A friend told me of young girl in trouble at school. She wouldn’t sit still to do her work, and whenever a teacher’s back was turned she would move about the classroom, sliding, hopping, and turning about. Even when forced to stay at her desk, she would stand rather than sit, tapping or shuffling her […]
Fidgety problem kids — an anecdote Read More »
In 1770, tensions were high between the American colonists and their British rulers. Anxious soldiers confronting an angry mob precipitated the Boston Massacre. Eight soldiers were then put on trial for murder. The lawyer John Adams was a strong American patriot, yet he took on the defense of the British soldiers. His purpose was explicitly
Revolutionary justice: French versus American style Read More »
A partial truth, but not relevant to justifying a free society politically. Why not? A free society respects and protects freedom in many domains: religious liberty, artistic freedom, romantic liberty, economic freedom, and so on.Take the first—religious liberty—as working example, and apply JA’s criteria, saying: “You should have religious freedom because you are fallible, inconsistent,
Freedom’s political justification —Amash example Read More »
Logical Fallacies (compiled by Brian McGroarty) Ad Hominem: This is the best logical fallacy, and if you disagree with me, well, you suck. Appeal to False Authority: Your logical fallacies aren’t logical fallacies at all because Einstein said so. Einstein also said that this one is better. Appeal to Emotion: See, my mom, she had
Logical Fallacies — McGroarty’s fun list Read More »
A favorite quotation: “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” Source: Zora Neale Hurston, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” (1928).
Zora Neale Hurston on racism and self-esteem Read More »
Wisdom from a giant of the nineteenth-century — Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-1895): “Everybody has asked the question … ‘What shall we do with the Negro?’ I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the
Frederick Douglass and self-respect Read More »
2026 is the 40th anniversary of this important publication on the foundations of epistemology. “This book is a highly original defense of realism. David Kelley argues that perception is the discrimination of objects as entities, that the awareness of these objects is direct, and that perception is a reliable foundation for empirical knowledge. Kelley’s argument
David Kelley’s *The Evidence of the Senses* Read More »
Nobody knows what the origin of ‘Hoosier’ is. Party fun for visitors to Indiana includes recounting the many speculations on the label’s origins. This year’s football season, culminating in the football Hoosiers’ undefeated 16-0 season and a national championship was delightful and remarkable. I was a grad student back in the day when the basketball
Indiana University Hoosiers Read More »