as a way to excuse the inexcusable.… Read the rest
Get real about human nature
Sep 9th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Steven Pinker on the fears that lead to people embracing an erroneous conception of human nature.… Read the rest
Oxymoron?
Sep 4th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The evolution of the scientific creationist.… Read the rest
