The University of Chicago’s Paul Poast claims that G. Lowes Dickinson is was the OG “modern” theo…
Episode 26: Anarchy vs. The Anarchy
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Recent Posts
Ranking Tenure Candidates? No Thanks
Sunday mornings are for tenure reviews. Huh? I am reading stuff to evaluate a scholar for whether he/she is worthy of tenure. This is a standard part of the tenure process--to have...
Why Audiences (Mostly) Don’t Care about Reputation in Foreign Policy
This is a guest post from William G. Nomikos, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis. Follow him on Twitter @wnomikos. Recent relations between North Korea...
Call for Guest Posts: How Should the Discipline Change?
We are going to begin calls for contributions to thematic series. The Monkey Cage for example had a terrific series on the gender gap in political science. The first in our call for contributions is...
More Recent Posts
Happy Merry from the Duck of Minerva
Thanks so very much for your continued support, interest, and engagement with the Duck of Minerva. This has been an exciting year for the blog thanks to all of you. At the same time, 2012 has, like every other year, been a difficult 12 months for many. Our hearts go out to all those who have...
A Different Take on the URI Statement 2.0
Kindred Winecoff disagrees that this was a modest victory: I must completely disagree with his ("modest") level of satisfaction. This represents no victory at all because this new statement from URI officials, like the first one, completely misses the point. This is not about First Amendment...
‘I Find your Lack of Cheer Disturbing’ – Merry Christmas
This is awesome.
A Modest Victory in the Struggle Against Academic Fecklessness
The URI administration has issued a new statement: What to make of this? On the one hand, I don't think anybody will buy the claim that (1) Erik is at fault for "not making clear that he was speaking solely as an individual" and (2) that this failure provided the "rationale for our original...
Monday Morning Linkage – Xmas Eve 2012 Edition
Now that your holiday shopping is (hopefully) all done, relax, and enjoy these thoughts on our global capitalist society... Development/capitalism and its discontents... Ever the drum-major for capitalism, the World Bank's End Poverty in South Asia blog tells us the miraculous story of how...
Hydrogen Sonata Forum wrap-up
This post exists to collect all the links from our Forum on Iain M. Banks' The Hydrogen Sonata into one coherent place: Chris Brown: A Triumphant Return to Form | Gerard van der Ree: Learning from Utopia | Iver B. Neumann: Religion and the Sublime | Patrick Thaddeus...
The Hydrogen Sonata Forum: Iain M. Banks Replies
Iain M. Banks reacts to the symposium on his book, The Hydrogen Sonata.
The Academic-Policy Nexus (Or Lack Thereof)
In my first post after signing on with "Team Duck" I thought, before jumping into a series of weighty topics--rise of the east, end of the west, cratering of the middle east--it might be worth reflecting a little on my sojourn as a policymaker after beginning my career as a Political Scientist. As...
(Another) Ugly Underside of the Repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Today, the Human Rights Campaign celebrated the two-year anniversary of President Obama signing the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," a move that officially allowed lesbians, gays, and bisexuals to serve openly in the United States military. Soon after, I wrote a blog post suggesting that, while...
Saturday Afternoon Linkage
Let's start with some more Erik Loomis blogging. Doktor Zoom at Wonkette provides a snarky take on head-on-a-stick gate, while Crooked Timber provides a forum for an interesting debate over the various issues at stake. Both point to an underlying dynamic at work: that this is fairly boilerplate...
Dan Nexon on The Hydrogen Sonata: To Sim, Perchance to Dream
The Culture novels have long been concerned with the interplay of simulation, simulacrum, religion, and materialism.
PTJ on The Hydrogen Sonata: Actors on the Sci-Fi Stage
So the Culture appears to both want to pursue this knowledge for the sheer joy of knowing, and for the contribution that knowledge can make to deciding on a course of action. Both constitute recognizable grounds for action, both in the Culture and in our world, but as the novel unfolds, both are called into question.