Video presentation of Essay in Oct. 2012 issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine:
Paper presented at the Social Philosophy and Policy Conference in Tucson, Arizona (Jan. 2013)
Video presentations on aging and longevity science (1st video is short, 2nd video is long):
Video presentation of “Patriarchy and Historical Materialism”:
Play and Politics video:
“3 Wishes” Video (my personal favourite):
Presentation of Ottawa talk on the humanities and natural sciences (May 2013)
Favourite Quotes Include:
“No biological problem is fully solved until both the proximate and evolutionary causation has been elucidated”
Ernst Mayr The Growth of Biological Thought (1982)
“Science marks the emancipation of mind from devotion to customary practices and makes possible the systematic pursuit of new ends. It is the agency of progress in action…. Science has familiarized men with the idea of development, taking effect practically in persistent gradual amelioration of the estate of our common humanity”.
John Dewey Democracy and Education (1916)
“No gentlemen, the difficult thing is not to escape death, I think, but to escape wickedness- that is much more difficult, for that runs faster than death. And now I, being slow and old, have been caught by the slower one; but my accusers, being clever and quick, have been caught by the swifter, badness. And now I and they depart, I, condemned by you to death, but these, condemned by truth to depravity and injustice. I abide by my penalty, they by theirs. Perhaps this was to be so, and I think it is fair enough.”
Socrates (399 B.C.) addressing the Athenian jury which condemned him to death for questioning their beliefs (as told by Plato in The Apology)
“I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks, no form of government , can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea”. James Madison, Virginia Ratifying Convention, 1788.
“Let no one when young delay to study philosophy, nor when he is old grow weary of his study…And the man who says that the age of philosophy has either not yet come or has gone by is like the man who says that the age for happiness has not yet come to him, or has passed away… We must then mediate on the things that make our happiness, seeing that when that is with us we have all, but when it is absent we do all to win it”. Epicurus, 300 BC
“…the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile”. Robert F. Kennedy, 1968
I wish I had the voice of Homer
To sing of rectal carcinoma
Which kills a lot more chaps in fact,
Than were bumped off when Troy was sacked.
J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964) Geneticist and evolutionary biologist who died of cancer.
Places I have lived:
Hamilton, Ontario
Bristol, England
Aberdeen, Scotland
Birmingham, England
Manchester, England
(I worked in Manchester but actually lived in a small town nearby called “Cheadle”).
Waterloo, Ontario
Oxford, England
Los Angeles, CA
Kingston, Ontario
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About colinfarrelly
I am a Professor and Queen's National Scholar in the Dept of Political Studies at Queen's University.
