online archive

Law, religion, economics, natural history, and academia

Gianluigi Palombella (Parma): Reasons for Justice, Rights and Future Generations. From Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Paolo Carozza (Notre Dame): The Universal Common Good and the Authority of International Law.

From PUP, the introduction to Dream, Death, and the Self; the first chapter from The Grand Contraption: The World as Myth, Number, and Chance; and the introduction to The Impossibility of Religious Freedom. From The Global Spiral, an essay on The New Sciences of Religion; an article on Human Origins and Religious Awareness: In Search of Human Uniqueness; a look at the Compatibility of Religious and Transhumanist Views in an Enhanced Future; a review of Religion and Scientific Naturalism: Overcoming the Conflicts; and a review of The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics by Eric D. Beinhocker. Economist Amartya Sen chosen for Kiel prize in Germany. Economists agree?! More on Bryan Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies.

From Natural History, Hidden Tombs of Ancient Syria: Evidence of animal and possibly human sacrifice suggests that burials at Tell Umm el-Marra were those of Bronze Age royalty. Meerkats At Play: Evolution demands that activities costing a lot of energy provide survival value in return. But what do these rambunctious little mammals gain from having so much fun?; and here's some samplings of news from nature. More than 1,000 bodies found at a construction site in West Philadelphia tell a story about science, medicine and society in the 1800s. A review of Born in Flames: Termite Dreams, Dialectical Fairy Tales, and Pop Apocalypses.

From Inside Higher Ed, Sex! Politics! Dubious Footnotes! How much excitement can you take? Scott McLemee looks at some scholarly scandals that seem faintly familiar; and Alexander C. McCormick writes about the problem with U.S. News rankings that nobody talks about. Two Russian-born sisters are due to become assistant professors of finance at the University of Rochester, even though they are only 19 and 21. Angela Kniazeva and her younger sister Diana were due to take up their new positions in September. From Britannica, an article on the child abuse called “College Sports”. And it's a world of possibilities: Virtual campuses are springing up in Second Life, as universities discover the advantages of cyberspace