Comments on: Refuting the Absurd http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/12/refuting_the_ab.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:19:19 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 By: Patrick S. O'Donnell http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/12/refuting_the_ab.html/comment-page-1#comment-56115 Patrick S. O'Donnell Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:46:08 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/12/refuting-the-absurd.html#comment-56115 Rankings-mania indeed: from academia to the mass media. A few passages from the Tao Te Ching are a nice antidote to such nonsense. Are Americans the only ones afflicted by this mania? Where's Pierre Bourdieu when we need him ('[S]ociology is a martial art insofar as it is used to defend against the domination of symbolic systems and the imposition of distorting categories of thought.')? Rankings-mania indeed: from academia to the mass media. A few passages from the Tao Te Ching are a nice antidote to such nonsense. Are Americans the only ones afflicted by this mania? Where’s Pierre Bourdieu when we need him (’[S]ociology is a martial art insofar as it is used to defend against the domination of symbolic systems and the imposition of distorting categories of thought.’)?

]]> By: Patrick S. O'Donnell http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/12/refuting_the_ab.html/comment-page-1#comment-55787 Patrick S. O'Donnell Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:46:08 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/12/refuting-the-absurd.html#comment-55787 Rankings-mania indeed: from academia to the mass media. A few passages from the Tao Te Ching are a nice antidote to such nonsense. Are Americans the only ones afflicted by this mania? Where's Pierre Bourdieu when we need him ('[S]ociology is a martial art insofar as it is used to defend against the domination of symbolic systems and the imposition of distorting categories of thought.')? Rankings-mania indeed: from academia to the mass media. A few passages from the Tao Te Ching are a nice antidote to such nonsense. Are Americans the only ones afflicted by this mania? Where’s Pierre Bourdieu when we need him (’[S]ociology is a martial art insofar as it is used to defend against the domination of symbolic systems and the imposition of distorting categories of thought.’)?

]]> By: Jeff Lipshaw http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2006/12/refuting_the_ab.html/comment-page-1#comment-55786 Jeff Lipshaw Wed, 27 Dec 2006 13:13:13 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2006/12/refuting-the-absurd.html#comment-55786 1. If you think dealing with a claim so bizarre there was no case saying "that is not a claim" was troubling for judges and clerks, imagine what it was like for clients and lawyers! To paraphrase the punchline of an old cartoon, the one good thing about being a judge is the ability to take the law in your own hands. You couldn't say the same thing when you were a young associate given the assignment to write the brief. 2. Murray's wacko scientism provides cover for, and distraction from, more sophisticated stabs at the same end. 1. If you think dealing with a claim so bizarre there was no case saying “that is not a claim” was troubling for judges and clerks, imagine what it was like for clients and lawyers! To paraphrase the punchline of an old cartoon, the one good thing about being a judge is the ability to take the law in your own hands. You couldn’t say the same thing when you were a young associate given the assignment to write the brief.

2. Murray’s wacko scientism provides cover for, and distraction from, more sophisticated stabs at the same end.

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