architecture and happiness

I have just begun reading a book that helps me bring together the two blogs I write. Yes, I have another blog. Even if you’ve been reading me here at this one for nearly a year, you many have never known about the other. I’ve not mentioned it because it didn’t seem to [...]

our ground time here will be brief

End of year, with its ups and its downs. I think about the people who have passed, a few I know, most I don’t. Today I heard about a terrible event: family of four driving to Boise slid into a multi-car crash. Mom, Dad, and older sister die, 17-year-old younger sister in stable [...]

Conversations in Philosophy

I’m adding this to my list of blogs to check out: Joseph Orosco’s blog, Engage: Conversations in Philosophy. Not only does he take up good issues, he’s guided by a thick sense of civic engagement. A while back we published an essay of his, “Cosmopolitan Loyalty and the Great Global Community,” in the [...]

Who’s Doing Public Philosophy?

I once read this horrible statistic that maybe four people read any given refereed journal article. Can that be? What a waste of all the energy and thought that goes into this kind of intense writing. And what a shame, we often lament, that writing for “the public” doesn’t count in promotion and [...]

Political Philosophy Blog

I just came across Public Reason, a group blog for political philosophers.  Looks interesting.

On Armchairs and MRIs

In today’s New York Times Magazine, Kwame Anthony Appiah comments on the newborn philosophy movement of experimental philosophy, or “x-phi,” in which philosophers are turning to MRI machines and other laboratory technologies to help unravel philosophical quandaries. This new movement, he reports,
has rudely challenged the way professional philosophers like to think of themselves. [...]

When in despair…

…read Rich’s blog. Rich Harwood is a real voice for civic and democratic change. I’ve known him for more years than I care to admit, first simply as someone with a good ear and knack for focus group research, someone able to hear what regular folks are saying about their condition and their concerns [...]

Busted and Black

If you’re busted for drugs and you’re black, guess what —  surprise, surprise  — you’re more likely to go to prison than if you’re busted and white. That’s the latest findings from the Justice Policy Institute.  As Madison, Wisconsin’s Capital Times puts it, 97 black drug offenders are imprisoned for each white one.

Dispute Continues over Econ Prof Pay

Today’s Washington Post has an interesting piece on  Columbia University’s economist Graciela Chichilnisky and her ongoing disputes with her university over pay equity. The article raises familiar issues about perceived differences between successful men’s and successful women’s demeanors.
Columbia officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing litigation, said Chichilnisky can be abrasive [...]