Universality and nationhood
Why do some people say that America is the First Universal Nation when the Muslim Umma is already the first Universal Nation? To me it seems like a bad idea to imitate the Muslims.… More ...
James Kalb
More noodling about evolution
I recently touched on the ambiguity of “random variation” as one of the basic principles of evolution. The word “random” appears to be something of a placeholder. From the point of view of any science, it seems that random events are simply events the science doesn’t try to explain that follow a normal distribution or … More ...
A poetickal diversion
Here’s a poem I’ve always been fond of that’s not my favorite but I was thinking about it today:
… More ...An Immorality (Ezra Pound)
Sing we for love and idleness,
Naught else is worth the having.
Though I have been in many a land,
There is naught else in living.
And I would rather have my
Amateur noodling about evolution
I’ve never put much effort into sorting out the dispute over evolution and intelligent design, partly because it would take too much work and partly because I really don’t understand why, rationally speaking, there’s such an issue. Still, the Cardinal Schönborn situation got me thinking a little about claims that science of necessity is “naturalistic”—it … More ...
More on Rawls
Here are some further unsystematic thoughts noted down while reading Political Liberalism:
- Rawls presents himself as a theorist of democratic society. That is a misnomer. It is not the people who rule in a society in which basic issues are all resolved in advance by Rawls and other experts and the solutions enforced by
Another little-known fact
According to Steve Sailer, Wite-out was invented by the mother of Michael Nesmith of the Monkees. (Is this the place to mention that F. A. Hayek was Ludwig Wittgenstein’s cousin? I’m not sure whether it was first cousin or what. And I once had a teacher who was some sort of cousin of Gertrude … More ...
Comments on Rawls
As punishment for my sins (which must be scarlet indeed) I’ve been obliged once again to read John Rawls’s Political Liberalism. Some comments (further comments as always are welcome):
- Rawls was evidently an extremely careful and hardworking man. He is said to have been quite shy. I met him once in a group, and
Evolution flap
I don’t really understand the to-do between Cardinal Schönborn and his critics over evolution. [If you look lower down on the linked page you’ll find his original NYT op-ed piece, together with the paper’s commentary.]
As I understand the Cardinal’s and Church’s point (I think His Eminence presented it in an overly partisan and combative … More ...
Little-known fact
Little known to me, anyway: it turns out that Anna Leonowens of King and I fame was Boris Karloff’s great aunt.… More ...
Life, law and the world
While I was preparing to give a talk about law, I did a little reading on the philosophy of law. One thing that struck me was what might be called the “external” point of view taken in current thought on the subject.
Here’s a quote from Blackstone:
… More ...This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind