Progress in understanding new biology may create a new phase in the scientific explanation of life, say some of the 100 scientists, theologians and philosophers who gathered for a conference at England’s Oxford University last week. They say rapid advances made in biological research in recent decades are raising questions about what they mean for Read more
Heythrop College in London is to close as a higher education institution after more than 400 years of operation. Its current form as a constituent college of the University of London will end in 2018. But a statement following a governors’ meeting noted that the Jesuit-run institution’s “mission and work will not [end]”. Heythrop, which Read more
How can we do the right thing? Force Majeure If you had lived in Germany in 1939, would you have helped protect Jews or gone along with their systematic extermination? If you had been an MP 10 years ago, would you have milked your expenses for what they were worth? And if you and your Read more
The number, depth, and rapidity of changes in Chinese society over the last decade may obscure an unusual change within the academy: a markedly increased interest in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Although it may seem strange to many in the West, contemporary Chinese scholars find Thomas’s thought not simply fascinating, but of enduring relevance. Read more
Although they have been common throughout history, prohibitions against incest (sexual relations between blood relatives) have become increasingly difficult to understand and defend. In part, this is a result of a misunderstanding. We often think that the primary reason to ban incest is to prevent genetic abnormalities or other harm to children who might be Read more
Most things sound convincing when Morgan Freeman says them. The host of Through the Wormhole and the voice of God himself recently told told Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show that the Higgs Boson “explains everything – creation.” “Oh oh”, replies Ferguson, “that’s not going to be popular.” The “science puts God out of a job” Read more
I’m dealing with the death of my father the way I deal with most things: by thinking, and processing those thoughts through writing, fingers to keyboard. Given my philosophical bent, these thoughts wander from his particular death to mortality in general. That might strike you as cold, excessively rational, analytic. But the only rule about Read more
Near the opening of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1916), James Joyce’s alter ego Stephen Dedalus opens the flyleaf of his geography textbook and examines what he has written there: Stephen Dedalus Class of Elements Clongowes Wood College Sallins County Kildare Ireland Europe The World The Universe Most of us will, no doubt, remember Read more
American gay rights activist and radio host Michaelangelo Signorile recently wrote triumphantly of what lies around the corner for a country that just re-elected its “First Gay President” — as a Newsweek cover last year dubbed Obama. Claiming an early victory for his movement in the Huffington Post Signorile proclaimed that “[n]o longer will politicians — or Read more
A documentary, “Tongan Ark”, about the Tongan philosopher Futa Helu will be screening at Mangere Arts Centre in Auckland on Saturday. Futa Helu, who died aged 75 in February 2010, was a Tongan philosopher. He studied philosophy, literature and mathematics in Sydney in the 1950s. His particular inspiration was the pre-Socratic thinker Heraclitus. When he returned Read more