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Iran, the US, and the UK

With the situation in Iran dominating much of the world’s attention, it might be wondered what a philosopher can say about the situation. Being an American writing for a British blog, I decided that the most reasonable thing to do would be to write about what the US and UK should morally do or not [...]

Featured Post

The Establishment Outsider: An Interview with Roger Scruton

By Julian Baggini

Roger Scruton talks about conservatism, aesthetic judgements and his status as an establishment outsider.

Asides

• Jane Austen and women || By Jeremy Stangroom
  Norman Geras has this cool thing where writers are asked to talk about a book that has inspired or influenced them. Here's something interesting I noticed (though perhaps not surprising). Twelve different people (as far as I can tell) have elected to talk about a Jane Austen novel (or character). Eleven of those people are women. I make no comment as to why this might be or what it might tell us about Jane Austen's work and/or women (or indeed men). #
• Who’s the fairest of them all? || By Jean Kazez
  More polling fun at Leiter. Who were the best pre-modern philosophers?  Plato and Aristotle have been vying for top place all week.  Plato overtook Aristotle a couple of times, but Aristotle's back in the lead. I think it's going to be a photo finish. My opinion: Plato.  But not for a terribly honorable reason.  As a writer, Plato is a total genius. #
• Redesigning this Blog || By Jeremy Stangroom
  Okay guys, this blog needs a redesign. Unfortunately, it means we’re going to have to go offline for probably 48 hours. I’m not exactly sure when that’ll happen, but assuming I don’t break anything we will be back! Probably you’ll still be able to access individual posts if you go straight to their permalink; if you do, and they look odd, you know why! We’ll probably disappear later today. #
• Microbiology, viruses and their threats || By Jeremy Stangroom
  Just because I know we’re all worried about Oink, Oink, Sneeze (TM), I’ve published an extract from a conversation I had with virologist Professor Dorothy Crawford, which appeared in What Scientists Think. It’s not philosophy, so I published it on my web site rather than here. Microbiology, Viruses and their Threats Oh yes, also, see if you can figure out what Mary does. #
• Philosophy Fun || By Jean Kazez
  You might want to check out Brian Leiter today.  After you follow the links on swine flu (an elementary school near me closed today--how nervous should I be?), you might want to read the discussion that's brewing up about a seriously idiotic editorial in the New York Times which says academia should undergo an extreme make-over. Plus there have been some fun polls lately (with high-quality Kant-bashing in the comments), not to mention a recent post about the newly designed Philosopher's Magazine website last week.  I used to think the blog was all news about professional comings and goings, but I've become a fan. #