Category Archives: culture

When liberals are conservative, and conservatives liberal

One of the strange things one observes in political discussions is the selective usage of the “precautionary principle.” For example, in general the modern Left tends to be sanguine about disruption of accepted social norms and institutions. It believes that … Continue reading

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Sarah Palin

Discuss.

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David Brooks sexually harassed by G.O.P. Senator?

Early on in the video: H/T Politico.

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Random acts of nature

I highly recommend the recent episode on Stochasticity from Radiolab. It seems pretty clear that we have a “purpose seeking mind.”

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Althouse’ rule on sex-differences in action

A few years ago Ann Althouse told Bob Wright that there was an easy way to do sex-differences research without being pilloried: make sure that the generalizations work out so that they are flatter women. Over at Feministing, Are Women … Continue reading

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Abortion, the forgotten years….

I’ve mentioned before that in the early-to-mid-1970s abortion did not have the valence on the Right that it does today. It was primarily the Roman Catholic Church which opposed Roe vs. Wade with concerted and strenuous vigor. Though to a … Continue reading

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Iran, is it that polarized by class?

Like many people I don’t know that much about what’s going on in Iran besides what I read. An Iranian American friend asked me what I thought would happen…which I think goes to show that we’re all in uncharted waters … Continue reading

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Social science & engineering

A recent Bloggingheads.tv featured two philosophers, and was titled “Explaining and Appraising Moral Intuition”. A considerable proportion of the discussion involved the utility of cognitive and evolutionary psychology in probing the reflexive roots of our moral intuitions, and how that … Continue reading

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