Category Archives: Uncategorized

Social science & engineering

Posted on June 17, 2009 by David Hume

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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God on Campus

Posted on June 16, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

Religious readers of this site periodically rebuke me for misunderstanding the nature of prayer.  Prayer is a way of communing with God, they say; no informed believer would ask or expect God to intervene on their or others’ behalf.  Thus, … Continue reading →

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Theater of death and life

Posted on June 14, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

I highly recommend Ionesco’s Exit the King to anyone who is in New York.   It is an almost unbearably wrenching exploration of mortality delivered by the most astounding theatrical performance–by Geoffrey Rush (for which he won a Tony)–I have seen in recent … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor’s Banana

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

John Tierney documents further blows to human exceptionalism: moping coyotes, rueful monkeys, tigers that cover their eyes in remorse, chimpanzees that second-guess their choices. I suppose that such signs of proto-moral reactions in animals are neutral regarding our alleged origins … Continue reading →

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Angels, Demons, Science, and Meaning

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

New York Times science columnist Dennis Overbye has a nuanced column on the semi-condescending attitude towards science as a potential source of wisdom in Angels and Demons, the new Tom Hanks movie (which I haven’t seen).  I think that Overbye actually … Continue reading →

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Where Pretty Lies Perish

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Bradlaugh

I’m by no means the first to admit it, but I find the Roissy in DC blog hilarious and totally addictive.  He’s one of us, for sure (secular, Right); and his stone reductionism appeals to me enough to override the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 33 Comments

Religious Art

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

Heather, I’ll admit to being a fan of quite a lot of religious art from the masterpieces of the (early) Renaissance to the blood, bile and hellfire of some of the Flemish to,  for that matter,  the radiant gloom of … Continue reading →

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“Surrounded by Paganism”

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

Good Lord, Walter! Who knew? There are indeed a few pagans out there, dancing in groves, hanging out in New Age stores, worshiping trees and all the rest of it, but I don’t know quite where Mr. Gingrich gets the … Continue reading →

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“We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism.”

Posted on June 8, 2009 by Walter Olson

Newt Gingrich, in Virginia Beach, certainly seems to have learned to talk the talk. More: Allahpundit. And Ken Silber has a few “pagan” quotes to recommend to Gingrich, including this from Cicero: “Orators are most vehement when their cause is … Continue reading →

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Where’d all the religious art go, and who misses it?

Posted on June 7, 2009 by Heather Mac Donald

While in Boston this weekend for the opening night performance of L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Boston Early Music Festival (an elegant, historically sensitive production, created, like all of BEMF’s work, in conscious rejection of the ignorant narcissism of Regietheater) … Continue reading →

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