No Vote = No Voice

Campaigns to encourage turnout often tell people that if they don't have a vote they don't have a voice. This is false, since there are other ways to influence the democratic process, e.g. writing to newspapers or lobbying your MP. Moreover, not having anyone you deem worth voting for is a pretty good reason to complain.

Now, however, it looks like that might be coming true - a group of cub scouts were prevented from holding a protest meeting at the House of Commons because they don't have a vote yet. It seems unfair to penalize those who don't have the right to vote, as opposed to those who fail to exercise it.

Assisted Suicide

At the ALSP conference last weekend I saw someone argue that the current UK suicide law - which allows suicide but not assisted suicide - effectively discriminates against the disabled who aren't able to kill themselves. This is an interesting argument, particularly because suicide is - as far as I'm aware - the only thing that it's legal to do but not legal to help someone do.

Anyway, one thing this throws up is the issue of what it is to 'assist' someone. Helping someone get a plane to Switzerland, so that they can then receive help, is a bit of a grey area. Until there's a test case, it would be hard to say what the law is here. The Lords have just rejected an amendment that would make this definitely legal, however.

Job: Witch

Given how competitive the academic job market at the moment is, this opportunity to almost double my salary by posing as a witch is quite appealing...

Foul Weather

Today's sudden and brief but heavy rain showers helped me make Hobbes come alive for one of my American students.

Hobbes points out that a state of war need not be one of constant fighting, but the lasting disposition to such - just as "the nature of Foule weather, lyeth not in a showre or two of rain; but in an inclination thereto of many dayes together" [Leviathan, ch.13]. I really think Americans need to have experienced English summer to appreciate this claim...

Apparently, however, even heavier rain in London led to three tube stops flooding and severe rail disruption - no doubt almost bringing about a return to the state of nature there...

JAP Editor

From Philos-L:

The Journal of Applied Philosophy, now established as 
the premier journal in its field, is seeking to appoint 
a co-editor to work alongside the current editor, Suzanne 
Uniacke. We are looking for someone with relevant 
philosophical interests and experience, a commitment to 
work as part of a team, and an understanding of the
Journal's status and remit.

The position will receive an appropriate honorarium and 
the appointment will initially be for three years.

Expressions of interest in the position should be made, 
by 1st September 2009, to the Chair of the Management 
Committee of the Journal, Professor David Archard
(d.archard[at]lancaster.ac.uk), from whom further 
information about the position can also be obtained.

This may explain why I'm still waiting for a verdict on a paper I submitted in October, despite being assured in May that the referees' reports were in and it was just awaiting editorial decision...

Salad Dodging

The traditional playground taunt directed at fat people is 'salad dodger', but it seems that avoiding salads could be a good idea - apparently many pre-packaged salads have more fat/calories than a BigMac and fries!

Music as Cure

One aspect of art and society that Plato wanted to regulate was the musical modes, suggesting that the ideal city should only allow those that breed good characters. It's now been shown, not particularly surprisingly, that music can affect blood flow and breathing. This suggests that it may have medical uses. I wonder why such studies are always done with classical/operatic music though?

Religious Attitudes to Organ Donation

One thing I've recently been thinking about is organ procurement, and in particular possible objections to an opt-out (or 'presumed consent') system. It's often suggested that this may violate the conscience of certain religious groups, e.g. because they think their bodies must be buried whole if they are to have an afterlife. It's pleasing to see that a variety of UK religious leaders consider organ donation a moral duty.

Light Switches and Religion

One of the things I'm teaching today is multiculturalism, which raises the issue of exemptions from laws for certain groups. A classic example is the fact that Sikhs don't need to wear motorcycle helmets. It's not obvious that this exemption is justified. If the law is purely paternalistic then we might say 'on their head be it', but then it's not clear that the law's justified at all. If there are good other-directed reasons for the law, then we could simply conclude that a religious code requiring one to wear a turban effectively forbids one to ride a motorbike.

I was struck by this recently reported example, however. Apparently an orthodox Jewish couple object to light sensors outside their home because their religion forbids them switching lights on on religious holidays.

Firstly, it seems to me that a religious code that "bans lights and other electrical equipment being switched on" can't be that old, and thus I wonder at its provenance. I don't recall anything about electrical goods in the Old Testament (though lights or lamps could of course be there). Secondly, it's not really clear to me what the objection is. It seems that they don't object to lights being on - apparently what they want is the lights to be on the whole time - only to them being switched on.

Presumably, what matters is whether they switch the lights on. I assume their religious code isn't forbidding anyone to switch lights on or they'd have to go around interfering with others. In this case, it's not clear why motion sensors count as them doing it. After all, they could easily cause others to switch lights on - e.g. if I was to see them enter a dark room and turn the light on for them, I don't see why this should be against their religion. Motion sensors should therefore be interpreted as the action of someone else.

It's quite common for people to circumvent religious requirements in this way. I understand that in Israel Jewish doctors feel it's wrong to turn off life support. Apparently what happens is that machines are built that will turn off unless reset - then the doctor simply fails to reset and life support is withdrawn by omission rather than act. Whether this is morally significant is highly doubtful, but since when was religion about morality anyway?

One for stats fans...

Rafael Nadal says "I will give 200% to be at 100% for [Wimbledon]."