Robert Pondiscio in City Journal:

Gary Gutting talks to Howard Wettstein, a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside, and the author of “The Significance of Religious Experience”, over at the NYT's The Stone (image, portrait of Martin Buber, from Wikimedia Commons):

Tim Harford in the FT Magazine:

Cheerleaders for big data have made four exciting claims, each one reflected in the success of Google Flu Trends: that data analysis produces uncannily accurate results; that every single data point can be captured, making old statistical sampling techniques obsolete; that it is passé to fret about what causes what, because statistical correlation tells us what we need to know; and that scientific or statistical models aren’t needed because, to quote “The End of Theory”, a provocative essay published in Wired in 2008, “with enough data, the numbers speak for themselves”.

Paula Findlen at The Nation:

Prashant Keshavmurthy in Chapati Mystery:

Via Andrew Sullivan, Philip Schofield discusses Jeremy Bentham's writings on religion and sex, over at the Oxford University Press blog:

Natalie Angier in The New York Times:

by Quinn O'Neill

It is a widely held view that women are more emotional than men, and some argue that this makes them unsuitable for positions that demand important, cool-headed decision making. The argument often rears its head in discussions about women in politics - particularly as prospective presidents - and I've heard it asserted by both males and females.

Who's UrizenIn William’s crisp mandala Urizen asymmetrically stoops

Laying duality on the world, cleaving philosophers’ minds, inspiring theologians to settle scores, he undoes the unity of chaos splitting it to bits like chips to feed the dogs of wars

Reaching down, this buff, man-like self curiously in his prime with old head coiffed white raked by wind gusting furiously through heaven’s open door, Urizen bends to scribe a zero with his compass, leaving nothing out, including all