Ethics

“Weak Humanism” Interview on Digital Dialogues

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Digital Humanities, Philosophy, Weak Humanism 6 Comments

I recently had the good fortune of doing an interview with Chris Long (Penn State University) for his “Digital Dialogues” philosophy podcast discussing my work on “weak humanism.” (You can listen to my interview here.) I’ve been working on the Weak Humanism manuscript all summer now, so it was a welcome respite from that work…

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On Puppies, Trees and Fetuses… or, What I DON’T Mean By “Weak Humanism”

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Philosophy, Politics, Weak Humanism 10 Comments

I’ve gotten some interesting feedback from my “Digital Dialogues” interview with Chris Long on weak humanism, including several questions about my work (and its implications) that I had not anticipated. So, I thought I’d take an opportunity here to try and clear up some things. I may need to split my response to the concerns…

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District 9 and Science (Non)Fiction

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Film, Film Reviews, Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Weak Humanism 5 Comments

I went with a friend to see the new sci-fi film District 9 last night, despite the fact that, as a rule, I’m not a huge fan of science fiction. It was a great film. It was produced by Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame), and South African writer/director, Niell Blomkamp, makes his…

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Torture 101

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Dr. J's Lists, Human Rights, Philosophy, Politics, Teaching, Torture, Weak Humanism 2 Comments

A friend and colleague of mine invited me to come speak to his class about torture last week. The class was a writing seminar, organized around the theme of “citizenship,” and my colleague was feeling (understandably) frustrated because– in his words– he “just didn’t feel like [he] had the tools or the knowledge to counter…

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Out of Sight, Out of Mind

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Human Rights, Obama, Politics, Torture, Weak Humanism Comments Off on Out of Sight, Out of Mind

As you no doubt have heard by now, President Obama announced last week his decision to block the release of photos depicting the use of “harsh interrogation techniques” (read: “torture”) on detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq. This decision marks a strange reversal of the Pentagon’s previous decision to release the photos (after the ACLU prevailed…

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Solitary

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Human Rights, Philosophy, Politics, Torture, Weak Humanism 4 Comments

Several months ago, there was a story in the New York Times entitled “Two Decades in Solitary” recounting the story of Willie Bosket, who has spent 23 hours a day for the last 20 years in a 9×6 cell… all alone. I had intended to write a post about that story then, because I was…

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Vulnerability, Injurability and Human Shields

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Human Rights, Philosophy, Politics, Weak Humanism 3 Comments

Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at the University of California-Berkeley, delivered a lecture Thursday night at The University of Memphis entitled “Vulnerability, Survivability: The Political Affects of War.” For the most part, Butler’s lecture drew upon her recent work in Precarious Life: The Power of Mourning and Violence and Who…

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More Medical Mysteries

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Human Rights, Philosophy, Politics, Weak Humanism Comments Off on More Medical Mysteries

I’ve mentioned my fascination with medical mysteries before on this blog (see: my post on Apotemnophilia). I suppose that part of that fascination is simply grounded in the strangeness of some of the conditions, but I am also particularly interested in the way that medical knowledge is stymied. A couple of years ago, I read…

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When There Is No “Why”…

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Weak Humanism 3 Comments

There is quite a bit of buzz about the upcoming release of the new film Man on Wire, which is a documentary account of Philippe Petit’s 1974 illegal and clandestine 110-story high tightrope-walk between the World Trade Towers (pictured left). I remember first learning of Petit’s stunt a few years back when I read about…

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It’s Hard Out Here for an Infidel

June 9, 2024 Dr. J Politics, Weak Humanism 1 Comment

Yesterday, I did an “all sad songs” episode of my Rhodes Radio show Americana the Beautiful. (If you’re interested, you can listen to or download the podcast here.) In the process of putting together my song list, I was struck by the fact that so many of the songs involve some kind of cheatin’, lyin’,…

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