LGBTQ Rights

 

To celebrate the first full week of LGBTQ Pride Month, the Philosopher’s Eye has curated a special collection under the theme LGBTQ Rights. This collection explores the past, present, and future of LGBTQ law, politics, and activism which seeks to ensure effective change in social policy and legal protection. Enjoy this research freely through July 31, and don’t forget to comment and share below!

And, don’t forget to come back each Monday as we post think pieces from Wiley authors and LGBTQ advocates centered around a new theme. You’ll also get unlocked access to journal articles and book excerpts that examine the ethical, social, and philosophical issues faced by the LGBTQ community. Thanks for joining us as we continue the necessary conversation on LGBTQ rights, awareness, and support.

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Ancient Greek philosopher Plato is a celebrated figure in the LGBTQ community as it has long been thought that he was gay. Although Ancient Greeks forbid same-sex marriage, varying sexuality was commonly accepted.

“Comradeship” and “Friendship”:  Masculinity and Militarisation in German’s Homosexual Emancipation Movement after the First World WarGender & History | March 2011

The Transnational Homophile Movement and the Development of Domesticity in Mexico City’s Homosexual Community, 1930-70 Gender & History | October 2014

‘The Ultimate Extension of Gay Community’: Communal Living and Gay Liberation in the 1970s’ Gender & History | October 2015

Same-sex relationship escalation with uncertain marriage legality: Theory and empirical implications Southern Economic Association | April 2015

Are Gay Men and Lesbians Discriminated against in the Hiring Process?  Southern Economic Association | January 2013

When Faith Speech Turns to Gay Hate Speech Dialog | June 2010

As醠and Amen, Sister! Journal of Religious Ethics | April 2015

Hegel, recognition, and same-sex marriage Journal of Social Philosophy | June 2015

Kant, political liberalism, and the ethics of same-sex relations Journal of Social Philosophy | Fall 2001

Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships: New Possibilities for Research on the Role of Marriage Law in Household Labor Allocation Journal of Family Theory & Review | March 2016

Living a Calling, Life Satisfaction, and Workplace Climate Among a Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Population The Career Development Quarterly | December 2015

Does Believing Homosexuality Is Innate Increase Support for Gay Rights? Policy Studies Journal | November 2009

American poet Walt Whitman was openly gay and is photographed here with his much younger partner Bill Duckett.

Are Debates about “Morality Policy” Really about Morality? Framing Opposition to Gay and Lesbian Rights Policy Studies Journal | May 2011

Relational Comparison and LGBTQ Activism in European Cities International Journal of Urban and Regional Research | May 2014

A hegemon fighting for equal rights: the dominant role of COC Nederland in the LGBT transnational advocacy network Global Networks | April 2016

Organising the Hombre Nuevo Gay: LGBT Politics and the Second Sandinista Revolution Bulletin of Latin American Research | July 2014

Brokering Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity: Chilean Lawyers and Public Interest Litigation Strategies Bulletin of Latin American Research | October 2015

The Impact of Anti-Gay Politics on the LGBTQ Movement Sociology Compass | June 2016

Sexuality in Child Custody Decisions Family Court Review | April 2012

Multilevel analysis of the effects of antidiscrimination policies on earnings by sexual orientation Journal of Policy Analysis and Management | Spring 2012

Noted activists Barbara Gittings and Frank Kameny picket outside Independence Hall, Philadelphia in 1969.

The Effect of Requiring Private Employers to Extend Health Benefit Eligibility to Same-Sex Partners of Employees: Evidence from California Journal of Policy Analysis and Management | Spring 2013

Revisiting the Income Tax Effects of Legalizing Same-Sex Marriages Journal of Policy Analysis and Management | Spring 2014

Identity or Behavior: A Moral and Medical Basis for LGBTQ Rights Hastings Center Report | October 2014

Legal and Ethical Concerns about Sexual Orientation Change Efforts Hastings Center Report | October 2014

Time is Money!

Einstein's Clock

To me, the first of January is always a write-off.  Nothing productive ever happens.  It exists among the days of hangovers and jetlag.  But now it is the day after the first, and it is now (as it was yesterday) 2012, and that means it is the perfect time to discuss, well, time.  And there have been quite a few timely stories lately, from Samoa and Tokelau going back to the future, to the growing schism between international time and astronomical time.  Even the Royal Society has some choice words on tricky temporal travails. And, resolutions aside, I’m going to attempt to be timely myself, and make this a rather short post.  I want to share a few thoughts and links about the commercialization of time.

Of course, time is involved in many non-trivial ways in our daily life: the flow and change of seasons that signalled times of growth and harvest; the rotations of the sun that marked out the day’s working hours; the shivers of tide that allow for the gathering of molluscs, and so on.  There is a strain of philosophy, particular the early Phenomenologists, that assert that such relationships to time are primordial, originary.  These initial demarcations of time and change are what allow our mind to grasp a hold on the concept, to bring it to the rarefied reaches of reason, and to gain a measure of control over it.  This is a rich field of thought, but I want to make just a few remarks about one aspect of this control: when time becomes part of – a tool, even – of our commercial and economic spheres.

Neoclassical Economics as a Predictive Social Science?

Source: Wikimedia Commons

So the big news is the Eurozone crisis and what to do about it. This obscures the bigger question, which is what to do about the system of international finance. I have an idea. Let’s get rid of it. Something seems simply wrong with the idea of a system of giant, closely integrated lending firms, backed up by nationally-owned central banks. New regimes of regulation, or the ‘utility model’ – where credit institutions are treated like nationalised water or electricity suppliers – are weasly halfway houses. Let’s go eliminativist. Why not? Think Distributism, without the anti-Semitism, the leanings towards theocracy, and the social conservatism. Ok, don’t think Distributism. Just think very, very different from the way things are now.

But I’m just a historian of philosophy. I have no idea what I’m talking about. I just feel like that would be the right thing to do. Before you accuse me of being naïve, however, consider what you’re accusing me of not knowing. Is the accusation that I don’t understand economics? The problem with that is that there is no reason to think that if I did understand economics I’d be any better placed to legislate for the future. At the risk of raining on a great ongoing parade, we don’t have a social science with predictive power. We don’t even, as Jerry Fodor said in a different context, know what it would be like to have a predictive social science. If I don’t know what the consequences of a policy will be, I take comfort in the fact that nobody else does either.

Scholarly Content on the Impact of 9/11

Navy videographer at Ground Zero

In the 10 years since the events of September 2001 a vast amount of scholarly research has been written on the impact of 9/11. Wiley-Blackwell is pleased to share with you this collection of free book and journal content, featuring over 20 book chapters and 185 journal articles from over 200 publications, spanning subjects across the social sciences and humanities.

Simply click on your area of interest below to access this reading and learning resource today:

Accounting & Finance Anthropology, History & Sociology Business & Management Communication & Media Studies Economics Geography, Development & Urban Studies

Law Literature, Language & Linguistics Philosophy Politics & International Relations Psychology Religion & Theology

Journal of Applied Philosophy Annual Prize

Get a sample copy

The Journal of Applied Philosophy will henceforth award an annual prize of £1000 to the best article published in the year’s volume. The first award will be made in respect of Volume 28 (2011). The judgement as to the best article will be made by the editors of the journal.

Journal of Applied Philosophy provides a unique forum for philosophical research which seeks to make a constructive contribution to problems of practical concern. Open to the expression of diverse viewpoints, the journal brings critical analysis to these areas and to the identification, justification and discussion of values of universal appeal.  Journal of Applied Philosophy covers a broad spectrum of issues in environment, medicine, science, policy, law, politics, economics and education.

Population Pessimism

Population is a touchy subject. It certainly divides people. There is no better example of this than James Delingpole’s latest tirade against those who advocate seemingly drastic, sometimes fascistic, methods of population reduction. In this case, the target took the shape of BBC TV naturalist Chris Packham. Delingpole was provoked into his polemic by recent comments Packham reportedly made to the Radio Times:

There’s no point bleating about the future of pandas, polar bears and tigers when we’re not addressing the one single factor that’s putting more pressure on the ecosystem than any other – namely the ever-increasing size of the world’s population. I read the other day that, by 2020, there are going to be 70 million people in Britain. Let’s face it, that’s too many.

Are liberals confused by economics?

I’m saddened to see this Buturovic and Klein survey treated credulously on a philosophy blog. The survey has problems that should worry anyone who has thought about the difference between facts and values.

The basic idea: Buturovic and Klein asked a bunch of people to classify as true or false a list of propositions considered true by a broad range of economists. Liberals were much more likely than conservatives to label propositions false, thereby contradicting the consensus view of economists. The upshot, according to Klein, is that conservatives are better informed about economics.

But the questions in the survey are terrible.