Monthly Archive for December, 2010

From the Guardian…

Nikesh Shukla is a writer, performance poet and filmmaker. His writing has appeared on radio and television and his film The Great Identity Swindle, co-directed with Videowallah, won best short film at the Satyajit Ray Foundation awards in 2009. He lives in north London. His first novel, Coconut Unlimited, is shortlisted for this year’s Costa first novel award.

“If we’ve been told anything ever in our lives ever, it’s that Anglo-Asian books will cross swords with themes of cultural identity and dual heritage, repressed marriages and there will be at least one mystical encounter in a mangrove swamp. Probably with mist. Anglo-Asian books are more than these stereotypes.

“Writing my own debut meant doing the entire opposite of all those things, throwing them out and doing a Hornby, or a Coe, filling the soundtrack with Public Enemy and steeping the drama in suburban nausea. These books deal with the diversity of Anglo-Asian themes and take us to communes, squats, concerts, Mumbai, even Tunbridge Wells. Not a banyan tree in sight. And it’s not just the brown boys and girls getting involved. Multiculturalism is so embedded in our culture that writers like William Sutcliffe are considering themes of racism and spiritualism. Anglo-Asian books are beyond being about Asians in England. They’re about the marrying of cultures, about understanding of the world we live in and its changing boundaries. More…

From Bnet and the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society…

Richard Porty was born 4 October 1931 in New York City, of left-wing parents. He earned a B.A. degree from the University of Chicago in 1949 and a Ph.D. from the same institution in 1956. At that university, he was strongly influenced by the logical positivism of Rudolf Carnap, an influence he did not repudiate until his famous “turn” against the idea of “scientific philosophy” in 1972 (of which more below).

He was an instructor at Yale (1956-57), and served in the U.S. Army in 1957-58. He returned to take up an instructorship at Wellesley College (1958-61). In 1961 he left Wellesley College for Princeton University, where he was successively assistant, associate, and full professor (1961-82), and was appointed the Stuart Professor of Philosophy in 1981. From 1982 to 1998 he was university professor of the humanities at the University of Virginia, becoming professor emeritus in 1998.

After his retirement from the University of Virginia in 1998, Rorty became professor of comparative literature at Stanford University, retiring again to become professor emeritus at that institution in 2005. More…

By Mike Labossiere at talking philosophy…

Wikileaks has made the news once again for leaking confidential documents. This latest batch consists of  251,287 cables from Unites States embassies. While most of the documents are not classified, some are and this is a matter of concern to American officials.

While there are various legal concerns regarding these documents, my main concern is with the ethics of this leaking. I will consider various arguments in the course of the discussion.

One argument in favor of the leak is the classic Gadfly Argument (named in honor of Socrates because of his claim to the role of the gadfly to the city of Athens). The gist of the argument is that the people in government need to be watched and criticized so as to decrease the likelihood that they will conduct and conceal misdeeds in shadows and silence.

Given that governments have an extensive track record of misdeeds, it certainly makes sense to be concerned about what the folks running the show might really be doing under the cloak of secrecy and national security. If it is assumed that being part of the government does not exempt these people from moral accountability, then it would seem to follow that leaking their misdeeds is, in general, a morally acceptable action. After all, it would seem to be rather absurd to argue that people have a moral right to keep their misdeeds a secret. More…