Links
Welcome to our links page. As you can see, it is split into
sections. At the top, you'll find a list of recommended web
sites. These cover a variety of subject areas. Beneath this
list, you'll find links to web sites grouped by topic area.
Recommended Web Sites
Amartya Sen
A selection of articles and lectures.
Another Ironic Dictionary
Daniel Dennett's famous Lexicon. Con, indeed, and of course that is a compliment.
Astrology and Science
Rich resource of articles, links, guide to sources, etc.
Atheist Resource
Hours of exploring.
Australian Fashionable Nonsense
A page of links sent in by a reader, to some very studly cult studs web sites.
Center for Inquiry Transnational
News, events and more.
Charlatans [in French]
Le Feng Shui, a la recherche du Ch'i, L'imposture géologique, lots more
Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion
CSER examines the claims of Eastern and Western religions and of well-established and newer sects and denominations in the light of scientific inquiry.
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
Indispensable
Creationism's Trojan Horse
Paul Gross and Barbara Forrest on Intelligent Design as a wedge strategy.
Critical Thinking on the Web
Tim van Gelder's Austhink site links to many articles and other resources.
Free Inquiry
The current issue.
Handy Guide to Logical Argument
Complete with links to fallacies.
Human Rights Watch
News, issues, commentary, international justice, and more.
James Randi's Site
An educational resource on the paranormal and pseudoscientific.
Just War Theory
A site devoted to public education in the ethics of armed conflict.
Logic Tutorial
Diagrams of logic.
National Center for Science Education
The site of an organization working to defend the teaching of evolution against sectarian attack.
Pathological Science
An essay on pathological science by Nicholas Turro, a chemistry professor at Columbia University. Includes useful links.
Peirce Definitions
A work-in-progress dictionary of technical definitions gleaned from the various collections of CS Peirce's writings.
Pope's Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot
The full text of the poem in which you may have
seen the phrase Butterflies and Wheels before.
>>Let Sporus tremble--"What? that thing of silk,
Sporus, that mere white curd of ass's milk?
Satire or sense, alas! can Sporus feel?
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?"
Power of Ten
The beauty of science. Go from outside the glaxy to inside the nucleus of an oak leaf cell.
Pseudo-sciences [in French]
The French Association for Scientific Information. Le livre noir de la psychanalyse, creationism, lots more
Resource on Pseudoscience and the Paranormal
Many useful links.
Robert Park's Weekly Column
Park's 'What's New' reports on voodoo science and related matters.
Scott McLemee
Articles and essays, and more.
Six Evil Demons
Advice to students on writing essays, but good advice on clear thinking in general.
Skeptical Dictionary
In the proud tradition of Ambrose Bierce's Devil's Dictionary and Flaubert's Dictionary of Received Ideas (and, dare we say it? our own Fashionable Dictionary), here is a collection of over 400 examples of pseudoscience and New Age flummery.
Social Issues Research Council
A rich site for science and social issues.
Talk Reason
Articles on Intelligent Design, Faith v Reason, Science and Religion from 'positions of reason and respect for genuine science.'
The Christopher Hitchens Website
Contrarians should stick together.
The Council for Secular Humanism
North America's leading organization for non-religious people.
The German magazine Novo
For our German-speaking readers
The Museum of Hoaxes
Hoaxes through history.
answered my question about Paul Kurtz by transcribing some of a ">The New Humanist
Journal of rationalism, humanism and freethought published by the London-based Rationalist Association.
The Richard Dawkins site
News, views, discussion, more.
The Secular Web Library
Both Modern and Historical. Riches!
The Underground Grammarian
A scourge of fatuous ideas in education, sloppy use of language, woolly thinking, cozy ideas, and touchy-feely drivel of all kinds, Richard Mitchell is back in print and on the Web.
The World of Richard Dawkins
John Catalano's excellent and comprehensive web site dealing with the work of Oxford University's Richard Dawkins, the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science.
Urban Legends
An encyclopaedic resource.
Women's Rights at Human Rights Watch
Women around the world deprived of basic rights.
'Theory'
Burke on Ruddick
'if one is more knowledgeable, there really is no basis for rejecting any of their insights, as I was struggling to do.'
Longer Version of Lisa Ruddick's Essay
On professional deformation in the humanities.
Professionalism and its Discontents
Lisa Ruddick questions professional norms that rule out certain domains of thought.
(A Very Few, Particularly Good Ones)
Adventures in Ethics and Science
A chemist-philosopher. She flies the geek flag high.
academic bill of rights
Reason Looks at the Tensions
Freedom for students is not the same as freedom for teachers.
California AAUP Responds to Proposed Bill
California Senate Bill died in Committee, but it could be back.
Diplomatic and Military History Not Popular
Conservative students have trouble getting hired in the humanities - perhaps because they are interested in boring subjects.
Horowitz and Walker Discuss It
A conservative and a libertarian disagree on how the Academic Bill of Rights would work in practice.
How Would it Work?
A Colorado history professor ponders some of the difficulties of teaching with 'balance.'
Playing the Rights Card
Julian Baggini on rights-rhetoric.
Stanford Art Historian Graham Larkin on the Bill
Simplistic worldview, flawed statistics, and political irresponsibility.
What's Wrong With Florida House Bill 837
'According to legislative analysts, the bill would give students the right to sue over anything presented in class.'
Admissions Policy
'The Great Sorting'
Nicholas Lemann in The Atlantic, on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and what it wrought.
31 out of 45 Accepted is Discrimination?
Bristol disavows social engineering or dumbing down or dancing to government's tune.
Boycott
Heads of private schools announce boycott of Bristol over admissions policy.
Conversation About Meritocracy
A dialogue on the BBC's Newsnight, with Roy Hattersley and David Miliband.
Derek Bok on Affirmative Action
Interviewed by PBS show 'Frontline'.
Dworkin Affirms
Ronald Dworkin defends Affirmative Action in the New York Review of Books.
Embarrassing Moment at the Top
Hodge announces quotas, Clarke says No, Hodge disannounces quotas.
Exaggerated Claims
Expert on admissions says Bristol's policy is not as unfair to independent school students as claimed.
Hattersley on Rawls
Roy Hattersley on the legacy of John Rawls.
Independent Recommends Honesty
Universities should be open and clear about the changes they are making to admissions policies, The Independent says.
John McWhorter on Affirmative Action
John Brockman introduces 'The Demise of Affirmative Action at Berkeley' on Edge.
Michigan
The Chronicle of Higher Education offers useful links to the University of Michigan's affirmative action case before the US Supreme Court.
Or Perhaps Both
Some say Bristol is prejudiced against independent schools, others say it is prejudiced against state schools.
Roy Hattersley on Equality
Meritocracy is not what he had in mind for Labour.
Salon Interviews John McWhorter
Do the secret racist thoughts of legislators shape the way they run the country? McWhorter doesn't think so.
Targets Disavowed
It's not easy to figure out how to achieve equality of access to education.
The Independent
A long article in the Independent on Bristol's admissions policy.
The Observer
An Observer story on class divisions at Bristol, with links to background.
The Poor Are Invisible
Polly Toynbee and Richard Sennett discuss inequality and respect on 'Start the Week'.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post offers some useful links on the subject of Affirmative Action.
Amusements
Amusements
The Exorcist in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies.
Animal Rights and Medical Research
Darley Oaks Farm Ends Guinea Pig Breeding
Intimidation campaign wins.
How Much Animal Testing is Done?
Nuffield Council on Bioethics panel said more effort should be made to assess and monitor the welfare of animals used in genetic experiments.
Hundreds of people were terrorised by the protesters
Scientists have furiously condemned the animal rights movement after the closure of a controversial guinea pig farm which it was claimed would seriously hamper medical research in Britain.
Resist animal rights extremism, top scientists urge
Medical researchers have urged companies involved in animal testing to persist.
Scientists Endorse Animal Research
More than 500 leading UK scientists support humane experiments on animals after campaign of intimidation forced closure of a guinea pig farm in Staffordshire.
Text of Research Defense Society Declaration
These principles form the basis of the strict UK controls on animal research.
We Give Up
Tactics, denounced as mob rule by some in medical research industry, included hate mail, malicious phone calls, fireworks, a paedophile smear campaign, paint stripper on cars, arson attacks, and grave robbing.
Anti-intellectualism
Curtis White on the Middle Mind
A hilarious essay about pseudo-thought, which skewers Fresh Air and generational generalizations.
Curtis White: No Thinkin'
On the insidious anti-intellectualism in a popular movie, and how far below the radar it flew.
Todd Gitlin on Anti-intellectualism in the Bush Era
Gitlin, shortly after the election, anatomizes the sources of American suspicion of intellect.
Bad Writing
Denis Dutton on Bad Writing
And so a contest is born...
Helena Echlin on Bad Writing at Yale
'The ode must traverse the problem of solipsism before it can approach participating in the unity which is no longer accessible.' 'Brilliant,' the professor said. Eh?
Martha Nussbaum on Judith Butler
Martha Nussbaum considers one of the winners of the Bad Writing contest.
Readability v. Prestige
The more clarity, the less status, says the Dr. Fox thesis.
Review of Being Difficult?
Carlin Romano on a book that defends 'difficult' writing.
The Bad Writing Contest
'This is the real exteriority of the absolute outside.' Butler, Bhabha, and more. Have fun.
Battle of the Books
Irving Howe's 'Why Read the Canon'
Irving Howe quotes Trotsky, Gramsci, Lukacs and Dewey on the value of literature.
Blogs (A Very Few, Particularly Good Ones)
Philosophy, Etcetera
Shrewd 'ramblings' from a university student in New Zealand.
The Enlightenment Project
The name says it all.
Blogs (A Very Few, Particularly Good Ones)
Black Triangle
Medical issues and science-related subjects, from the well-informed Anthony Cox.
Blogging with a Hammer
An ex-Mormon academic who tries not to be driven by ideology.
Chris Mooney
Excellent coverage of science issues. Mooney writes for The American Prospect and CSICOP among others.
Eric the Unread
Keeping an eye on the pseudo-left.
GMO Pundit
A geneticist on the mysteries of modern genetics.
Harry's Place
Holding the left's feet to the fire.
Invisible Adjunct
A historian's view of the academy.
Irfan Khawaja's 'Theory and Practice'
Secularism, reason, disagreements.
Jeff Weintraub
A sociologist who is paying attention.
Left2Right
Several people who know something about something.
Maryam Namazie
2005 Secularist of the Year
Mick Hartley's blog
Full of good stuff.
Nigel Warburton's Virtual Philosopher
Questions one itches to answer.
Norman Geras
Argumentative, amusing, with lists and profiles and a good word for Marx.
Obscene Desserts
A historian, writer and malcontent.
Pharyngula
P.Z. Myers on evolution, biology, the nonsense of ID.
Philip Stott
Professor Emeritus at the University of London monitors coverage of environmental issues and science in the UK media.
Pickled Politics
Progressive Asians.
Stephen Law
Stephen Law talks about cultural relativism, atheism, and other interesting stuff.
Talking Philosophy
Julian Baggini and Jeremy Stangroom. Or vice versa.
Terry Teachout
About Last Night at the Arts Journal.
The Loom
Carl Zimmer's blog. Each post a miniature science article.
The Panda's Thumb
Group blog resisting the fiendish plots of the 'Intelligent Design' crowd.
Bones
Bones Could Be Buried or Destroyed
Study of human remains endangered by new policy.
Friends of America's Past Statement
NAGPRA committee must bridge chasm between tribal views and scientific and public interests in the past.
Human Remains Working Group Report
Director of the Natural History Museum Sir Neil Chalmers warned the recommendations would lead to the mandatory return of scientifically valuable objects.
Interview with Steve Russell
Russell argues for the benefits of repatriation.
Kennewick Man
An early article (1996) from Archaeology on the skeleton found near the Columbia River.
Kennewick Man
Norman Levitt on philosophical relativism in the US Department of the Interior.
NAGPRA in Hawaii
One 'ethnic' group wants artifacts buried, other groups do not. What to do?
Nova on the First Americans
Documentary on Kennewick Man includes interviews with all eight scientists who sued for right to study KM.
Reburial
An overview of the controversy by Eric Pettifor.
Repatriation and Reburial
Annotated links to NAGPRA, Ethics Codes, State Laws and more, (though many of the links are dead).
Whose Bones?
A collection of useful links.
Why the Lawsuit?
The eight scientists who sued for the right to study Kennewick Man explain why they did.
Cartoons
'Tide of Anger' Forces Newspaper to Submit
'Militant groups' make threats; January 30 Jyllands-Posten apologizes.
43 Page Dossier Stoked the Outrage
It included three obscene caricatures that had nothing to do with Jyllands-Posten.
BBC Timeline
What happened when
Childish Tantrums Continue
Arab ministers urge Denmark to punish newspaper which printed 'offensive' cartoons.
Danish Tabloid Reports There are 'Extra' Cartoons
Akhmad Akkari says extras were added to show 'how hateful the atmosphere in Denmark is.'
Embassies Burn in Damascus as Tantrums Continue
Vatican says right to freedom of expression does not imply right to offend religious beliefs.
Four People Killed in Cartoon Protests
'They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and to their newspapers.'
French Editor Fired for Printing Cartoons
Journalists at the newspaper stood by their editor's decision.
Fundamental Values are Being Challenged
Totalitarian and authoritarian impulses drive reactions to Jyllands-Posten cartoons.
Guys With Guns Continue Tantrum
Threat threat threat, demand demand demand, gun gun gun.
Having a Thin Skin Can Be Used as a Weapon
It allows people to create their own definition of respect and require us to observe it.
Hitchens on Babyish Tantrums
'Faith belongs to the spoiled and selfish childhood of our species.'
Ibn Warraq Urges Solidarity With the Cartoonists
Unashamed, noisy, public solidarity, lest the forces trying to impose a totalitarian ideology win.
Jesus and Mo
Funny stuff.
Jordanian Editors Arrested for Insulting Religion
'Muslims of the world be reasonable,' wrote Mr Momani, so no wonder he got busted.
Jyllands-Posten Editor Says it was Worth It
'We wanted to show how deeply entrenched self-censorship has already become.'
Jyllands-Posten Gives In
Another victory for religious taboo.
Le Soir Sacks Managing Editor
As a sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual. Er...
Munira Mirza Says Muslims Want Freedom Too
Censorship in the West bolsters the moral authority of leaders in the Middle East to censor their own citizens.
No One Knows What the Prophet Looked Like
No one could seriously claim to recognise the Prophet in images drawn by Danish cartoonists.
Petition to Defend Free Speech and Secularism
Condemn threats and violence as a way to silence criticism and satire.
Sign and Sight
On European press reaction.
The Cartoons Spread Across Europe
Seven publications in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain carried some of the drawings.
The Guardian Takes a Stand
Against teasing 'the founder of one of the world's three great monotheistic religions.'
Wikipedia overview
Useful.
World Press Reaction
It's one thing to assert the right to publish, another thing to put that right to the test. Oh.
Cultural Relativism
'Honour' Killing
The Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society provides an article by Azam Kamguian on honour killing.
'No Sharia in Ontario' Campaign
The Ontario Arbitration Act 1991 allows religion to interfere with the Canadian justice system.
A Collection of Links
A page of links to human rights stories from the Indian media.
Amnesty Page on Honour Killings
Australian Amnesty provides web page with useful links.
BBC Page on Women in Southeast Asia
Amnesty International report says that governments in S.E. Asia show bias against women by failing to report human rights abuses such as so-called honour killings.
Bibliography on 'Honour' Killings
Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law and Interights provide a useful bibliography.
Committee to Defend Women's Rights in the Middle East
Site for secularism and women's rights.
Crimes of 'Honour'
Interights and CIMEL present strategies for dealing with the problem.
Cultural relativism of human rights
Ishtiaq Ahmed points out that 'What is usually defined as the culture of a people is in reality the interpretation and discourse put forth by the ruling class and its allied intellectual elite.'
Europe Fails to Protect Women From Islamists
'Respecting different cultures' is becoming a one-way ticket to Middle Ages, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells UN conference.
Even Slavery is Culturally Relative to Some
To others, 'To excuse it as a cultural or religious normality is equally indefensible.'
Even the Cops Can Be Culturally Relativist
'Senior officers admitted they had made mistakes in the past by being "over sensitive" to the views of elders in the ethnic community, rather than seeing the issue as a violation of human rights.' Now they are going to treat forced marriage as serious abuse.
Former Muslims Call Europe Weak on Human Rights
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Azam Kamguian, Ibn Warraq condemn this 'upside-down racism.'
Human Rights and Asian Values
Amartya Sen says freedom and dissent are Asian values.
Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
'The Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society (ISIS) has been formed to promote the ideas of rationalism, secularism, democracy and human rights within Islamic society.'
Interview with Rana Husseini
Her reporting of honor killings has raised awareness.
Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation
Campaigns, articles, petitions; a vital resource.
Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?
Susan Moller Okin on the tension between respect for other cultures, and feminism.
Ishtiaq Ahmed on Human Rights
Do the basic assumptions of human rights conflict with Islam?
Islam and Human Rights
Ishtiaq Ahmed argues that a Muslim cultural identity need not be confused with harsh laws and practices from the medieval past.
Murders in the Name of Honour
Police in the UK plan to target honour killings.
Muslim Women Fight Back in India
Women's rights group confront fundamentalist groups, and sometimes win.
Rana Husseini
Jordanian reporter covers 'honor' killings.
Shari'a in Ontario?
International Campaign Against Shari'a Court in Canada
Stop Honour Killings
Multilingual international site; indispensable.
The Hijab
Is it oppressive or a right? What about social pressure to wear it?
The Muslim Canadian Congress
We believe in a progressive, liberal, pluralistic, democratic, and secular society where everyone has the freedom of religion.
Tradition
'Fifty-five years after India claimed for itself the status of a modern nation-state, one-fifth of its population remains subject to the tyranny of `tradition'. A tradition that rates cows higher than some human beings.' Article by Anjali Mody on the Dalits' daily struggle.
Victims of Jihad Conference at UN
Report from Commission on Human Rights.
Difference Feminism
Biology is Destiny, Yet Again
Women must have children. Get on with it!
Children Are Optional
Yes, even for women.
Gender and Ethical Theory
Page of links that connect gender theory with ethics.
More, The Goddess is Bunk
A review of Philip Davis' Goddess Unmasked originally published in The Skeptical Inquirer.
Political Agendas versus Science
The Skeptical Inquirer reports on a conference titled 'Rational Feminism Explores the Gender Politics of Science'.
St. Hilda's
An all-women's college prompts strange, prurient questions.
The Birth of Pleasure: a review
A skeptical, slightly ironically or teasingly baffled review of Carol Gilligan's The Birth of Pleasure in The Independent.
The Goddess is Bunk
An article in the January 2001 issue of The Atlantic examines the pseudo-mythology and pseudo-history behind 'Wicca' and The Goddess.
The Guardian
An article by Susan Greenfield on women in science, with additional relevant links at the bottom of the page.
The Virtual Library: Gender Equity
A page of useful links to studies and controversies related to education and women.
Education and Inequality
Public school or state school
Roger Scruton on the rich intellectual and artistic atmosphere at the grammar school he attended.
Einstein's Wife
Einstein’s Wife: Mileva Marić 1
Allen Esterson finds that the “Einstein’s Wife” documentary gives a thoroughly misleading account of the role of Mileva Marić in Einstein’s early scientific achievements.
Einstein’s Wife: Mileva Marić 2
Allen Esterson concludes that the PBS “Einstein’s Wife” website is an exercise in misinformation concerning the claims that Mileva Marić made substantive contributions to Einstein’s early scientific work.
Mileva Marić: Einstein’s Wife
Allen Esterson investigates the claims about Mileva Marić’s alleged contributions to Einstein’s early scientific achievements and finds them devoid of credible supporting evidence.
Oregon PBS Press Release [pdf]
On 'Einstein’s Wife, the Life of Mileva Maric'
PBS 'Einstein’s Wife' website
Spot the fallacies.
Elitism
Aiming High is Elitism?
'Oddly, criticisms of elitism rarely extend to school sport...' They don't, do they. Why is that?
Christopher Hitchens
One has to be unafraid of being called an elitist, says Hitchens in a Nation forum on the role of the public intellectual.
GOP versus PhD
The Bush administration doesn't want to know what scientists think, and Karl Rove defines liberals as people with doctorates.
Pop Culture Goes Macho
When girls think it's cool to call themselves hos and bitches, misogyny doesn't have to break a sweat.
Review of In Defense of Elitism
A literature professor is not impressed by a Time journalist's book, but he is also not a fan of 'reforming' the 'canon' by getting rid of all the dead white men.
Youth Culture versus 'Elitism'
A gold mine of insulting populist nonsense.
Enlightenment or Submission
Arab Feminists on Women's Rights
Laws permit beating and caging within four walls, allow them to be bought and sold.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Has Conveyed Her Message
There are atrocities performed in the name of culture and religion.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Interview in the Guardian
Condition of women in Muslim communities an intractable problem which liberals and multiculturalists refused to address.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Returns to Parliament
Index on Censorship
Ehsan Masood on Hizb-ut-Tahrir
Many parents, asked about the ban, are likely to wonder what took Blair so long.
Fatwa on Rushdie Reaffirmed
'History shows that the Muslims have in no era accepted their sanctities being defiled.'
http://www.wluml.org/english/index.shtml
Very useful.
http://www.wluml.org/english/links.shtml
Links to similar organizations.
Ian Buruma Talks to Ayaan Hirsi Ali
'I have nobody to accuse me of being decadent, westernised, a traitor, a... slut.'
Irshad Manji Against Routinely Low Expectations
And assumption that challenging a group’s religious convictions equals undermining their dignity.
Irshad Manji Calls for Muslim Think Tank
Author wants changes in Islam's stance on issues such as human rights.
Irshad Manji on Multiculturalism as Orthodoxy
Neither the watery word 'tolerance' nor the slippery phrase 'mutual respect' will cut it.
Kenan Malik on Exaggerated Islamophobia
People struggling to defend basic rights within Muslim communities are called racist.
Kenan Malik Questions Islamophobia
Is hatred of Muslims being exaggerated to silence critics of Islam?
Mona Eltahawy on Shabina Begum Case
Instead of standing up to growing conservatism among some Muslims, many liberals simply give in.
Ni Putes Ni Soumises
Neither sluts nor submissives: Fadela Amara offers respect instead.
Outrage at Murder of Hatun Surucu
'This tragedy has shaken us awake,' says Eren Unsal from the Association of Secular Turks.
Politics of Religious Appeasment
Salman Rushdie laments the collapse of liberal principles before religions' strident demands.
Repeal of Blasphemy Laws Urged
Ashiq Nabi the latest killed because of the blasphemy laws.
Salman Rushdie on the Danger of Taboo-thought
The moment you say any idea system is sacred, freedom of thought becomes impossible.
Salman Rushdie on the Need for Reform in Islam
Closed communities are places where young men's alienations can easily deepen.
Saudi Women Speak
'Young girls here are so oppressed. They receive this education that means you never think about your rights.'
Secular vs. Sacred, Universal vs. Multicultural
Azam Kamguian says it is getting harder to argue against Hijab and women's subordination.
Sharia TV
Whatever you're doing, stop.
Three Women Speak Out Against Sharia
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Homa Arjomand and Irshad Manji spoke at Toronto conference.
Women Protest Talibanization of Pakistan
'These mullahs want us to just stay home, have children and God knows what else.'
Epistemology
Epistemology, Science and the Law
Susan Haack offers a brief epistemological commentary on the legal mechanisms that have been devised to handle scientific evidence in court.
Freud
Burying Freud
Human Nature offers a collection of essays and correspondence.
Crews v. Cavell
Part of the New York Review of Books correspondence over Frederick Crews' 'The Revenge of the Repressed' in 1994.
Frederick Crews Disagrees With Jonathan Lear
Suggestion? What suggestion?
Freud's Seduction Theory
Allen Esterson and others discuss Jeffrey Masson's version.
Hysteria
Richard Webster on Charcot and Freud on hysteria.
International Network of Freud Critics
Trilingual site (German, French, English) for articles and more on Freud.
Jonathan Lear v. Freud 'Bashers'
A woolly defense.
Kevin McDonald Reads Crews on Freud
'The entire enterprise begins to appear more and more like an authoritarian religious cult than a scientific movement.'
Richard Webster Listens to In Our Time
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Freud and hysteria.
Webster on Freud on Hysteria 2
Hysteria, medicine and misdiagnosis: an excerpt from Why Freud Was Wrong.
Higher Education and its Discontents
A Sucker's Game
The New York Times Magazine on college football.
Anti-Intellectualism at University
'America is not a deeply intellectual culture,' says Anthony Grafton, a history professor at Princeton. '[Intellectualism] is a countercultural value, not one that most people embrace. It's not what life in the suburbs is about...'
But the Grass is Greener
Article that originally appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, on the factors that work against intellectual challenge at Duke University, including fraternities and sororities, sports, and non-academic admissions.
Cabinet Secretary and the Historians
Charles Clarke thinks the idea of education as a good in itself is a bit dodgy, but perhaps not all his colleagues would agree.
College as Entertainment Lite
Mark Edmundson's essay from Harpers magazine, on college students as consumers and their teachers as more or less amusing stand up acts.
Grade Inflation
Harvey Mansfield in the Chronicle of Higher Education blames therapeutic notions of self-esteem for upward pressure on grades even at Harvard.
Grade Inflation Page
Useful references.
Grading the Teacher
'On the whole, professors know more than a first year undergraduate. How can wisdom and learning "not" condescend when confronted with vacant ignorance?'
Review of Beer and Circus
Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post reviews Murray Sperber's book on the decline of undergraduate education.
Teacher versus Basketball Fans, Teacher Loses
Insults and even threats. How dare a mere English teacher express a criticism of a basketball coach? Who does he think he is? Doesn't he know what the university's priorities are?
University Football Coaches are Paid Millions
Are universities just fleas on the body of football?
Micheal Ruse
Darwin and Jesus Mix?
Jerry Coyne reviews Ruse in London Review of Books.
Interview with Michael Ruse
What does it mean to say 'the Darwin vs. Creation argument is often a battle of two religions'?
Interview with Ruse in Salon
'If in fact Darwinian evolutionary theory implies atheism, then you ought not to be teaching it in schools!'
Ruse Reviews Dawkins
Calls his criticism of religion a crusade of unbelief.
The Evolution-Creation Struggle
A war of ideas.
Misogyny
DRC: Rape as a Weapon in North Kivu
Rape is seen as fully legitimate 'additional retribution' by the armed groups.
Rape in the DRC
6-year-old Shashir was gang-raped. She was close to starvation when found.
Violence against women rife in war-torn countries
The use of sexual violence is precisely calculated to subjugate and humiliate civilian communities.
MMR
Article in BMJ
Article in the British Medical Journal finds no link between jab and autism.
Ben Goldacre on the Facts
Keep his article at hand when you watch the show.
Channel 5 Defends Actor
'She is expressing her views as a mother.'
Children's Lives Could Be Put at Risk
Doctors call drama one-sided and highly irresponsible.
David Aaronovitch
'During the last, relatively mild, outbreak of measles, in the late 1980s, 17 children are estimated to have died.'
Doctors Boycott Drama
Senior doctors decline to debate MMR jab following tv drama on the subject.
Don't Show It
Doctors say Channel Five film is inaccurate and could cost lives of children.
Drama Increases Fears of Jab
'A lot of people don't have the jabs now, and I think that number will grow following this programme, and that could mean a more serious outbreak of measles in the future.'
Juliet Stevenson Speaks Out
Doesn't want to be told the fears are nonsense. [subscription]
Letters to the Guardian
'...a snowball of conjecture and innuendo has lead us to a wholly unacceptable scenario today where MMR immunisation rates have now fallen to 84% nationally.'
Mark Lawson on 'Hear the Silence'
'If you walked into a doctor's surgery looking as lopsided as this drama, you would be sent for emergency orthopaedic surgery at once.'
The Facts
The National Health Service offers a wealth of information.
Nonsense Files
'An Impressive Intervention'
If you're easily impressed, at least.
'Arrogant absolutist reason'
Disembodied, disembedded, abstract, dominating and colonizing - reason is bad stuff.
A Call for Demotic Science
'...an era of pervasive science calls into being a legitimately more demotic approach to science.'
Asante Disagrees with Lefkowitz
And forgets to mention that library at Alexandria that Aristotle stole from even though he was dead before it was built.
Beware of 'Big Science'
Modern medicine is the cause of disease, and other wisdom.
Bhabha Gets Technical
'Within that conflictual economy of colonial discourse which Edward Said describes as the tension between the synchronic panoptical vision of domination - the demand for identity, stasis - and the counterpressure of the diachrony of history - change, difference - mimicry represents an ironic compromise.'
Body, Desire, Discourse, Meaning
Destablised, deviance, difference, site for the production of meaning - all in the first few words. How original...
Critique of 21st Century Discourses
Late capitalism, epistemological hegemony, cultural domination, or globalization - same thing.
Deconstructing Ideology in Science by Watching TV
'Recent work has made it clear to those with eyes to see that there is no place in science, technology, medicine or other forms of expertise where you cannot find ideology acting as a constitutive determinant.'
Donna Haraway on the Promise of Monsters
'Excruciatingly conscious of nature's discursive constitution as "other" in the histories of colonialism, racism, sexism, and class domination of many kinds, we nonetheless find in this problematic, ethno-specific, long-lived, and mobile concept something we cannot do without, but can never "have."'
Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto
'The machine is not an it to be animated, worshipped, and dominated. The machine is us, our processes, an aspect of our embodiment.'
Godhead and the Nothing
There is an actual naming of namelessness
which is the naming of nothingness.
Homi Bhabha in Defense of Theory
'Is the language of theory merely another power ploy of the culturally privileged Western elite to produce a discourse of the Other that reinforces its own power-knowledge equation?'
In postmodernity the two cultures are one -- and many
Paul Forman explains why 'today's scientists' accept a plurality of goods instead of truth.
Introducing Homi 'Academic Superstar' Bhabha
The frenzy of renown in action.
Is the Other hungry, tired, thirsty, wet?
'Lacan will formulate the desire of the Other as S(O), the signifier of a lack in the Other. A signifier is always missing, the signifier which would complete the subject by allowing him to satisfy the Other’s demand...'
Jargon Explained
'A Glossary of Key Terms in the Work of
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.' Useful stuff.
Leonard Shlain
Writing diminishes feminine values. Eh?
Metanarrative Fights Metanarrative
'This rebellion against the episte mological stranglehold of scientific empiricism, however, is like reading romance novels in that it is primarily an escapist activity that leaves the dominant infrastructure of scientific ideology intact.'
Oh no, not cryptonormativity
And not only that, but essentialism, and reaffirming the project of modernity, and all sorts.
Pagans for Active Use
Lighting fires and sticking graffiti on Stonehenge show the pagans are active, participatory users, not like those dreary passive scholar types who only want to look at the thing.
Olds
Non-fiction Better Than Fiction
Andrew Marr observes that contemporary fiction doesn't light a lot of fires, but there is a great deal of brilliant popular science around.
Optimistic Skepticism
Grist is Skeptical
Excellent feature by Grist magazine, with links to comments by E.O. Wilson, Stephen Schneider, Norman Myers and others.
Guardian Story on Report
The Guardian on the report of the Danish committee, which found that Lomborg didn't comprehend the science, rather than intending to mislead.
The Guardian Reviews Lomborg
Chris Lavers urges caution in judging Lomborg's use of statistics: 'overarching averages can obscure a lot of important detail.'
A Letter
A reply to Bjørn Lomborg in Scientific American.
Another SciAm Article
More skepticism toward skeptical environmentalist.
Article on the Skeptical Environmentalist
Scientific American article in January 2002 on The Skeptical Environmentalist.
Danish Ministry Overturns Decision
Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has repudiated findings by Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty that Bjørn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist was 'objectively dishonest.'
Lomborg Replies to his Critics
Bjørn Lomborg answers his doubters in Scientific American.
More Correspondence on Lomborg
Several letters about Lomborg's Skeptical Environmentalist in Scientific American.
Reply to Rebuttal
More correspondence in Scientific American.
Ten Items for Environmental Educators to Know
A critique by the World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund of Bjørn Lomborg's controversial book.
UCS on Lomborg
The Union of Concerned Scientists looks at The Skeptical Environmentalist. Includes comments from E.O. Wilson, Peter Gleick, Jerry Mahlman and others.
Wilson on Biodiversity
E.O. Wilson's book The Future of Life explains the importance of biodiversity, and why optimism about species loss, whether from Rush Limbaugh or Bjørn Lomborg, is a mistake.
Wilson on Lomborg on Extinction
E.O. Wilson demolishes Lomborg's optimism about species extinction.
Other Controversies
'Intelligent Design' is Not Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science rules that Intelligent Design theory does not qualify as science, and explains why.
Salon on The Education of Little Tree
New Age meets Native Wisdom and they live happily ever after, even though the matchmaker was in the Ku Klux Klan.
Amartya Sen on Reason East and West
The West does not have a monopoly on reason, Amartya Sen points out.
Article on Derek Freeman v. Margaret Mead
Which one do we need to be skeptical of?
Astrology and Science
Scientific investigation of astrology.
Bad Astronomy on TV
An amusing dissection of a program on Rupert Murdoch's Fox channel about the 'faking' of the moon landings.
Confusions over Kennewick Man
New York Times article on heated disputes over 9000 year old skeleton and what he means.
Darkness in El Dorado Controversy
A page of useful links to the debate set off by Patrick Tierney's book Darkness in El Dorado, which charged James Neel and Napoleon Chagnon with unethical behaviour in their research among the Yamomami of Brazil and Venezuela. Now that the dust has settled, the consensus seems to be that some of Tierney's charges were exaggerated or unfounded, but that the book does raise important ethical issues for anthropologists and other researchers.
Debunking the Kensington Stone
An anthropology site that provides an interesting collection of deceptive arguments.
Dwight Macdonald on Adler's Folly
The 'Great Books' straitjacketed in an ugly edition and accompanied by a bizzarre two-volume 'Syntopticon' - Macdonald has fun with it all.
Esterson on Freud's Seduction Theory
Allen Esterson examines Freud's inconsistencies, retrospective interpretations, begged questions, misleading language, conflations, questionable assertions, conjectural reconstructions and more.
Frederick Crews Interviewed by Spiked
Frederick Crews talks about Postmodern Pooh, literary "theory", jargon, vacuity, niche-academics, factionalism, and narrowing.
Not Out of Africa
An excerpt from classical scholar Mary Lefkowitz' book Not Out of Africa, which exposes the lack of evidence for some of the claims about ancient Greeks 'stealing' their ideas from Egypt and the rest of Africa. Lefkowitz has an article, 'The Ancient World As Seen By Afrocentrists', on this website.
Nuremberg Documents
Harvard Law School makes more than a million documents from the Nuremberg trials available online.
Out of Africa Debate
Useful links to aspects of the subject.
Papers by Robert Merton
Links to three papers by the sociologist of science.
Peirce on Evolution
1893 essay by Charles Peirce in The Monist.
Poll on Belief in Psuedoscience
Surprise! Many Americans believe some improbable things. 60% believe in psychic powers, 30% believe there are spacecraft from other planets zipping around our skies.
Quackery
The Guardian on 'magnetic therapy' and homeopathy.
Richard Evans Interview
Richard Evans, historian and author of In Defense of History as well as 'Postmodernism and History' on this website, interviewed by Red Pepper in the aftermath of the Lipstadt-Irving libel trial, at which he was an expert witness. He points out that there is a huge amount of debate over many aspects of the Holocaust, and that history is indeed all about interpretation, but the interpretation must rely on evidence.
Simon Blackburn on the Enlightenment
Simon Blackburn shines a strong light on the fashionable lie that 'the Enlightenment project' has failed.
The Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society
Articles on women's rights, 'honour' killing, separation of mosque and state.
Ways of Knowing?
'For example, knowledge in the Lakota way is different than in the Tewa way. It is specific to that community and belongs to that group.'
Psychology and Pseudoscience
It's Dangerous to Doubt Recovered Memory
'Something is wrong when it is feminist treason to even suggest
that all accusations of incest or ritual abuse might not be true.'
No Convincing Evidence
Does early psychological intervention promote recovery from post-traumatic stress?
Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology
A review examines issues of evidence, empiricism versus clinician consensus, the DSM, ineffective and dangerous treaments, and more.
Recommended Websites
Harry Frankfurt's On Bullshit
Beginning the development of a theoretical understanding of bullshit
Religion on the Attack
Attack on Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Books, manuscripts, tablets destroyed.
Campaign Against Romila Thapar
Acolytes of Hindutva protest distinguished historian's appointment to US Library of Congress.
Case Lodged Against Author
Police have 'registered an offence' against James Laine for 'objectionable writings.'
Historians are Shocked by Attack
'Scholars from countries such as the UK, US, France, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Germany draw heavily from its library.'
It's the Author's Fault
'The government is seeking legal opinion to find out whether any action can be taken against the author and also if the sale of the book can be banned.'
Let's Sue the Author
'No person in Maharashtra will tolerate any objectionable reference to Chhatrapati Shivaji.'
Librarian Received Threatening Letter
M.A. Mehendale, 85, an Indology scholar and editor of Mahabharat Cultural Index, said his heart broke.
Sambhaji Brigade Defends its Attack
BORI is a 'centre of cultural terrorism,' spokesperson says at news conference.
Sambhaji Brigade Threatens More Violence
Demands author be hanged or turned over to them.
Scholars in Tears, Inconsolable
'It is an attack on human civilisation and culture.'
Students and Neighbors Help With Repairs
'Shraddha Bapat and Prajakta Sarnaik, students of Sanskrit in the S P College were at a loss for words when they saw the mindless destruction.'
Washington Post on Hindutva
Attacks on scholars 'imposing a Eurocentric world view on a culture they do not understand.'
‘Are we competing with the Taliban?’
'BORI is the pride and glory of India, it’s an international institute and we managed to destroy our own scholarly work and research.'
Religious Hatred Law
Ban 'Life of Brian'?
'There is a clear difference,' says spokeswoman. But is there?
Blunkett Defends the Offence
Making it illegal to stir up hatred against people because of their religious beliefs.
Johann Hari
Even the left is reluctant to criticise religion.
Madeleine Bunting Approves
We all know religious hatred when we see it, but as a legal concept, it's complex.
Nick Cohen
Deplores the sinister absurdity of Blunkett’s latest proposal for dealing with religious hatred.
Pisstaking Will Be Allowed
But will it?
Polly Toynbee
We must be free to criticise religion without being called racist
Rowan Atkinson Against Censorship
A veneer of tolerance concealing a snake.
Science and Religion
'The Last Taboo'
Atheism is 'offensive'.
Atheists Can Be Moral Too
Wendy Kaminer counters the silly assumption that theism has a lock on morality.
Dawkins on Nonoverlapping Magisteria
With special attention to Stephen Jay Gould's claim that 'The net of religion extends over questions of moral meaning and value.'
Is Science Killing the 'Soul'?
A discussion between Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker.
Massimo Pigliucci in the Skeptic
Do scientists 'keep the faith' and if so is that good? Is religion the right place to look for morality?
Snake Oil
Richard Dawkins on the non-convergence of science and religion.
Susan Greenfield interview
Greenfield talks about belief and science-religion ding-dongs.
William Clifford on the Ethics of Belief
'It is wrong in all cases to believe on insufficient evidence...'
Science Studies
'Revolt Against the Cortex'
An article in the Atlantic on the fault lines between the arts and sciences.
Alan Sokal home page
Many articles on his famous hoax.
An interview with Bruno Latour
Interview from a 1993 edition of Configurations.
Barbara Ehrenreich Interview
Interview in Z magazine about truth, science as story, the uses of science. Interesting though full of typos.
Essay about The Flight From Science and Reason
Cassandra Pinnick discusses the issues.
Hearts and Minds
Cassandra Pinnick urges the defenders of science and reason to take off the gloves.
Is Paris Kidding?
A review of Sokal and Bricmont's Fashionable Nonsense.
Kenan Malik review of Norman Levitt's Prometheus Bedeviled
Malik disagrees with the conflict Levitt sees between democracy and science.
Letters About Review of Flight From Science and Reason
Letters responding to Paul Forman's review of FSR in Science magazine in May 1997.
Links to reviews
A page of reviews of science-related books.
Many Links on Sokal Hoax
Arranged by date; a very thorough collection.
Mystery Science Theater
The coverage of the Sokal Hoax in Lingua Franca.
Noretta Koertge interviewed
An interview with Noretta Koertge on the science wars.
Norman Levitt Talks to the Future Foundation
A brief interview.
Norman Levitt's Reply to Kenan Malik's essay 'What is it to be Human?'
Norman Levitt says that science attempts not to deny human exceptionalism but to explain it.
Not Political Enough
A critic laments the academicization of sociology of science.
PoMo Reviews Flight from Science and Reason
Paul Forman, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution, reviews FSR in Science magazine, or rather he doesn't so much review it as sneer at it. The uproar this review caused led to the resignation of the book editor of Science.
Professor Sokal's Bad Joke
Stanley Fish's article on the Sokal Hoax from the New York Times.
Prophets Facing Backward
Meera Nanda's new book.
Reactions to the Sokal Hoax
An essay by Lawrence Evans on 'Science Studies', Social Text and the Sokal Hoax, followed by reactions from Stanley Fish and others.
Reflections on the Science Wars
An article by Norman Levitt in Human Nature Review .
Review of Higher Superstition
A review by James Gerrand that was originally published in the Australian Humanist August 1995.
Self-justification
Bruce Robbins, one of the editors of 'Social Text,' explains why they published Sokal's article despite thinking it was bad.
Sokal Hoax Aftermath
Responses to Michael Albert in Z magazine, including one which claims that it was a low blow for Sokal to trick a journal in which "academics venture outside their specialties, despite the risk involved in this sort of endeavor." Yes, such as the risk of getting everything wrong.
Susan Haack on Anti-Science
Excellent essay from The Skeptical Inquirer on pseudo-inquiry versus 'the genuine desire to find out how things are'.
The 'canon' according to a practitioner
'The texts one has to know to join in the discourse of the field.'
The Social Construction of What?
An article by Ian Hacking for 2 Think.Org.
The Sokal Affair
A page of useful links to Matters Sokalian.
What the Sokal Hoax Ought to Teach Us
An article by Paul A. Boghossian from the Times Literary Supplement.
When Science and Beliefs Collide
An article by Janet Raloff in Science News, June 1996
Z Magazine on the Science Wars
A collection of links to articles and rejoinders in Z Magazine about the 'Science Wars' in the aftermath of the Sokal affair.
Steve Fuller
Fuller in the THES
'Darwin's biography projects the politically correct image of a Christian who loses his faith through scientific inquiry.'
Fuller Reviews Scientific Values and Civic Virtues
Frets about disciplinary narrative.
Fuller Testifies in Dover
Helps lose the case for his side.
Norm Levitt on Fuller
'Fuller regards himself as a leader in the movement to "open up" science.'
The Guardian Interviews Fuller
Frets that the judge went back to the 'old standard of what the experts say'.
The Kitzmiller Decision [pdf]
Pays tribute to expert witness Fuller on many pages.
Victims of Jihad
Conference Report
NGO report on the conference
Victims of Jihad
Report from the Commission on Human Rights.
Women Under Theocracy
Afghan women set themselves on fire
Driven to desperation by forced marriages and abusive husbands, more and more seek escape through self-immolation.
Choman Hardi on The Devices of Patriarchy
Traditionally, many laws have been used to further men’s interest and limit women’s freedom.
Death by fire preferred to horrible life
Women forced into marriage or suffering chronic abuse kill themselves out of desperation.
Go to the back of the bus
Better yet, just get off.
India's Neglected Widows
If they don't sing at the temple, they get nothing; if they're ill, they starve.
India's widows live out sentence of shame, poverty
Widows are often shunned by their families, blamed by their in-laws for the deaths of their husbands. Many more flee their homes voluntarily, fearing they'll be abused if they stay.
Iran Plans 'Islamic Bicycles' for Women
Fitted with little houses that conceal the woman's scary seductive Body and make riding very difficult.
Law Against Karo Kari Called 'Unislamic'
Pakistani government allied with Islamists to reject a bill to strengthen law against 'honour killing.'
Men Converting to Islam in Order to Ditch Wife
They get to grab the children, too.
Mullahs Target Women Runners
Mob throws petrol bombs because women run in marathon along with men.
News on Karo Kari
Item: 'A Pakistani fruit vendor shot dead his sister because she had a job and was studying for a university degree.'
The need to educate and empower women
Helping women gain greater power - and providing them with more options in life - are keys to improving reproductive health generally and reducing fistula.
Traditional Beliefs Cost Women Their Freedom
Women found guilty of witchcraft in Ghana are confined to a settlement for life.
What child marriage and childbearing do
Each year, 100,000 women who give birth in poor countries develop obstetric fistula, which leaves them incontinent and ostracised.
Why Islamic Bikes
Because women move while biking, thus arousing men; this must not be; therefore women may not bike or run or jump or walk quickly.
Why women still die to give birth
Around half a million women die annually before, during or shortly after giving birth; almost all of these deaths occur in developing countries.
Woman Beaten on Jerusalem Bus
By a group of men, because she refused to move to the back.
Woman Held for Rehabilitation Back into Islam
Islamic officials seized her 15-month-old daughter from her Hindu husband, Suresh Veerappan, last month and handed the child to Revathi's Muslim mother.
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