Strange Doctrines

Philosophy and the Meaning Of It All

Brian Leiter links to this editorial preface to a book review of Examined Lives.

The editors begin with a common bugbear: "These days, the question of how to live a meaningful life seems to have been banished from philosophy departments." Colin McGinn (quoted by Leiter) teases out the thought: "The general message [of the piece] was that philosophy used to be about the meaning of life (good) but now it's about the meaning of language (bad)."

There are a lot of good comments in the thread to Leiter's post in response to this supposed problem. David Velleman's methodological and historical points are very apt, for example. But Charlie Huenemann delivers the riposte I wish I'd thought of:

Physics used to be about understanding nature. But now, if you read the journals, it's just about a bunch of math.

The FPD's TGIF Roundup

For the week of January 24, 2011 (cross-posted from the C.D. Cal. Federal Public Defender blog).

Justice as Fiscal Responsibility. To fund priorities in education, transportation and energy, the OMB has proposed increasing good time credit. So reports the Wall Street Journal.

Tablets of the Law. County prosecutors in Texas are using iPads to conduct Facebook searches of potential jurors, says the ABA Journal.

Feigning Competency? Karen Franklin limns a study that evaluates the competency of competency evaluators (and the judges who rely on them), which finds them a bit wanting.

Holder Proposes to Act on Prison Rape Elimination Act. Story here. Proposed rules here.

LI Mini-Roundup. Doug Berman links to a few lethal injection stories published this week.

Now That's Harsh Sentencing. "Judge Rules White Girl Will Be Tried As Black Adult." Story at the Onion.

The FPD's TGIF Roundup

For the week of January 17, 2010 (cross-posted from the C.D. Cal. Federal Public Defender blog).

Evolution in Restitution. "Federal prosecutors intent on stemming child pornography and helping care for its victims are increasingly going after the assets of offenders under an evolving change in Justice Department policy." So reports the Wall Street Journal.

DOJ Creates Internal Watchdog Office. Story at USA Today. More at the BLT. Stephen Gillers at Legal Ethics Forum is skeptical that this is a positive development.

And on the Topic of Prosecutorial Indiscretion... Wendy Kaminer wonders why the public's mistrust of government is so selective. "Parole board members are not to be trusted with discretion in granting parole, and judges are not to be trusted with discretion in sentencing convicted defendants; but prosecutors are invariably trusted with significantly increased discretion, despite their track records of abusing it."

"A killer deal: Be a star witness, escape execution." The Washington Times tells the story of how contract killer Oscar Veal avoided the death penalty - by testifying for the government.

Travelers Come Not To Praise Seizures. Glenn Greenwald explains why.

The Unbearable Lightness of Talk About Being

Adam Frank offers up some standard-issue NOMAic tripe tropes about how in fact there is no tension between science and religion, in particular because religion actually has nothing to do with knowing. Good to know.

Anyway, he says, "Spirituality, at its best, points us away from easy codifications when it shows us how to immerse ourselves in the simple, inescapable act of being."

Well, if it's simple and inescapable, why would we need to be shown how? Why would we have to immerse ourselves?

I know, I know - these claims aren't about knowledge. They're about, well, they're about...

Wait - what are they about, exactly?

The FPD's TGIF Roundup

For the week of January 10, 2011 (cross-posted from the C.D. Cal. Federal Public Defender blog).

In Case You Hadn't Heard... At least nineteen people were shot last Saturday in Tucson, six fatally, while Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was meeting with constituents. Giffords was shot through the head point-black, but appears to be recovering. District of Arizona Chief Judge John Roll was among those killed in the incident.  The Wall Street Journal looks at some of the legal issues ahead.

Proposed Amendments to Guidelines. You can find them here. Of particular interest is the proposal for § 2L1.2, which would limit the use of convictions for enhancement under § 2L1.2(b)(1)(A) and (B).

A Little Too Private. The Fifth Circuit recently held that warrantless searches are permitted under the private search doctrine even when the police doing the searching didn't know about the private search. Orin Kerr explains why the Fifth gets it wrong.

Nudge Nudge

We know perfectly well that concerted behavior by groups and suggestive remarks by authority figures can affect the behavior of an individual.

According to most on the right, however, what we must not do is seriously consider the possibility that concerted behavior by groups and suggestive remarks by authority figures might have affected the behavior of an individual.

Good luck with that.

Side Note: No, this does not prove that "toxic rhetoric" caused Jared Lee Loughner to shoot Gabrielle Giffords and so many others. That's hardly the point, is it?

The FPD's TGIF Roundup

For the week of January 03, 2011 (cross-posted from the C.D.Cal. Federal Public Defender blog).

New USSC Overview of Federal Criminal Cases. It's available here.

"The Hole" Really Not So Bad. Says this study. Others, not so much.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree. From the Chicago Tribune, "Drug-sniffing dogs in traffic stops often wrong." For a different sort of criticism about using drug-sniffing dogs in residence searches, see Leslie A. Lunney, Has the Fourth Amendment Gone to the Dogs?: Unreasonable Expansion of Canine Sniff Doctrine to Include Sniffs of the Home, 88 Or. L. Rev. 829 (2009).

Why I Am So Lucky

The Enchantress is now preparing Dampfnudeln mit Vanillesoße from this little book, an heirloom bequeathed her by die Grossmama:

(Idiomatic translation of title: "What Husbands So Love to Eat.")

 

(Idiomatic translation of inscription: "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.")