I think I’ve posted this before, but thought I’d repost this CFP on Rasmussen and Den Uyl’s forthcoming book, The Perfectionist Turn, from the editors of Reason Papers. Here’s an article that states Rasmussen-Den Uyl’s case in a nutshell. I’ll try to see if I can find an informative blurb on the book, but I take it that the book is in part an answer to the problematic David Potts raises in his recent series here on “Morals and the Free Society.” For more information, contact Reason Papers at reasonpapers@gmail.com. Continue reading
Author Archives: Irfan Khawaja
Mega-Bleg: Plato, Aristotle, and the Jews
This is the sort of question that never occurs to me when I teach Plato and Aristotle back home (itself a rare event), but it’s the kind of question I’m sure to get asked while teaching them here in Palestine next week. And damned if I know the answer.
Were Plato and Aristotle acquainted with Abrahamic monotheism?
Put more concretely for purposes of historical inquiry:
Were Plato or Aristotle familiar with the Jewish people or the Hebrew Bible?
I’ll bet that David Riesbeck has an answer, but I pose the question(s) above (as well as those below) for anyone with answers. Continue reading
Derek Bowman on “The Circumstances of Justice”
I got into Palestine a couple of days ago, but have been wiped out by a combination of jet lag and Ramadan fasting. Since I lack bona fide theological commitments, the fasting (no food or drink from dawn to dusk) was intended as a kind of “spiritual experiment,” but is now starting to feel like the kind of experiment that Victor Frankenstein would conduct, at least if Dr. Frankenstein had no one to experiment on but himself. Continue reading
Pissed, Dissed, and Out $89.18
This is my Victim Impact Statement apropos of this post, hurriedly written before I leave for Palestine.
Essex County Prosecutor’s Office of Victim Witness Advocacy
Victim Impact Information Form
Prosecutor’s File #: 16-002203
Defendant’s Name: Michael Ramos
Your Name: Irfan* Khawaja
The Future of PoT
Summer is unmistakably here, with temperatures in north Jersey, at least, hovering around 90 degrees Fahrenheit (40% humidity, no discernible breeze, no AC), and the spring semester (finals, grade appeals, plagiarism reports, graduation, etc.) a mercifully distant and fading memory. As PoT nears its second birthday (b. July 22, 2014), I thought I’d make a couple of proposals and announcements about the blog’s direction for the immediate future. I realize that that makes it sound as though PoT is about to get married, but it isn’t. It’s merely entering its terrible two’s. Continue reading
The Philosopher’s Tomb
Looks like the archaeologists have found Aristotle’s tomb:
ATHENS — A Greek archaeologist who has been leading a 20-year excavation in northern Greece said on Thursday that he believed he had unearthed the tomb of Aristotle.
In an address at a conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, commemorating the 2,400th anniversary of Aristotle’s birth, the archaeologist, Konstantinos Sismanidis, said he had “no proof but strong indications, as certain as one can be,” to support his claim.
Everyone join me in wishing our buddy Aristotle a happy birthday. We’re still talking about him after all these years! What a guy.
Next question on the agenda: so who owns the tomb? Seriously.
The Israeli Occupation: What It Is, Why It Matters, and What To Do About It
Just a reminder for those in the area: I’ll be giving a talk on “The Israeli Occupation and Settlement Enterprise: What It Is, Why It Matters, and What To Do About It,” this Saturday, May 21, at 11 am at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton, located at 50 Cherry Hill Rd, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540. (I incorrectly described the start time in a previous post as 1 pm, but that’s when it ends.) The talk is sponsored by String of Pearls Reconstructionist Jewish Congregation of Princeton, and is open to the public. Thanks to Hilary Persky, String of Pearls’s Secretary, for the invitation. The talk takes place immediately after the Congregation’s Saturday morning sabbath celebration. Continue reading
Another Day, Another Assault: Everyday Life in Hebron
I’m practically counting the days until I can get on a plane and head back into stuff like this. It sure beats grading! Of course, the problem is that I’ll have a lot of grading to do, too. I just hope my pedagogical responsibilities don’t interfere with my tourist activities (NB: tourist, not terrorist).
Yes, don’t worry: I’ll have a camera, so I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures, maybe even do some filming! A PoT exclusive: you can watch me get beat up by young men who really ought to be doing something more productive with their free time than assaulting people for fun. Instead of doing that, why not register for my political philosophy seminar at Al Quds U? You have permission to audit the class if you behave. But leave the dog at home.
Moral of the story: the Israel Defense Forces aren’t occupying Hebron’s H2 zone to protect wogs. The’re in Hebron to protect thugs. Just so that we’re clear on that. Continue reading
Paging Miss Anscombe
Here’s my writing assignment for week 3 of Phil 250 EL, “Making Moral Decisions” (fully online section). All of the material covered in class was about the advisability or not of drug use; none of it focused on questions of legality or politics.
Directions: Write a 750 word essay outlining the basics of your views on the use of mind- or mood-altering chemical substances for recreational purposes. At one extreme, someone might argue that you ought never to take drugs for recreational purposes. At the other extreme, you might argue, with Sullum, that there’s nothing wrong with doing so. Where do you end up? In particular, how does autonomy figure into your answer?
Representative answers, Type 1 (all emphases added): Continue reading
AC/WTF in Lisbon: A Requiem Mass
I don’t understand this. I will never understand this. I try to come to terms with it, but words fail me. In my grief, I can only call upon the words of others, wiser than me.
“Mysteries like these can no man penetrate…”
–Voltaire, from “Poeme sur le desastre de Lisbonne,” on the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755“Oh Voltaire! Oh humanity! Oh idiocy!”
–Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, II.35“You been…thunderstruck!”
–AC/DC
It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll. A long way down, too.
Postscript, May 9, 2016: OK, Axl/DC is starting to grow on me in a weird-ass musical Frankenstein’s monster guilty-pleasure sort of way. I mean, it could have been worse, but then, it could have been better (cf. Lizzy Hale).
Policy of Truth 