March 20, 2006

<< Best American Science and Nature Writing 2005 |

Cato in the Forum

I’ve been enjoying the Cato Institute’s blog. Well, I guess it’s not actually a blog, as they do not link to op-eds and funny Flash movies. Rather, it’s like a little e-zine with original contributions — lots by libertarians, of course, but they do a good job mixing it up. The latest round of repartee (on the subject of inequality) features Peter Singer and Jacob Hacker, for instance: the founder of the animal rights movement and a smart thinker on welfare policy, respectively.

And what I like about it is that Cato’s format approximates the back-and-forth ideal we all kinda wish the blogosphere would live up to more often. In this case, David Schmidtz lays out an argument, and then Singer and others reply. Now Schmidtz is back with ripostes. It’s smart stuff. (Pretty abstract, though, so this is only for you if a title like “I’m Not a Utilitarian But I Play One on TV” sounds potentially amusing. Otherwise… yeah.)