Peter's Page

Buddhism great site to aid study of the varieties of Buddhist thought and culture

The Philosophers' Magazine extensive philosophy related resources, including great philosophy related games and challenges

Why Study Philosophy? some reassuring news for those considering a Major in Philosophy (and their parents)

Syllabus for PHIL105 Section 004 Critical Reasoning, Spring, 2008 At this link you'll find the syllabus for the course. Please read it carefully and bring it to class on the first day so we can discuss it, clear up anything that needs further explanation and start getting to know one another.

Syllabus for PHIL105 Section 006 Critical Reasoning, Spring, 2008 At this link you'll find the syllabus for the course. Please read it carefully and bring it to class on the first day so we can discuss it, clear up anything that needs further explanation and start getting to know one another.

Exercise Set #3 At the links for each section at the end of this paragraph you will find a copy of the third and final Exercise Set. Please let me know if you have any questions. Please note: you can find transcripts of the two films at the links indicated below. You will also find sample problems and solutions at the end of Chapter 6 that might be helpful. Section 004 Section 006

Study Guide for Midterm Exam At the links for each section at the end of this paragraph you will find a copy of the Study Guide. Please let me know if you have any questions. Section 004 Section 006

Exercise Set #2 At the links for each section at the end of this paragraph you will find a copy of the second Exercise Set. Please let me know if you have any questions. You will also find sample problems and solutions at the end of Chapter 4 that might be helpful. Section 004 Section 006

Exercise Set #1 At the links for each section at the end of this paragraph you will find a copy of the first Exercise Set. Please let me know if you have any questions. You will also find sample problems and solutions at the end of Chapter 2 that might be helpful. Section 004 Section 006

The Persuaders This film, made for the PBS series FRONTLINE, originally aired in 2004. It "explores how the cultures of marketing and advertising have come to influence not only what Americans buy, but also how they view themselves and the world around them. The 90-minute documentary draws on a range of experts and observers of the advertising/marketing world, to examine how, in the words of one on-camera commentator, "the principle of democracy yields to the practice of demography," as highly customized messages are delivered to a smaller segment of the market." A complete transcript of this film can be found here. Further viewing instructions and Discussion Questions for the film can be found here for section 006 and here for section 004. This film will not be shown in class, so you must watch it online or borrow a copy from the library or from me. A DVD can be found at the Hagerty Library course reserve shelf.

Fear and Favor in the Newsroom This link takes you to the Freespeech Video Library, where you can watch the film for free. "In Fear and Favor in the Newsroom, journalists, including four Pulitzer Prize winners from The New York Times, NBC, PBS and other respected news organizations reveal how they have been censored, squelched or fired for aggressively reporting on the wealthy and the powerful. The one-hour program also presents senior news executives, including the former Vice Chairman of The New York Times and the President of NBC News, who defend the work of their news organizations." A complete transcript of the film can be found here. Further viewing instructions and Discussion Questions for the film can be found here for section 004 and here for section 006. This film will be shown in class. A copy of the film can also be found on reserve at the Hagerty Library course reserve shelf. For streaming video from Hagerty Library, click here.

Sheldon Rampton, Trust Us, We're Experts!: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future

Norman Solomon, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies, and the Public Relations Industry

FactCheck.org The Annenberg Political Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. FactCheck is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics, monitoring the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Their goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding. The APPC accepts no funding from business corporations, labor unions, political parties, lobbying organizations or individuals. It is funded primarily by an endowment from the Annenberg Foundation.

PolitiFact “PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly to help you find the truth in the presidential campaign. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times and CQ will analyze the candidates' speeches, TV ads and interviews and determine whether the claims are accurate. PolitiFact is bolder than previous journalistic fact-checking efforts because we’ll make a call, declaring whether a claim is True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True or False. We even have a special category for the most ridiculous claims that we call “Pants on Fire.” The St. Petersburg Times is Florida’s largest newspaper and the winner of six Pulitzer Prizes. Washington-based Congressional Quarterly is the authoritative news source for coverage of Congress and politics. CQ and the Times are affiliates of the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by the Poynter Institute, a center for journalism education in St. Petersburg.”

MediaTank This is an organization devoted to democratizing the media, with excellent programs designed to counter the negative effects of corporate and political power on democratic public discourse.

Center for Media and Democracy The Center for Media & Democracy is a nonprofit, public interest organization funded by individuals and nonprofit foundations and dedicated to investigative reporting about the public relations industry.

Still Not The News For an update on video news releases, see this recent report from the Center for Media and Democracy.

On The Media Lively discussion, informative news, and insightful analysis of issues and controversies regarding the media produced by WNYC, New York public radio. Airs Sundays at 11:00 am on WHYY FM 91 in Philly.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting Offers well-documented criticisms of the effects of corporate control on reporting and defends journalists and the First Amendment when they are under attack.

The Final Word is Hooray some of the most notable media comments from the early days of the Iraq War, gathered by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

The Center for Science in the Public Interest Confused about the multitude of competing claims made in the name of science? Check CSPIN out. They've been working on these issues for years and they'll help you put it in a reasonable perspective.

POGO Founded in 1981, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is an independent nonprofit that investigates and exposes corruption in order to achieve a more accountable federal government. The Project On Government Oversight is committed to exposing waste, fraud and corruption in the following areas: defense, energy & environment, contract oversight and open government.

The Center for Public Integrity The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization that conducts investigative research and reporting on public policy issues in the United States and around the world. The Center was founded in 1989 by Charles Lewis following a successful 11-year career in network television news. Through thorough, thoughtful and objective analyses, the Center hopes to serve as an honest broker of information – and to inspire a better-informed citizenry to demand a higher level of accountability from its government and elected leaders.

Media Education Foundation organization producing and making available video resources offering intelligent, informed perspectives on events from the interpersonal to the international

Project Implicit Think you are already aware of all your assumptions and prejudices? Check this out!

How Doctors Think An intriguing discussion of the recent book by Dr. Jerome Groopman, in which excellent examples of phenomena associated with critical reasoning and its failures-- including confirmation bias and other confounding effects, are illustrated

What Makes Us Think? This is a thought-provoking review by Howard Gardner of the book in which a humanistic philosopher and neuroscientist consider the nature and scope of mind and brain and the relationships between science, philosophy, and the humanities in understanding experience.

Drug Rep Radio Times conversation and article by Dr. Dan Carlat, an expert formerly employed by the pharmaceutical industry to promote sales, discusses these kinds of promotional practices

Toxic Sludge is Good for You This link takes you to the listing at Hagerty Library course reserves, at which you can find a DVD to watch in the library or borrow overnight. "Toxic Sludge is Good for You tracks the development of the PR industry from early efforts to win popular American support for World War I to the role of crisis management in controlling the damage to corporate image. The video analyzes the tools public relations professionals use to shift our perceptions including a look at the coordinated PR campaign to slip genetically engineered produce past public scrutiny." I also have person copies of this film to lend. A complete transcript of the film can be found here.

Thank You for Smoking This link takes you to the listing at Hagerty Library course reserves, at which you can find a DVD of this film to watch in the library or borrow overnight. The film offers a candid but humorous satire of public relations, its misleading effects on consumers and its distorting effects on the lives (and arguments) of practitioners.

Killing Us Softly Feminist author Jean Kilbourne's site dealing with the impact of media and advertising on our lives in various ways

War Spin: The Truth About Jessica - A BBC documentary on the U.S. propaganda machine. "Private Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war, and the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US Special Forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict. But her story is one of the most stunning pieces of news management ever conceived. BBC reporter John Kampfner exposes inconsistencies in the official version of the rescue in Iraq of Private Lynch. War Spin: The Truth About Jessica challenges the Pentagon's version of a story that boosted American morale during a sticky point in the Iraq War as part of its investigation into allied propaganda."

Buying the War is a 90-minute documentary that explores the role of the press in the lead-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. It "includes interviews with Dan Rather, formerly of CBS; Tim Russert of Meet the Press; Bob Simon of 60 Minutes; Walter Isaacson, former president of CNN; and John Walcott, Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel of Knight Ridder newspapers, which was acquired by The McClatchy Company in 2006...The program analyzes the stream of unchecked information from administration sources and Iraqi defectors to the mainstream print and broadcast press, which was then seized upon and amplified by an army of pundits. While almost all the claims would eventually prove to be false, the drumbeat of misinformation about WMDs went virtually unchallenged by the media." For complete information, resources, and a complete transcript, go to: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html. Watch online at these links: Buying the War; Chapter 1; Chapter 2; Chapter 3; Chapter 4; Chapter 5.

Syllabus for PHIL330 Section 001 Criminal Justice Ethics, Spring, 2008 At this link you'll find the syllabus for the course. Please read it carefully and bring it to class on the first day so we can discuss it, clear up anything that needs further explanation and start getting to know one another.

Second Midterm Study Guide please look this over and let me know if you have any questions. The Second Midterm is Thursday, May 15

Second Essay Assignment Please look this over and let me know if you have any questions about the assignment. It is due Thursday, May 29

First Midterm Study Guide please look this over and let me know if you have any questions. The First Midterm is Tuesday, April 22

First Essay Assignment Please look this over and let me know if you have any questions about the assignment. It is due Tuesday, April 29

What is Ethics About? article concerning the goals of ethical thought and teaching by Gordon Marino, the first reading for the class

The Quest for a Code of Professional Ethics This article by the philosopher John Ladd provides a short, pointed critique of the idea and the effectiveness of professional codes. Restricted access: This article is available through Hagerty Library electronic reserve.

Industrialized Social Control This piece by Paul Leighton is an informative critique of some foundational aspects of criminal justice policy in the United States. It is also available at his Criminal Justice Website, (http://paulsjusticepage.com/).

Wrong Door by Radley Balko and Joel Berger - "The Supreme Court ruled this June that evidence seized in an illegally performed "no-knock" police raid can still be used against a defendant. Though disturbing in its own right, Hudson v. Michigan touched on only a small part of a larger problem -- the trend toward paramilitary tactics in domestic policing..."

The Stanford Prison Experiment Links "The purpose was to understand the development of norms and the effects of roles, labels, and social expectations in a simulated prison environment...."

Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics Resource Links "The Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics, the only nonprofit, university-based center of its kind in the United States, was established to foster greater concern for ethical issues among practitioners and scholars in the criminal justice field."

Penal Reform International "Penal Reform International is an international non-governmental organisation working on penal and criminal justice reform worldwide."

Restorative Justice Online "Introduction Document Actions Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behaviour. It is best accomplished through cooperative processes that include all stakeholders..."

WKDU Drexel Radio "Because we are a free format radio station, the content of our shows is not pre-programmed. Nobody is told what to play. The music played is at the discretion of the on air DJ. We encourage our DJs to play at least 1/3 new music, but beyond that, it is up to them. If it is not being heard on another radio station in the area, then there is a chance we will play it." Cool.

Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Race "Most variation is within, not between, “races.” Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population. About 94% can be found within any continent. That means, for example, that two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian....."

Dark Legacy "While researching the Italian-American experience, filmmaker Heather Hartley stumbled onto one of the uglier episodes in American history: the lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans in March of 1891...."

Essential Information extremely informative resources geared toward activism promoting informed and intelligent social choices

Commondreams.org At this highly recommended site you will find wide-ranging resources to help you keep up with world events.

WPEB, 88.1 FM, "Radio Volta, the audio working group of the Philadelphia IMC, is an outgrowth of the webcast team that broadcasted over the Internet waves during the 2000 Republican National Convention...."

Working for Change great information and resources website associated with Working Assets

Wooden Shoe Books the intellectual and activist traditions of anarchism, alive and well and living in Philly

John Perkins Interview author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, from WNYC Radio, New York, November 8, 2004.

Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change Stephen Kinzer has reported from more than 50 countries and served as The New York Times bureau chief in Turkey, Germany and Nicaragua. He employs that far-flung perspective to examine America's history of regime change in his recent book, Overthrow.

David Barrett on the Bay of Pigs invasion Recently discovered CIA documents suggest some intelligence analysts had strong doubts about the Bay of Pigs invasion plan. David Barrett is a professor of Political Science at Villanova University. He is the first historian to bring to light a CIA report on how the planning for Cuban invasion evolved. Real Audio; mp3.

Colonialism and History A short article with insight into the brutal reality of colonialism, and our tendency to minimize and forget it.