American politics needs more Republicans like this. Ron Paul is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative who is one of the most outspoken of the Republicans against the war. He offers a number of robust constitutionalist arguments against U.S. foreign policy.
The more impotent democrats could learn a lot from this guy, that’s for sure. One wonders, though, whether he’ll have enough support within his own party for his presidental bid.
It isn’t every day that something like this happens. Researchers using spectral imaging techniques have uncovered the commentary within a text known as the Archimedes Palimpest. Medieval recyclers seem to have thought this pagan work unworthy of preservation, because they just scrubbed it off and re-used the manuscript. The original is on the left, the revealed text on the right.
The comments are provisionally attributed to Alexander of Aphrodisias, and read as follows:
For as “foot” is ambiguous when applied to an animal and to a bed, so are “with feet” and “without feet”. So by “in species” here [Aristotle] is saying “in formula”.
For if it ever happens that the same name indicates the differentiae of genera that are different and not subordinate one to the other, they are at any rate not the same in formula.
It might seems like a lot of hoo-ha for a couple of lines of text, but consider this: if this can be discovered by these methods, who knows what else is hidden in the pages of some of the venerated tomes in places like the Vatican, British Library or the Library of Congress? If you’ve ever read Umberto Eco’s The Name of Rose – or even seen the film – you’ll know how much influence Artistotelian interpretation has had.
Naomi Wolf has an interesting article in The Guardian today which compares the present climate in the United States with the ferment of fascism in the middle of the 20th Century in Europe. I would say it’s pretty uncomfortable reading. Here’s a summary of the list for all wannabe fascists to keep handy.
1.) Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy (Al-Quaida)
2.) Create a gulag (Guantanamo)
3.) Develop a thug caste
4.) Set up an internal surveillance system (Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001)
5.) Harass citizens’ groups (Counterintelligence Field Activity)
6.) Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7.) Target key individuals
8.) Control the press (CNN, Fox)
9.) Dissent equals treason (Military Commissions Act of 2006)
10.) Suspend the rule of law (John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007)
Full article here. It’s all a bit too much like 1984 again for me. What I have trouble understanding is this: we all know that there is a hard core of ultra right republicans who want to see this kind of thing happen, but how do the rest of the people in the U.S. let them get this kind of legislation through?
Pli invites submissions for the next volume (Volume 19) which will be concerned with the notions of sense and nonsense.
‘The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.’
Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
‘In order to be able to draw a limit to thought, we should have to find both sides of the limit thinkable (i.e. we should have to be able to think what cannot be thought). It will therefore only be in language that the limit can be drawn, and what lies on the other side of the limit will simply be nonsense.’
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosphicus
‘Philosophy must be ontology, it cannot be anything else; but there is no ontology of essence, there is only an ontology of sense.’
Gilles Deleuze, Review of Logic and Existence
The question of the nature of sense, it’s genesis, its limits, and its relationship with its ever-present other, nonsense, is a question that connects a wide range of thinkers and traditions. Whether approached from a literary, psychoanalytic, structuralist, logical, or eminently philosophical perspective, the notion of sense occupies a unique role in philosophical discourse. In a time when philosophy is turning back from its linguistic turn, what new opportunities do sense and nonsense still hold? Can there be a truly ontological account of sense? This issue will be concerned with these problems. We would particularly welcome papers on literary authors, the Stoics, Hegel, Nietzsche, Derrida, Blanchot, Nancy, Merleau-Ponty, Wittgenstein and Deleuze.
Examples of topics that could be covered by papers are:
- Deleuze and the paradoxes of sense
- Sense and event
- The phenomenology of nonsense
- Sense contra essence
- Sense and Being in Hegel
- Stoic conceptions of sense
- Wittgenstein and nonsense
- Literary engagements with the limits of sense (Beckett, Carroll, etc.)
Submissions, no longer than 8,000 words, should be sent in the form of a single hard copy, plus a copy on disk as a Word or RTF file. Alternatively, we accept submissions by email to: plijournal@googlemail.com . We only accept articles and will not review abstracts. The deadline for submissions is 30th July 2007. Please refer to the “Notes for Contributors” on this website. Include an e-mail address if possible for future correspondence.
Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy,
Department of Philosophy
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK
The Editors of Studies in Social Justice invite submissions all year round. Studies in Social Justice is published twice yearly by the Centre for Studies in Social Justice, University of Windsor. This electronic journal publishes articles on issues dealing with the social, cultural, economic, political, and philosophical problems associated with the struggle for social justice. This interdisciplinary journal aims to publish work that links theory to social change and the analysis of substantive issues. The journal welcomes heterodox contributions that are critical of established paradigms of inquiry.
The journal focuses on debates that move beyond conventional notions of social justice, and views social justice as a critical concept that is integral in the analysis of policy formation, rights, participation, social movements, and transformations. Social justice is analysed in the context of processes involving nationalism, social and public policy, globalization, diasporas, culture, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, welfare, poverty, war, and other social phenomena. It endeavours to cover questions and debates ranging from governance to democracy, sustainable environments, and human rights, and to introduce new work on pressing issues of social justice throughout the world.
Nicole A. Noël
Research Co-ordinator, Centre for Studies in Social Justice
Managing Editor, Studies in Social Justice
251-2 Chrysler Hall South
University of Windsor
Windsor, Ont. N9B 3P4
Canada
Email: nnoel@uwindsor.ca
http://www.uwindsor.ca/socialjustice
