Philosophy & Ethics

The Beauty of Justice Some celebrities use their status to promote the most idiotic ideas. Fortunately, there are many more, who use that status to help make the world a better place.   In the UK, many TV stars and presenters make an annual contribution to the Children in Need charity. What some people will do for charity is absolutely fabulous! Not content with this, our avenging heroine, has fought for the rights of Ghurka soldiers. For some years now, British newspapers have reported the way our government has treated the Ghurkas when the drums have stopped beating. A soldier who…

In exploring some of the biological issues surrounding selfishness and altruism, invariably the philosophical issue of selfishness surfaces. Ayn Rand has argued that selfishness is a virtue because it is the rational and principled concern with one’s own well-being and is necessary to lead a healthy, purposeful, and fulfilling life. It isn’t my intent to deal with Ayn Rand, but rather to examine the sense that many people have regarding these concepts. The only problem with Ayn Rand’s definition is that the meaning of “selfishness” was manipulated to become “self-interest”. According to the…

A Grammar of Questions. Quistic grammar is based on what I believe to be the biological basis of language in the brain: a set of models of our internal and external environment, specifically including the social environment, with the models being labelled with tokens for purposes of logical manipulation of ideas. ... it is my contention that the development of language is a direct consequence of our brain’s data organization function which gives rise to a data framework, or belief system. Gerhard Adam Language and the thirst for knowledge.A language universal is a statement that is true for…

Mummy's Little Grammatical genius How babies learn to use language. A special note of caution to students.  My description of how a baby probably acquires language is speculative and is not a part of any well established theory.   If you are studying for exams you should not rely on any of my 'facts' except where I have given links to external documentation. How Do Babies Learn Language ? A baby is born with no language abilities, other than the ability to make a few simple sounds.   Within a few years it has learned to hold a conversation. How is it that a baby is able to…

Last week we found out that Merck paid Elsevier to publish a fake peer-reviewed journal.  This week we found out that Elsevier produced five other pay-for-publication journals.  The  names of the journals haven't been disclosed, but Elsevier is conducting an "internal review". I'm amazed that this isn't causing more of a stir.  There are laws in the US about labeling article-like advertisements in magazines so that they will not be confused with content.  If an advertiser dupes a teenager into thinking that Seventeen endorses a sunless tanner, our legal system finds…

The Borg Builders Human language evolved to serve human purposes.  For most people, that purpose is to just get on with life, to be happy, to work, to play, to provide for tomorrow and to leave this world a better and a safer place for our children.   Intellectual freedom promotes those purposes.  In time of danger it may be necessary for people to put group before self, but there is always a danger in the group - the madness of crowds.  If the group functions so as to oppress its own members, then it becomes self-destructive.  Human societies thrive as…

Francis Collins' new Templeton-sponsored website, BioLogos, has been getting a bit of news coverage recently. For those not familiar with the story: Collins is the Director of the Human Genome Project, and BioLogos is his attempt to persuade Christians that they don't need to be frightened of science. I guess the guy should be applauded for trying to reign in the wackier elements of Christianity, and most of it is pretty innocuous, straightforward stuff. But there's some real intellectual howlers in there. Basically, the guy doesn't understand what science is. At the heart of the site are…

We Have Ways of Making You Conform Language is both a product and a process of evolution.  It has mechanisms by which its continuing evolution is kept from running out of control.  Those mechanisms ensure that every average user of a language uses words, phrases and pronunciation which, despite changes over time,  conform to the expectations of every other average user.  The natural laws of conformity give rise to the patterns in language that we call grammar. We learn language as babies in a home environment.  We are not taught language, nor do we learn it in any…

Elsevier, one of the world's leading publishers of scientific, technical, and medical (STM) information products and services, announced today that Michael Hansen, CEO of Elsevier's Health Sciences Division, issued the following statement in light of recent allegations of improper Australia based sponsored journal publication practices between 2000 and 2005: "Elsevier prides itself on operating its business in the most ethical, honest and transparent manner possible. We have been stewards of the scientific record for more than 125 years and we take our role in advancing medical and…

According to The Scientist,  Merck paid Elsevier to publish Merck's own "peer-reviewed" fan-zine, Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine, in 2003.  Its articles don't show up in major medical research paper search engines, and the "Honorary Advisory Board" did not receive a single paper to "review".  The journal didn't disclose its funding source anywhere within the publication.  Bioethics.net blasts this fraudulent journal on the grounds that its Merck-friendly findings could be given to primary-care physicians, and falsely persuade them in favor of using the…