Continuing the very welcome trend of philosophers posting exciting books, Mark Kalderon posts the first three chapters of his book Moral Fictionalism. Lots of people have been talking about this well in advance of publication, and I think it should be very good.

The Bush administration’s complete disregard for scientific knowledge in policy making doesn’t get as much airplay as some of the administration’s other shortcoming, but it is an important issue. It shouldn’t be a partisan issue. There’s nothing conservative about ignoring relevant science – I can’t imagine John Howard or Peter Costello acting the way the Bush administration has. Anyway, don’t take my word for how bad they are, take the word of twenty Nobel Laureates . (Hat tip: Brian Leiter.

Allan Hazlett thinks my beliefs about which adjectives are essentially pre-nominal are pretend.

Just for fun: Republicans for Voldemort. (Hat tip: caoine)

Much thanks to everyone who has written in with congratulations and good wishes regarding my move to Cornell. There’s been some interest shown in where TAR will move to if I can’t leave it at Brown. I’m touched that you think I’m not cybersquatting as is.

I’m off to Louisiana for a few days. Just to test how much attention my logic class today I made a joke at the start about how neat it was that we get Mardi Gras off (Brown holds the President’s Day holiday a week late) and then mentioned at the end I was off to a conference in Louisiana. A few picked up the connection. The conference, run by James Stacey Taylor, was wonderful last year, and if it’s as good this year I’ll be having a fun few days. I might be updating TAR while I’m away – or I might just be ethicising and partying.