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    Category: Mohan Matthen

    • The Indian Headshake

      Here is something both hilarious and deeply informative. (Don't watch if you're from Québec, where the Indian headshake violates secular values.) ) 

    • The Essence of a Jackass . . .

      . . . is here.

    • Andre Gombay: In Memoriam

      Arthur Ripstein, Chair of the Graduate Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, writes: It is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the death of Andre Gombay, who died last Friday, February 28th.  He died at home, surrounded by family, and without sadness or fear. Andre loved philosophy, and was…

    • Journal of American Philosophical Association Launches

      The journal's webpage for submissions is here. The editorial board is just about as distinguished as it could get. Editors don't write a journal, but the prestige of this board ought to make this a good venue to have on one's cv.

    • It’s Just a Website. We’re Not Going to the Moon.

      Interesting story in Time (of all places) about how the Obama campaign tech team rescued the broken healthcare website.

    • Scotland and the Pound

      I have been thinking about Québec separatism for a long time now—the PQ won its first election a few months after I arrived here. I abhor the very idea of separation except in conditions where the separating entity is actively being oppressed. On the other hand if a jurisdiction votes to separate, it should be…

    • In memoriam: Israel Scheffler

      According to Brian Leiter, Israel Scheffler died on February 16th at the age of ninety. A very sad event. Scheffler was not a philosopher who cared much about trends. When all around him were scratching their heads about Thomas Kuhn, he wrote a pretty trenchant rejection, Science and Subjectivity (which also took on people like Feyerabend…

    • Nagel: Plantinga’s Flip-Side

      Massimo Pigliucci has written an excellent piece criticizing Plantinga’s theistic arguments, recounted recently in an interview with Gary Gutting on the New York Times “Stone” blog. (See also Helen de Cruz's discussion.) Plantinga’s belief rests, according to himself, not on argument but on “experience.” We have an inborn inclination to believe in God, and like…

    • Muzzling Science, Vilifying Scientists

      In Canada, we've had a lot of concern recently about the Federal Government muzzing its scientists, those who work, for instance, in the Department of Oceans and Fisheries or in Environment Canada. These scientists cannot even publish their work or give talks or answer journalist questions without the clearance of some non-boffin. As bad as…

    • The Funny Thing About Colorado

      One thing that attracted my attention in the Colorado situation was the university’s use of the APA’s Committee on the Status of Women Campus Site Visit program. Judging from the description of the program on the Committee’s website, campus visits are normally advisory. Departments request site visits in which a team investigates climate issues, with…