© 2003–2021 by Teed Rockwell I wrote this text during my twenty years teaching Critical Thinking in the California State University system. …

Sleep with her, trouble ensues. Restrain yourself, Happy Ending. — If you want to have someone take a risk which is stupid and/or morally dangerous, everyone will understand why the hero did it if she is the bait. Most of her movies capitalize on the fact that she seems too luscious to resist, but too good to be true. …

How Social marginalization produces Epistemic Privilege — Privileged Access is a technical term coined by Analytic philosophers of mind in the mid-20th century. It refers to the special relationship that we have with our own mental states. We can both know about my pain, but only I can feel my pain. We can both know about my…

But there are cultural contexts, inhabited by thousands and even millions of people, that believe that (something like) this sort of thing is OK. In Afghanistan, it is considered acceptable for a man to kiss his baby son's penis. Among some Australian Aboriginal tribes, men shake each other's penises as…

Or 4) people who have looked carefully at the controversy and concluded that Rowling is not actually transphobic. I have read most of what she has written on this topic, and I see only two things she believes which make people think she is transphobic 1) she thinks that no…

Hey it could be worse. At least your female and Jewish. As I say on my picture caption, I am White Anglo-Saxon Protestant Male Heterosexual cisgendered over-educated able-bodied affluent and thin. I'm also tall, which according to Peter Dinklage creates its own special privileges that I never noticed until he…

Bragg’s case is complicated, but it is strong — Here is the best defense I have seen of the charges against Trump. It looks very convincing to me. What Trump did would ordinarily be considered a misdemeanor i.e. he mislabeled the hush money as legal expenses. However, the law says this case is a felony because the act was…

A Logical Analysis — Johnny Silvercloud once asked me to do a logical analysis of one of his essays, similar to the analysis I did of arguments between Argumentative Penguin and Marley K. Mr. Silvercloud later wrote that I should have included some reference to his essay on impact vs. intent in my essay…

Celebrating Four Decades of Romantic Love — I've always found buying gifts to be a challenge, for reasons I discuss here. So years ago I wrote my wife a sonnet, and have written one for her each year so far. I spent several days listening to famous actors reading Shakespeare’s sonnets, and quickly realized that my idea…