archive

Philosophers behaving badly

From Carnegie Ethics, can Antarctica be preserved? The introduction to Why Are There So Many Banking Crises? The Politics and Policy of Bank Regulation by Jean-Charles Rochet. Here's a curse on mean-spirited intellectuals and literary scholars above all; and an article on the perils of popularising science. Humans have altered Earth so much that scientists say a new epoch in the planet's geologic history has begun, from the Holocene to the Anthropocene (and more). It may sound like science fiction, but it’s only a matter of time before the world’s militaries learn to wield the planet itself as a weapon. Tango goes inside the 2008 candidates' marriages (an more from Slate). Feeling short-changed by the self-help books he consulted, Tal Ben-Shahar built his own route to wellbeing. A new study suggests that moderate happiness may be preferable to full-fledged elation. A review of Philosophers Behaving Badly by Nigel Rodgers and Mel Thompson. From History and Policy, an essay on the prime minister as world statesman. From Prospect, book reviewing may seem in reasonable health. But the authority of critics is being undermined by a raucous blogging culture and an increasingly commercial publishing industry. What if scholarly books were peer reviewed by anonymous blog comments rather than by traditional peer reviewers?