A few months ago, an ex-student of mine sent me the image–courtesy bros.failblog.org–above. It made him chuckle out loud; he was in a library when he came across it and decided to send it to me because he thought I would have a similar reaction. (This was shortly after I had announced that I would beContinue reading “Nietzsche as Reservoir Dog With ‘Style’”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
Must One Vote for President to Be Political?
I concluded yesterday’s post by saying: There is a far more fundamental problem…it centers on my disillusionment with elections–especially in modern politics in this nation–and with my evolving understanding of my political responsibilities. I should have been more specific above. I have acquired a profound dislike of presidential elections: the campaigning by candidates, the so-calledContinue reading “Must One Vote for President to Be Political?”
Not Nearly Enough Change I Can Believe In
Yesterday’s post and Dan Kaufman’s comment on it, have prompted me to pen some thoughts on Barack Obama (and elections). In 2008, I made two separate donations of $50 to Barack Obama’s campaign. I also drove down with some friends to Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania and spent the day walking around several neighborhoods, knocking on doors,Continue reading “Not Nearly Enough Change I Can Believe In”
About Time, Mr. President
The following was intended as today’s post. It has been pre-empted by Obama’s endorsement, today, of same-sex marriage. Barack Obama will soon sit down for an interview in which he will, in all probability, attempt to explain his ‘evolving’ views on gay marriage. Perhaps he will come out strongly in favor of gay marriage. OrContinue reading “About Time, Mr. President”
Earnin’ a Livin’ With Humiliation as a Perk
A New Yorker cartoon from last year shows a woman walking out from her boss’ office and saying to a co-worker, “That’s the worst humiliation I’ve been subjected to this week.” Or something like that. We laugh, a little nervously, or perhaps wince just a little, because the punchline hits home. Or we breathe aContinue reading “Earnin’ a Livin’ With Humiliation as a Perk”
The Fallacious Knowing-How, Knowing-That Distinction
Over at the Stone, Jason Stanley offers some thoughtful remarks on the fallacious distinction between the practical and the theoretical, or rather, between practical and theoretical knowledge. Stanley examines the case to be made for the dichotomy between reflection–‘guided by our knowledge of truths about the world’–and action–‘guided by our knowledge of how to performContinue reading “The Fallacious Knowing-How, Knowing-That Distinction”
The Quantity Problem with Peer Review in the Sciences
Jack Hitt’s recent article in the New York Times touting the virtues of crowdsourcing peer review, of public comments on to-be-published or just-published scientific research, prompts me to offer a few thoughts on the problems in traditional peer review in a discipline—computer science—that I have had some exposure to in the past. In this post,Continue reading “The Quantity Problem with Peer Review in the Sciences”
MCA Still Do What You Please
RIP Adam Yauch aka MCA. I first heard the Beastie Boys in the late 1980s (via Licensed to Ill). Their sound was unfamiliar; their sensibility seemed to peg them as immature, loud, juvenile, trash-talking ‘wiggers‘ taking the piss out of rap. (What sorts of props did they have on tour? Girls in cages and a giantContinue reading “MCA Still Do What You Please”
Virginia Held on ‘An Ethics of Care’
Yesterday Professor Virginia Held delivered the annual Sprague and Taylor Lecture at the Philosophy Department at Brooklyn College. On a personal note, it gave me great pleasure to welcome Professor Held to Brooklyn College. My association with her goes back some twenty years, when I first began my graduate studies in philosophy as a non-matriculateContinue reading “Virginia Held on ‘An Ethics of Care’”
The Chronicle of Higher Education is Trolling For Hits
Over at The Chronicle of Higher Education Naomi Schaefer Riley launches a rather bizarre attack on black studies by way of ‘evaluating’ a handful of dissertations. This evaluation consists, not of reading the dissertations, as one might expect, but rather, by way of merely reading summaries/extracts/abstracts and then dismissing them out of hand. (‘Higher Education,’Continue reading “The Chronicle of Higher Education is Trolling For Hits”
Samir Chopra 