counterpunch

That's not a reasonable argument. War is a situation in which moral norms have broken down. All property is theft is Proudhon; an anarchist - so again...

Galileo was hauled before the Papal Court of the Inquisition, and so the threat was clear - particularly given the Church was burning people alive for...

Political allegiances are complex. They are not a simple matter that can be boiled down to some obvious exercise of moral intuition, so it's not a goo...

Mmrrr'can!

NASA go to extreme lengths to sterilize spacecraft - so the introduction of microorganisms from earth is unlikely. The spontaneous formation of RNA an...

I'm not interested in engaging with your sarcastic childish bullshit. Offence intended!

I disagree. I think the rift between science and religion is deep, but largely misunderstood. Maybe it requires a good appreciation of what science is...

You still do not understand my argument. No offence. It was the 17th century - as in 1633, that Galileo was put on trial for proving heliocentrism usi...

You do not understand my argument. No offence. It takes a bit of effort to see. What I'm saying is, because the Church made an enemy of science, scien...

That's a somewhat ambitious view; of which our current capabilities fall a very long way short. I think we most certainly should work things out here ...

I think this is an extraordinary thing to say: How do you know what half the people in the US think? Do you really imagine: No, it's not - because you...

So you'd be very surprised if life didn't exist elsewhere, but think proving it; knowing for sure is a trivial matter. Is that because you are so conf...

I'm not about to weigh in on this. It too loaded to be used as an example of how moral intuitions work; so clearly, that's not your real intent. If yo...

I'm inclined to agree. But there's a difference between thinking that life exists elsewhere, and knowing that it does - and it's the difference betwee...

You should. It's a compliment that's mostly undeserved.

What if life finds perseverance?? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55885086 The search widens for hot rocks that provide power Drilling holes into ...

I agree, that people's moral intuitions are remarkably similar. But do we ever exercise those moral intuitions with regard to perfect knowledge? No! S...

Glad I'm a centrist; and also glad that you acknowledge "victim role-playing snow-flakes peddling fake news" - is a thing!

Oh, yes, for sure. Life or no life - a near miraculous feat of engineering. Amazing. But still, the idea that life may exist beyond this world - that ...

Knowing that this island Earth was not the only place life had come into being, would be profound - not least in the implication that life is more pro...

Morality is a sense, like a sense of humour. Expression of this sense is opinion, but that doesn't mean morality is just glorified opinion. If you hea...

Colson. He was born in 1636; 200 years before slavery was ended. Sure, we look back on the past in horror - but it is not a few hundred years of Europ...

I think the problem here is that you do need government to protect you from the consequences of exercising free speech - against an extremely aggressi...

I don't think an exhaustive definition of free speech is possible in any reasonable time frame; or necessary in that a common sense definition will do...

So, just to be clear - you are in favour of free speech, but not in favour of government measures to protect free speech? Would I be correct in assumi...

Happiness is the result of positive contrast. Recently, it's been bitterly cold. Day after day, bone chilling cold. Then the weather broke and the tem...

So you wanted answers to those questions? That wasn't just a demonstration that there are a lot of questions? You must really enjoy my writing, becaus...

Then we've arrived at last at the conclusion of this discussion. If all you've got left in your teeny tiny knacker sack is restatement of an already o...

But it is complicated - and not just because sociological investigation is methodologically suspect in the very best of conditions. There would necess...

I don't see it that way. Firstly because I think free speech is a matter of principle, and cases in which it is at issue need to be judged on merit, o...

You didn't say anything. I can only assume what you mean by: OK - I'll ask. Many other liberties? What do you mean by that?

There is no right to not be offended in the declaration of human rights.

I can only take that to mean you have no answer. It's your assertion empirical data is required. I say it's not possible to reliably gather such data....

In Rawl's we begin with a veil of ignorance, and it's from behind this veil of ignorance - rational individuals choose the kind of society they want t...

Have you not read John Rawl's A Theory of Justice? Or John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. The principle of greatest equal liberty isn't something I came up...

I understand that free speech is a Constitutional right in the US - and held to be near absolute. Also, I'm led to understand that the US is not a sig...

If we're unable to define a human right we shouldn't insist there is one. Huh? In what way are we unable to define free speech as a human right? There...

There's nothing arbitrary about free speech. It's a human right, a cornerstone of western civilisation, and fundamental to academic integrity. What ac...

Thanks. I wish I could say the same. But I still don't get how the state is violating free speech by protecting it. You say this: Fair enough, but the...

I said the harm principle is a generally accepted limit on free speech, but sought to make clear we were talking about the unambiguous harm of people ...

Why not post a link? Or better yet, copy and paste the passage, you think would further this discussion. Seem like you're deflecting. You've been call...

I know exactly what the lefty jargon term 'white privilege' means - and it is quite dissimilar to its apparent meaning. Rolls eyes. Sighs in condescen...

The apparent meaning of the words is offensive to people struggling to make ends meet. My grandfather worked down a coal mine from age 11, and was the...

I know exactly what the concept of white privilege is about, but it's not apparent - from the words, is it? The words used don't describe the phenomen...

Karma for what?

No. I'm a straight white male - which is to say, the very last in the politically correct line. Back of the bus with no 'ism' cards to play. I'm not a...

The concept employed against this man was "white privilege." His name is Lawrence Fox - and the programme was Question Time on BBC One. The idea of "w...

Did you notice how you just called me a fuckwit, and I didn't take it personally? That's because I know that you don't know me; and get hardly a glimp...

I wish! But sadly, at present, no fuck and very little wit!

No. I'm not. As I've said several times - freedom of speech does not bypass academic merit. If a Professor wants to pin any or all of those positions ...