http://david.brax.nu David Brax, philosopher Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:55:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In my earlier forays into the theory and science of emotion, there was one thing that struck me as extremely potent as an explanation: misattribution. Misattribution (frequent appeal to which is made by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and colleagues) often goes like this: You have an emotional reaction, positive or ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/prejudices-emotions-and-misattributions/ "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", remember? I remember very little of the substantive debate but I do remember that it spurned a debate on the use of non-committing slogans in political speech. The immediate appeal of slogans should not be dismissed as a mere trick, however. There ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/punishing-causes/ As far as New Year Resolutions go, this is admittedly a rather weak one, but here goes: I solemnly swear to at least try to lighten this blog up a bit, by posting every now and then on something other than hate crime. It wont be the next one: that will ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/resolution/ 'this the season and all that and whoever is on the non-news part of your state-subsidised radio or television is instantly promoted to the status of National Treasure. And about bloody time. To be serious for just a minute, though (even though I don't really want to): on sunday the ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/the-christmas-day-hate-broadcast/ What counts as a hate crime? Among the first questions you should ask when being introduced to a new category-concept is this: what does it cover? What qualifies as an "X"? When given a fairly informative definition, you then quickly go on to fringe cases, and ask whether they qualify or ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/there-goes-the-neighbourhood/ Teju Cole get's me. The big obvious differences - I've no relation to Nigeria, as far as I know - fades in comparison to the big astonishing similarities  - I think like that, walk like that, listen, read, observe like that. And these things, I believe, is what matters ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/the-highly-infrequent-review-of-books-open-city-by-teju-cole/ A number of States have laws criminalizing speech on the basis of content. "Hate speech", as it is often known, is a regulation prohibiting certain views from being expressed. This is distinct from direct incitement to criminal acts, or, for that matter, causing physical harm by expressing a view very ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/hate-speech-as-hate-crime/ Legal punishment is normally justified by appeal to Wrongdoing (the criminal act) and Culpability ("the guilty mind"). These are features focusing on the perpetrator, which makes sense as it is he (nearly always a "he") who will carry the burden of the punishment. We want to make sure that the ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/future-oriented-and-customized-punishment/ Hate Crimes Hurt More is the title of Paul Iganski's 2001 article in the American Behavioral Scientist, and while this title could have done with an added question mark, subsequent work by Dr Iganski and others offers ever increasing support for the central claim. The harm caused by hate crimes ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/hate-crimes-and-the-unfair-distribution-of-harm/ I always intended to do this, but kept putting it off. "Filosofisk tidskrift" is one of two light-on-design-semi-heavy-in-content philosophy publications in Swedish. There is an idea that swedish as a philosophical language is getting eroded (Admittedly, it was never much of a land-mass), and FT is part of the effort ... http://david.brax.nu/blog/pure-self-indulgence/