Over at Slate , Howard Gardner of Harvard University reviews Dacher Keltner’s Born to Be Good . In his book, Keltner argues that “human beings have survived as a species, and have gained dominion over the planet, because we have managed to control our most destructive and hostile . . . . Continue Reading »
This is the second post on the review of SHS in the current American Journal of Bioethics. We have already highlighted the positives that Yale University bioethicist found with SHS, and now I would like to reply to his criticisms. Latham writes:To be clear: This [human exceptionalism] is a . . . . Continue Reading »
If you’re an undergraduate or graduate student looking for a fruitful way to spend two weeks of the summer, consider the Witherspoon Institute’s First Principles Seminar: What are the fundamental principles and premises that inform and guide human behavior at both the individual and . . . . Continue Reading »
A headline in the Sunday Times yesterday reads ” Two Children Should be Limit, Says Green Guru. ” The guru in question is Jonathon Porritt, who chairs the British government’s Sustainable Development Commission. According to the Times article, Porritt says that couples who have . . . . Continue Reading »
In case you missed the garden of obituaries that have sprung up after the death of John Updike last week, or in case you dozed off amidst their wafting accolades, Joseph Bottum writes about ” Updike, After the Hush ” on Forbes today. Here’s a taste: “His writing was so . . . . Continue Reading »
This blog has received a formal review by Yale University bioethicist Stephen R. Latham. I am most pleased that it is a mixed review with some very nice compliments as well as pointed criticisms, and I very much appreciate Latham’s even handedness. (When Culture of Death came out, I recall one . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at City Journal , Theodore Dalrymple continues his delightfully dyspeptic live-blogging of Britain’s decline and fall. Most recently, he comments on events in the town of Rotherham, where shop-owners keep ruffians away by blasting Bach: There is surely something deeply emblematic about . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Wilken’s previously advertised St. Thomas Day Lecture, “Aquinas on Romans,” at New York’s Church of St. Vincent Ferrer is now online in audio and video . I highly recommend it. . . . . Continue Reading »
Over at the Times Literary Supplement , A. N. Wilson reviews William Oddie’s latest book, Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy : Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy painstakingly follows the development of GK’s ideas from the schoolboy poet and debater of the 1880s to the author . . . . Continue Reading »
If you’re in the DC area this week, catch George Weigel’s William E. Simon Lecture “Scoundrel Time: The Politics of 2008” on Wednesday, February 4 at the Madison Hotel (1177 Fifteenth Street NW). The lecture starts at 6:30 PM and the reception at 7:30. R.S.V.P. to . . . . Continue Reading »