HITS AND MISSES 2003: Stuff I wrote on this blog in the old year. Some of my archives are Bloggered, so this is incomplete; shrug.

January: Tradition vs. the past: “…The first and most basic point is that tradition is not about restoring some real or imagined past era. Tradition gives an institution (a nation, a debating society, a university) a persona; it makes the institution more like a person. And this is necessary in order to make the institution a possible object of human loyalties, since all our loyalties are to persons. …

“I’ve also found that tradition’s roots are often very odd–and that isn’t a point against tradition! Tradition often develops and accumulates in a Hayekish spontaneous-order kind of way, but along the way traditions also result from jokes, accidents, and misreadings….”

In defense of free will: “First, a recent conversation with my friend Gene underlined for me the ways in which the question of freedom of the will is linked to the question of personal identity. Free will requires that there be a ‘me’ who chooses, rather than simply a pushing and pulling jostle of neural impulses and affects. …

“…I tend to believe that free will is one of the philosophical questions that is far better handled in poetry and fiction than in philosophy, in part because it is such a bedrock, foundational issue….”

March: Against torture. Why was this controversial? Anyway, start here and scroll down as desired. “Better to die like a man than to live like a utilitarian.”

May: Two Spenserian stanzas I wrote: “Time is regret” and “‘I love you when you’re less like me!'”

And I argue that those who hate Bush v. Gore should also oppose Roe v. Wade. Start here and scroll for my (attempted) rebuttal of Prof. Jack Balkin’s theory of “high” vs. “low” politics in Constitutional jurisprudence.

And addiction as ritual.

June: What my wisdom teeth have to do with abortion and “women’s right to know” laws.

And a pro-life reading list for people who want to know why I, and many people I know, stopped supporting legal abortion.

October: My review of “Carnival of Souls.” This is a short piece but I really like it–I do think it gets at the reasons CoS is one of the best horror movies ever.

Rene Magritte, Master of Horror. “Belgium is an absence of identity.”

A round-up link to October’s same-sex marriage post series.

December: Superfast, allusive descriptions of great comics you might like. Comparisons between media: comics to movies, comics to novels, comics to paintings, whatever.