Jean-Paul Van Bendegem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Paul Van Bendegem (born 28 March 1953 in Ghent) is a prominent professor at the VUB in Brussels. He is also dean of the faculty of arts and philosophy, and head of the CLWF (Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science) at said university.
Jean Paul Van Bendegem is a Trotskyist, a freemason, a rebel, a skeptic, a criminal, an activist, a streaker, a husband, a forger, a closet stand-up-comedian, a respected academic. [citation needed] He was raised in a Protestant environment, and has maintained a keen interest in the relation between science and religion throughout his entire career. His upbringing has also gifted him with an intimate knowledge of the bible - cultural heritage that he believes everyone should be familiar with.
The VUB, his alma mater, allows him to teach first year students of many different courses to encourage their enthusiasm and awaken their thirst for knowledge.
Contents |
[edit] The skeptic
Van Bendegem is the honorary chairman of SKEPP (Research Society for Critical Evaluation of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal), an organisation that is prepared to pay 10,000 euro's to anyone who can prove the validity of a paranormal claim. Many have tried, and many have failed. [citation needed]
[edit] The logician
The NCNL (National Centre for Logical Investigation) is presided by Van Bendegem, and he is chief editor of their quarterly magazine Logique et Analyse
[edit] The Adonis
Though there doesn't seem to be any footage available to show here, Van Bandegem always makes a point of trying to shock his newest students with the story of how he lost his legal status of "good moral conduct". It's a curious story of when he was still young and fit, and was part of a committee that was trying to promote sexual education, as it was sorely needed back in those days. The committee decided that it was a good idea to go manifest, to push for the official recognition of Belgiums first nude beach, as the monokini had just been approved by law, and the time was ripe for more radical nudism. They took to the beach in the summer, in Blankenberghe, the largest city along the Belgian coast, so as to have plenty of public attention. They stripped, but as they still had some modesty about them, they decided to "censor" themselves in the groin and booby departement (with black duct tape). In this fashion they paraded up and down the beach a few times, and drew a great deal of attention from the local law enforcement. This got them arrested and fined for "breaking public morals in the presence of minors". It turns out that the local laws in Blankenberghe forbade people from presenting their nude bum at the beach, and that was what made them all criminals, and the fact that there were also children on the beach at the time, the legal terms make all the protesters sound like perverts. Of course Van Bendegem takes great joy in retelling this tale, and he accompanies it with a projection of a photograph where, is visible the throng of quasi-naked people, including a twenty-years-younger Van Bendegem.
