Me and my friend Guy were talking about Rawls yesterday, and we came across a potential criticism of Rawls that neither of us could fathom how the Rawlsian would reply to.
In order to show that the contractors in the Original Position (OP) would choose the Difference Principle (DP), Rawls needs to show how other putative [...]
Archive for January, 2008
Any Help?
Posted in Friends, Philosophy on January 31, 2008 | 8 Comments »
A Misdiagnosis?
Posted in Politics on January 30, 2008 | 5 Comments »
This evening I heard Lib-Dem MP Norman Baker speak. He’s apparently got a reputation as the “most expensive MP in Parliament”, meaning that he asks so many written questions that civil service resources have to be diverted in order to deal with them. Obviously that’s a good thing – it allows him to [...]
Rights, Reasons and Real Life
Posted in Philosophy, Real Life on January 28, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Last Wednesday I had the privilege of attending the book launch for James Griffin’s On Human Rights. In it, Griffin argues for a view of human rights that’s grounded in our normative agency. So on Griffin’s account for example, torture is a violation of human rights due to its debilitating affect on [...]
No Dogs Allowed
Posted in Uncategorized on January 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Ho ho ho. How depressing. (thanks: xamm)
EDIT: An unsurprisingly more sober story from the Beeb. Of course, if the bus driver was being a rude prick, then no ad-hoc appeals to safety will do.
Long Time No Post …
Posted in Politics, Web-Junk on January 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
No, this blog isn’t dead. I’ve just been snowed under a ton of work. Hopefully, I’ll be able to reply to comments in the next few days when I’m less busy, and in an ideal world I’ll be able to write another serious post.
Anyway, here’s something I found a day or so back [...]
Upcoming lectures
Posted in Philosophy, Real Life, Religion on January 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Further to my previous post about G.A. Cohen speaking in Oxford, via the Virtual Stoa comes some news about the Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2008. Apparently the subject this year is Religion and Rights, which sounds really interesting. On top of the topic being a decent one, there are a few excellent speakers scheduled [...]
A sadly embarrassing effort
Posted in Philosophy, Religion on January 13, 2008 | 17 Comments »
One of the problems with religion, according to Richard Dawkins is that it “allows otherwise intelligent people to believe ridiculous things” (paraphrase, since I don’t have my copy of The God Delusion with me this term). And, surprisingly, Dawkins seems to have hit the nail on the head again here, albeit in a rather [...]
Darfur and Helicopters
Posted in Africa, Politics on January 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A question was raised in Parliament prior to Christmas by Shirley Williams (former wife of Bernard Williams, don’cha know) on the subject of complete failure of the West to provide the necessary helicopters to the UNAMID peacekeeping force in Darfur.
See Hansard for 13th December 2007. Whilst I think that its a bit bad for Williams [...]
Egg on his face
Posted in Uncategorized on January 8, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Ho ho ho.
Liberal priorities
Posted in Politics, Religion on January 8, 2008 | 9 Comments »
In the Telegraph today, there’s a letter signed by various public figures including the rather funny comedian Stewart Lee and Oxford MP Dr Evan Harris. In it, they call for the blasphemy laws to be overturned, and Harris, Frank Dobson, and David Wilshire have apparently tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration [...]
-
Recent Posts
-
Recent Comments
romiksans on Oxford Radical Forum Dan on A jury’s role is to deci… Ste For Sure on It could be worse … Paul on It could be worse … Dan on It could be worse … Archives
a
Pages
Meta
