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
All entries by this author
Deconstructing cant 
Sep 23rd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
Philip Gosse explained the fossil evidence as God’s little joke.… Read the rest
Is there no justice?
Sep 19th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
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 Ophelia Benson
Another entry for the Intelligent Design shelf. No Free Lunch claims that complexity requires intelligence, but reviewer is not persuaded.… Read the rest
Gas on inner men and their dilemmas
Sep 17th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Geneticist Steve Jones predicts redundancy for men, and is aghast at popularity of ‘masculinity industry’ in American universities.… Read the rest
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
