From Essays in Philosophy, Steven Schroeder (Shenzhen): All Things New: On Civil Disobedience Now; Hourya Bentouhami (Paris VII): Civil Disobedience from Thoreau to Transnational Mobilizations: The Global Challenge; and Piero Moraro (Stirling): Violent Civil Disobedience and Willingness to Accept Punishment; a review of Beyond Justification: Dimensions of Epistemic Evaluation by William P. Alston; a review of The Continental Ethics Reader; a review of Rights from Wrongs by Alan Dershowitz; a review of Philosophy of History: A Guide for Students by M.C. Lemon; a review of On Education by Harry Brighouse; a review of Ethics: Twelve Lectures on the Philosophy of Morality by David Wiggins; and a review of Heidegger and the Politics of Poetry by Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe.
From GeoTimes, Controversy in the Cradle of Humankind: In Kenya, the so-called cradle of humankind where some of the most famous fossils of early humans have been found, a battle has been brewing over what has been a more characteristically American controversy: evolution versus creationism, and science versus religion. Do we need the original Lucy fossil? There are casts of it all over the world. The Toba volcanic eruption 74,000 years ago may have drastically altered Earth’s climate. New research suggests humans were flexible enough to survive these changes. Who Built Stonehenge? Human remains more than 4,000 years old have helped scientists discover the identity of its architects. Anti-authoritarian Cities: Archaeologists have discovered that Brak, a Syrian city and one of the oldest urban areas in the world, was built in a way that completely defies conventional wisdom about how cities grow.
From Governing, Higher Purpose: America produces the world’s best universities, but not enough graduates. Can states fix higher ed? Welcome to Fleece U: Our mission is to take feckless teenagers like you and turn them into full-fledged debtors. Who Gets In — and Why: A review of Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites by Mitchell Stevens. A review of Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson (and more, and an op-ed by Taylor and Johnson). From Campus Progress, an article on the racial politics of college newspapers: Why college newsrooms are often neither diverse nor racially sensitive. From Inside Higher Ed, in a major expansion of higher ed role, The New York Times will help some colleges offer online, non-credit courses, while providing content and social networking for others.
