A review of Plato and Aristotle in Agreement? Platonists on Aristotle from Antiochus to Porphyry. A review of Locke: A Biography. An except from John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty. A review of The War on Privacy. A review of New Dimensions in Privacy Law: International and Comparative Perspectives. A review of A Common Law Theory of Judicial Reviews: The Living Tree.
Who's afraid of democracy? A review of The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies by Bryan Caplan. A look at how economists lost Hayek, and then found him. Is eBay rational? Tim Harford on why auction sites make economists so giddy. A Bettor World: Once apprenticed to a bookie, Justin Wolfers of Wharton now draws economic insight from the behavior of gamblers. They may not realize it, but good economists who coach students into the economic way of thinking are actually practicing a type of mental yoga.
A review of The Animals Reader: The Essential Classic and Contemporary Writings, ed. by Linda Kalof and Amy Fitzgerald; Rights and Moral Philosophy by Julian H. Franklin; and The Moral Menagerie: Philosophy and Animal Rights by Marc R. Fellenz. Critics say modern philosophy is a useless waste of time. They are wrong. At its best, modern philosophy tells us how to waste time usefully. Julian Baggini on Descartes’ Meditations (Digested).
From Counterpunch, Robert Jensen on what the Finkelstein tenure fight tells us about the state of academia. What happens at the intersection of brute politics and public higher education? For a case study, review the past year at the University of Massachusetts. A look at why Columbia's expansion plans will benefit West Harlem. Oxford University should end its support for the homophobic, misogynist evangelicals at Wycliffe. Elite colleges open new door to low-income youths: Wanting to keep a role as engines of social mobility, some schools have pushed to diversify economically.
Test-takers, not students: Test madness and centralized curriculum control squeeze creativity out of the classroom. Teach Your Children Well: Joel Waldfogel on the economic case for preschool. IQ is dumb: A test designed in the 1920s sorts the philosophers from the electricians from the copilots and makes one wonder: Whither aptitude? Genes may help people learn Chinese: A link between brain development genes and speakers of tonal languages has been shown for the first time.
The Science of Disgust: A new study explains why we think some things are icky — and marketers are starting to pay attention. If it feels good to be good, it might be only natural: New research is showing is that morality has biological roots that have been around for a very long time. The more researchers learn, the more it appears that the foundation of morality is empathy. Want to improve your relationship? Do the dishes because you really want to: Research finds if you do something positive for your mate, it does it matter why you do it.
Score one for body language: It seems that body shape and the way people walk hold major cues to their attractiveness to others. Have you ever had the impulse to pull your hair out? You may have Trichotillomania. Snooze function: Why do we sleep? And can smart drugs be developed to combat tiredness? And erasing with bread crumbs, pencil as murder weapon, and more: 20 things you didn't know about pencils
