Daily Archives: December 17, 2009

Jack Ritchie’s Deflationary Naturalism: A Problem for Atheism?

Brian Leiter on Wednesday directed his blog readers’s attention to Jack Ritchie’s Understanding Naturalism (2009), quoting a recent review of the book that says in part: The attitude Ritchie recommends for the genuine or serious naturalist is metaphysical agnosticism (cf. 104, 143, 148, … Continue reading

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Socrates in Kansas

This Kansas song seems to me packed to the brim with Western literary and religious allusions, from Greek figures like Diogenes, Socrates, and Odysseus—accompanied by a Greek chorus!—to an obvious biblical allusion (the Prodigal Son). Oh, and notice Icarus in the third … Continue reading

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Al Franken Shows Himself Not to Be a Potted Plant, Shocking Joe Lieberman with an Interruption!

In this surprising exchange with Joe Lieberman, Al Franken disrupts the Senate’s clubby atmosphere, and gets dazed incomprehension and expressions of confusion in return. Notice that John McCain, coming to Lieberman’s defense, gets more emotional about Joe’s treatment than he’s ever … Continue reading

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War is Over

If you want it. A nice holiday song if you’re worried (as I am) about 2010 and the prospects for war between Iran and Israel: 

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Is Atheism Based on Reality Testing, While Theism is Not?

I’m all for reality testing, and I advocate it for all ideologies, but there is another reality as well, and it is this: a group of people perverse enough to hold a prejudice deeply enough can find epistemic justification for whatever they want … Continue reading

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