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Monthly Archives: May 2012
Mike Bost Speaks Truth to Power
I don’t know if Mike Bost, an Illinois state legislator, is a Republican or a Democrat, but I’m impressed with his lucidity in the midst of strong emotion. His complaint: a giant bill has come to him without sufficient time … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged activism, America, democracy, freedom of speech, mike boss
2 Comments
The Bed, the Bath, the Bus—and the Motorcycle: Where Craig Venter Gets His Ideas
Thinkers tend to refer to the “bed, the bath, and the bus” as places where they get their ideas, and Virginia Woolfe famously wrote of the need for a room of one’s own. Likewise, Daniel Dennett recently praised his morning … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged craig venter, creativity, dna, genome, Nietzsche, science, solitude, Zarathustra
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Zygmunt Bauman On What Made The Holocaust Possible (And Whether Something Like It Could Happen Again)
In Modernity and the Holocaust (2000 edition), sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (b. 1925) explores the question of responsibility: who or what is responsible for the direction of the modern world? He explores this question via the prism of the Holocaust and has a provocative thesis: … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged activism, freedom, moloch, rage against the machine, sociology, the Holocaust, thoreau, zygmunt bauman
3 Comments
Ask an Interesting Question, Get an Interesting Answer. Michio Kaku’s Question: What Happens to Our Analysis When We Recall That We’re Scarcely Different from Our Paleolithic Ancestors of 100,000 Years Ago?
If, indeed, human beings are scarcely different from their Paleolithic ancestors of 100,000 years ago, what are the implications of this for the object or subject of your current attention? Here are some questions for foregrounding this issue: Of nature: … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged analysis, critical thinking, Darwin, evolution, evolutionary psychology, michio kaku, paleolithic ancestors, reason
2 Comments
No More Jesus Bashing: John Loftus Throws in the Towel
John Loftus, the ex-Christian author, has had enough. He’s recently decided to stop blogging and writing books debunking Christianity. Here’s part of what he wrote at his blog earlier this month: I have no more desire to engage Christians. They … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged abuse, agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, atheist, Christianity, fundamentalism, Jesus
18 Comments
Ask an Interesting Question, Get an Interesting Answer. Stephen Knapp and Walter Benn Michael’s Anti-Critical Theory Question: What Happens if We Don’t Separate Meaning from Intention and Knowledge from Interpretation? Will This Kill Critical Theory?
Within the humanities, contemporary critical theorizing typically entails political commitments, predominantly from the left, accompanied by some line of attack or qualification on Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle (his idea that every communicative act necessarily requires a speaker or author, a message, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged college, critical theory, God, literature, meaning, philosophy, reason, the author
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Ask an Interesting Question, Get an Interesting Answer. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s Question: Who Wins and Who Loses Under Globalization?
Some globalism questions for the object or subject of your contemplation. Of nature: How is this natural object or ecosystem affected by globalization? Of art, literature, architecture, goods-for-sale, photography, advertising, or media: How is this object of human fashioning changed … Continue reading
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Tagged art, college, globalism, literature, Politics, psychology, questions, seeing, vision
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“Cool Braining” Should Be The New Phrase For Yawning
Or, perhaps, “empathy enhancing.” __________ I take from the above video that maybe “hot heads” should not just count to ten in an effort to not blow up at other people, but perhaps try yawning (“cool braining” or “empathy enhancing”) … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged anger, empathy, love, nonviolence, occupy, peace, psychology, the brain, yawning
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Agnosticism and the Uncanny
Imagine that you find a stranger attractive, and each time you see that person, you notice that he or she in turn notices you. Now let’s imagine you approach that person and say the following: “It’s uncanny how we keep … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, atheism, Jesus, philosophy, uncanny
1 Comment
Philip Roth On The Novel Verses The Screen
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Tagged books, computers, internet, literature, novels, philip roth, poetry, screens
2 Comments
Emer O’Toole Says Shakespeare is Globally Popular Because of Colonialism
If a student were to ask me why people, the world over, read and put on performances of Shakespeare’s plays, I would basically say the following: A difficult achievement is universally recognizable. Shakespeare has done something, aesthetically and imaginatively, very far … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged art, beauty, colonialism, drama, literature, postmodernism, Shakespeare, Shakespeare festival
4 Comments
Evolution’s Eccentricity: Head Injury Savants And The Right Way To Organize Society
Imagine banging your head and suddenly having a talent for piano playing (or oil painting, or doing complex mathematics). It’s a real phenomenon. Here’s an example: __________ To my mind, this suggests that individuals are a lot like birds. Birds … Continue reading
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Tagged compulsion, determinism, freedom, intelligence, obsession, philosophy, slavery, talent
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Does God Want You To Be Curious?
In a recent interview, science writer Philip Ball talks about his new book on curiosity, and implicates religion in stifling it: It’s certainly true that the instinct to know more about our environment must go back as far as humanity … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, curiosity, God, Islam, Jesus, Judaism, Mohammad, philosophy, science
13 Comments
