Dear TOK-Society Colleagues:

I have not yet commented on the many fascinating threads, but I wanted to offer my gratitude for being included. The discussions are excellent, respectful, and truly educational - regardless of where people stand on the various issues. This is academic discourse at its best, in my view.

As a former "sociological fundamentalist" (i.e., someone who chose to hitch his wagon to the 'purest' of sociological explanatory frameworks that excluded all other types of explanations for human social behavior), I thought I'd share with you an example of this type of thinking in regard to the most recent school shooting. This comes mainly from Donald Black, who claims to have developed purely sociological explanations of social behavior - including what you see attached, extrapolating from his book Moral Time.  Without commenting further, I'd be curious to hear your responses on the adequacy and problematic aspects of such explanations.

As an extra incentive, anyone who might be able to anticipate in her/his response why I left the church of "sociological fundamentalism" some years ago will earn a free bag of grapes (not cucumbers)!

With kind regards, -Joe