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News & Opinion Regarding Moral Philosophy, Environmental Ethics & Public Policy
Ernest Partridge, Ph.D, Lecturer-Consultant, Environmental and Applied Ethics
January 20, 2010
The Gadfly is Back, and with a New Look!
An Invitation to Instructors of Philosophy,
and Editors of Anthologies
Added to this site: Several
Unpublished Papers
The Gadfly Bytes -- Recent Editorials and Essays
About this Edition
October 19, 2009
I have completed a check of all the links in the 137 editorials. Hundreds of those links were found to be broken, as the original sources discontinued or rerouted the articles. Thanks to Google, in more than half of these cases, I was able to find new URLs for the articles. The remainder of the broken links were either dropped from the editorials, or a note "broken link" was added to the text.
Immediately ahead on The Online Gadfly: (a) the links will be checked and updated on all the published and unpublished Gadfly papers. (b) A stack of still more published and unpublished papers are on our desk, waiting to be processed and added to this website. (c) Expect to find some new original editorials and blogs in the near future. (EP)
October 1, 2009
Previous visitors to The Online Gadfly will find some significant changes in this edition.
First of all, we have reformatted all the text pages by adding a border on the left side, enlarging the text size from 12 pt. to 14 pt., and justifying the right-hand margins. All these changes are designed to make the texts easier on the readers' eyes.
The left hand border lists and links to the various sections of The Online Gadfly, which will facilitate navigation within this site. Unfortunately, because of that border, these pages will not print well. Suggestions: (1) Reduce the text size of your web browser (Internet Explorer: View/Text Size/Smaller), or (b) copy and paste the texts to an HTML page, then print. Eventually, we will prepare "printer friendly" pages -- a huge job, of course.
We have added a new section, Unpublished Papers, where we have posted numerous essays previously excluded. Work is continuing on this section, as there are many papers "in the queue" still to be processed and added. Advances in computer technology, in particular character and voice recognition software, have spared us the onerous task of typing in these manuscripts. Still more original papers by The Gadfly have been, and will be, added to other sections of this website.
With these improvements, revisions and editions, The Gadfly hopes to bring to a close his extended vacation and resume some serious research and writing. In particular, the shamefully neglected "book in progress," Conscience of a Progressive, will soon undergo an overhaul, necessitated both by the welcome demise of the Bush Administration, and the consequent appearance of new public issues and the alarming continuation of old issues that we all had hoped would, by now, be put behind us.
Because The Gadfly is retired, work on this website is purely voluntary. He is aspiring neither for promotion or tenure, and no boss is hounding him to get back to work. These past few months, he has, with his kayaks, explored several hundred miles of California sea coast and wild western rivers, and he has hiked along many of the San Bernardino Mountain trails. And the Great Outdoors continues to beckon him to abandon this keyboard. But like the athlete away from his game, or the performing artist away from the stage, the longer the scholar's and writer's respite, the harder it becomes to achieve a successful comeback. So The Gadfly now returns to the exquisite agony of writing and research, which, some folks whose opinions he respects tells him, are of some merit.
As always, educators are welcome to use any material at this website for instructional use, though I would appreciate the courtesy of being informed of this use. While I routinely copyright all of my writing, I generally approve, without charge, any non-profit use provided, of course, it is properly attributed to this author and this source. However, with use for profit I require both attribution and a royalty. That's what copyrights are for.
Several of my published essays are suitable for inclusion in textbook anthologies, and if you follow this link you will find summaries and sources of eight of these essays. This is not a complete list. Several of the more than forty papers that I have published since 1981 have been adopted for classroom use and/or have been published in anthologies.
It's good to be back to work! Much more to come on this website, I promise.
And do let me hear from y'all. At gadfly@igc.org.
The Online Gadfly is the website of "Gadfly Enterprises," administered by Ernest Partridge (hereafter, "The Gadfly"), a consultant, writer and lecturer in the field of Environmental and Applied Ethics. (gadfly@igc.org).
This website contains original essays, an assortment of papers (published, unpublished, and in progress), news and notes, bibliographies and other research tools, and much more, most of these pertaining to issues in environmental ethics, politics and public policy.
The Online Gadfly will also serve as a "gateway" to other web sites, publications, organizations and educational institutions devoted to progressive political ideals and to the study of environmental ethics and policy.
We "promote" this site by
word of mouth and reputation.
Add our link to your website. Spread the word.
Attention Philosophy Teachers:
The most recent additions to Conscience of a Progressive, my book in progress, Chapter 12, and Chapter 15 are essays that I wish I had written while I was teaching courses in ethics. Now that I have retired, it is too late for me to use them for that purpose. But not for you. You are welcome to download these chapters and use them in your courses. I only ask that you include the author's name and the source. The courtesy of informing me of your use thereof would also be appreciated. (The copyright on the book is intended as a deterrence to plagiarism).
Of special interest, I suggest, Chapter 12, "How is Morality Possible?" While the ideas therein are not original -- (they are drawn from psychology, sociology and anthropology) -- they are rarely included in introductory courses in ethics. Of the many textbooks in ethics that I have used through the years, I cannot recall that any of them dealt at any length with these concepts of moral psychology. Accordingly, I presented these ideas in a series of lectures. In this chapter I have, at long last, transcribed those notes into essay format.
While I can claim some originality in my defense of moral relativism in Chapter 15 ("A Progressive Moral Philosophy"), the remainder of that chapter, now in preparation, will be adapted from other sources. As of this date, Chapter 13 ("Rights, Justice and Human Dignity") is also still in preparation, but I expect it to be posted shortly. After I complete Chapter 13, I will return to the second half of Chapter 15, in which I will present and defend my answer to the ancient question, "Why be Moral?"
Of course, my invitation also applies to the use of any other material in the book, possibly in such courses as Applied Ethics, Philosophy of Economics, Policy Analysis, Political Philosophy, etc.
If you do decide to use any of this material in your classes, or choose to cite it in your publications, please be sure to check back at this site now and then, since the book is undergoing constant revision.
The Gadfly may have a book for you: Conscience of a Progressive. Work in progress on this book may be found here at The Online Gadfly. The book combines both original material, and an integration of essays and editorials written over the past six and a half years for The Online Gadfly, and The Crisis Papers. With serious interest from a publisher, the book could be competed in from three to four months. If you are interested, or can suggest a publisher that might be interested, contact The Gadfly at gadfly@igc.org .
Be sure to visit The Crisis Papers and of course, if so moved, to send a donation to support that website. The Online Gadfly does not solicit donations.
The Gadfly and Dr. Bernard Weiner are Co-Editors of "The Crisis Papers,"
Featuring Political Commentaries by the Editors.
"Mad as Hell, and not going to take it any more?" Then get to work!
For ammunition, see "The Internet -- Last Refuge of the Liberal."
Then write your Senator, Congressperson, and the media: "To Take Back Our Republic."
If you have found The Online Gadfly to be useful in your work as an educator or an activist, or if it has been provocative and insightful to your concerns as a citizen, we urge you to add its link to your websites, and to inform others who may share our concerns about the issues discussed at this site.
Visitors to The Online Gadfly are welcome to copy and distribute any material herein bearing the copyright of "The Gadfly" (Ernest Partridge), provided the name of this author and the URL of this website are included in the copies. This permission extends also to educational use, in which case, notification to this author will be appreciated.
However, publication of any copyrighted material requires the permission of this author or (if otherwise copyrighted) the publisher: its the law.
Enjoy! And don't hesitate to send back an e-mail buzz, if so inclined, to gadfly@igc.org .