Advertising disguised as news, a trap that even reporters don’t always see.… Read the rest
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
Time for Psychologists to Join the Darwinian Revolution 
Nov 30th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Frans de Waal’s new book examines the potential of evolutionary approaches to the social sciences, and also the misapplications.… Read the rest
GM Foods Could Be Good For You
Nov 29th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Are unthinking objections to genetically modified food indicative of a world view which is at odds with the rational, open and questioning values of science?… Read the rest
Greatest Happiness v. Winners and Losers
Nov 29th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Alan Ryan explains John Rawls’ insight into the flaw in Utilitarianism.… Read the rest
They Respectfully Disagree
Nov 29th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Christopher Hitchens and Katha Pollitt argue about The Nation, Iraq, Viagra, Norman Mailer, pacifism, guilt by association, whither the left, and more.… Read the rest
Impostor Syndrome and Banal Jokes
Nov 28th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Susan Greenfield discusses women in science.… Read the rest
Universities and Egalitarianism
Nov 28th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Arnold and Huxley, Leavis and Snow, dustmen and doctors, prostitution and debt, tuition or taxation, all part of the argument.… Read the rest
Where is the Outrage?
Nov 27th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Salman Rushdie ponders all the new ‘Rushdies’ that are springing up around the world.… Read the rest
Oh So That’s What Truth Is!
Nov 27th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“We will defend it because it is truth, and you can’t deny truth.” Thus spake the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court of his monument to the Ten Commandments.… Read the rest
Nussbaum on Rawls
Nov 26th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Martha Nussbaum on John Rawls’ much-needed correction of Utilitarian-economist versions of morality.… Read the rest
‘Philosophical laughing’
Nov 26th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Groups can encourage people to take extreme positions, whence innovation is born.… Read the rest
‘Tell that to the Buddha’
Nov 25th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
David Lodge’s book on consciousness and fiction is too accomodating to cultural relativists who say the self is a peculiar Western invention, but interesting anyway.… Read the rest
Death Sentence for Heresy
Nov 24th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A historian reports on the death sentence for a colleague in Iran who dared to call for an end to blind obedience from the laity.… Read the rest
Another Disputed Tenure Decision
Nov 24th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
As so often in these cases, opinions differ on whether there are legitimate reasons or only political ones for a denial of tenure.… Read the rest
Popular History and its Enemies
Nov 24th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Is the problem that the work is over-simplified, or that it’s commercially succesful? Orlando Figes is not the first to wonder.… Read the rest
Grammar for Language Teachers
Nov 23rd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is difficult to teach a language without learning it first.… Read the rest
Advertisers Influence Drug Research
Nov 23rd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ad agencies own companies that ghostwrite articles for medical journals.… Read the rest
What of Step-dogs and Step-sofas?
Nov 22nd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Simon Blackburn says Steven Pinker omits too much middle ground in The Blank Slate.… Read the rest
‘Our genes are even stupider than we are.’
Nov 21st, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Louis Menand is not keen on The Blank Slate… Read the rest
Yes I mean No I mean Yes
Nov 21st, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Harvard invites then uninvites then ununinvites poet Tom Paulin to lecture.… Read the rest
