Blog Stats
- 2,667,770 readers since June 2008
Recent Comments
- Marcos Borges on Judge William Adams Alludes to the Bible as He Beats His Daughter, Hallie
- Roy West on Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: Stacked Corpses
- Blue Beazley on In 1935, Were Cary Grant and Randolf Scott Sex Partners? No, But These Images Look Rather Camp
- Gabry on Michael Jackson Pedophile Reality Check: Is It Mean to Suspect that Michael Jackson Might Have Been a Pedophile?
- Dave on Dissipation-Driven Adaptive Organization: Is Jeremy England The Next Charles Darwin?
- Chris on Dissipation-Driven Adaptive Organization: Is Jeremy England The Next Charles Darwin?
- Oliver Stark on Matthew 27:51-53: The Bible’s “Night of the Living Dead” Passage
- Oliver Stark on Matthew 27:51-53: The Bible’s “Night of the Living Dead” Passage
- Oliver Stark on Matthew 27:51-53: The Bible’s “Night of the Living Dead” Passage
- Michael Rehkop on Fraudulant Attribution: Gilgamesh, Moses, the Apostle Matthew—and Ancient Authorship
- Terry on Fraudulant Attribution: Gilgamesh, Moses, the Apostle Matthew—and Ancient Authorship
- Anonymous on Emily Dickinson, Lesbian?: Her Letter to Susan Gilbert, in June of 1852, Might Tell Us Less Than You Think
- Anonymous on Emily Dickinson, Lesbian?: Her Letter to Susan Gilbert, in June of 1852, Might Tell Us Less Than You Think
- Yes She Was on Emily Dickinson, Lesbian?: Her Letter to Susan Gilbert, in June of 1852, Might Tell Us Less Than You Think
- Bret Stephens and Andrew Sullivan: A Not-So-Dynamic Duo ~ Full Magazine on Andrew Sullivan Apologizes for Comparing Larry Summers to a Christ Killing Jewish Moneylender in a Hieronymus Bosch Painting
Top Posts
- Emily Dickinson, Lesbian?: Her Letter to Susan Gilbert, in June of 1852, Might Tell Us Less Than You Think
- How Crazy is Dr. David Jeremiah?
- What, Exactly, Is Wrong With Bestiality?
- Clit Rubbing Bonobos: A Clue to the Evolutionary Origin of Human Homosexuality?
- Ludwig Wittgenstein for Beginners
- Matthew 27:51-53: The Bible's "Night of the Living Dead" Passage
- What is a Human, Really? Thinking about Definition via Aristotle
- What is an Etiological Narrative? And Might Confusion About Its Nature Be the Source for Fundamentalist Religion?
- In 1935, Were Cary Grant and Randolf Scott Sex Partners? No, But These Images Look Rather Camp
- Chile's earthquake and a simulation from the National Geographic Channel
-
Recent Posts
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.10: Emerson’s “Circles”
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.9: Imitation And Emulation With An Eye On Competition
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.8: Selection And Editing
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.7: Audience And Rhetorical Strategy
- A Mini-Course In Rhetoric For Writers. Concept 2.6: Moving From First Sentence To Thesis
Recent Haiku Tweets
- AOC says it well. twitter.com/CNN/status/108… 4 months ago
- nytimes.com/interactive/20… 9 months ago
- RT @mrchan: So much has changed in America, and yet so much hasn't https://t.co/x2mthUr4Kc 11 months ago
- Perfect. twitter.com/newsundayheral… 2 years ago
- RT @goldenglobes: At tonight's #GoldenGlobes we honor Hollywood legend Meryl Streep with the prestigious Cecil B. Demille Award. https://t.… 2 years ago
Monthly Archives: October 2011
The Humanist Delusion?
In his book, Straw Dogs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002), professor of European thought, John Gray, argues that the humanist belief in progress is deluded in part because our experience of “consciousness, selfhood, and free will” are uneven at best (p. 38): Our lives … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, atheist, Christianity, critical thinking, humanism, John Gray, Nietzsche, pessimism, philosophy, reason
3 Comments
A Good Reason to Stop Fearing Cancer
If you worry about detecting cancer early, and therefore anxiously get regular cancer screenings, the New York Times today has an article on cancer screening that puts the whole subject into perspective: early detection doesn’t reduce the actual mortality rates from most … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged anxiety, cancer, cancer screening, carpe diem, death, death anxiety, fitness, happiness, health, life, vitamins
1 Comment
Pope Benedict’s Third Force: Nice Agnostics Like Me
As an agnostic, it’s nice to learn that the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI (a.k.a Cardinal Ratzinger), wants to make solidarity with me in pursuit of truth, goodness, and peace. In a recent speech, here’s part of … Continue reading
Walking in the Paws of Others: Was It Love, Duty, or Sympathy That Motivated This Dog?
Or am I anthropomorphizing? — If the dog’s behavior was not triggered by a conscious impulse to love, duty, or sympathy, why did the dog cross the road? I wonder if the dogs were even related. Can a dog have … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged anthropomorphism, consciousness, dogs, duty, evolutionary psychology, instinct, Keats, love, negative capability, soul, sympathy
4 Comments
Jacob Wrestling the Irrational Animal: George Orwell on Critical Thinking
In London’s Tribune, George Orwell wrote an essay (“In Front of Your Nose,” March 22, 1946) with a number of great observations on critical thinking. The first is this: In general, one is only right when either wish or fear coincides with … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, critical thinking, Freud, George Orwell, God, Iraq, Jacob wrestling the angel, Orwell, Politics, reason, science
2 Comments
Critical Thinking Watch: Is Jonathon Keats’ “Copernican Art Manifesto” Serious?
—– Jonathon Keats, “conceptual artist,” has written an art manifesto worthy of an Onion News parody, and yet I think he’s actually serious. His manifesto is getting some straight press (such as from Wired magazine) and he’s accompanied the manifesto with the kinds of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged art, art manifestos, copernicus, critical thinking, humor, irony, jonathon keats, manifestos, Nietzsche, postmodernism, Santi Tafarella
3 Comments
The Ummah Curtain: Tunisia’s “Moderate Islamist Party Ennahda” is Coming to Power
So long, secularism in Tunisia. Concerning the Tunisian elections, AP reports today that secularism appears to be in retreat there: [A] once-banned Islamist party is leading in many constituencies in the country that unleashed uprisings across the Arab world. But, AP … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authoritarianism, feminism, human rights, Islam, islamism, islamist parties, muhammad, tunisia, ummah, ummah curtain, women's rights
8 Comments
Issues in Critical Thinking: Bertrand Russell on Human Irrationality
The following sentences begin Bertrand Russell’s essay, “An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish”, which was first published in 1943: Man is a rational animal—so at least I have been told. Throughout a long life, I have looked diligently for evidence in favour of … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, bertrand russell, critical thinking, nationalism, OWS, philosophy, Politics, reason, religion, science, tea party
6 Comments
Stuxnet-Like Virus Duqu is Coming from India?
This is curious. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Stuxnet-like computer virus, Duqu, is coming from India, and it’s one bad mother fucker: Systems infected with Duqu are connected to a command computer that is in an unknown location in India, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged arms race, computer viruses, computers, cyber terrorism, cyber weapons, cyber-pearl harbor, duqu, Iran, Israel, stuxnet, viruses
Leave a comment
Critical Thinking Quote Watch: Derek Bok on the Primary Goal of a College Education (and Higher Education’s General Failure at Reaching It)
The following quote comes from Derek Bok’s book, Our Underachieving Colleges (Princeton 2006, p. 8): Many [college] seniors graduate without being able to write well enough to satisfy their employers. Many cannot reason clearly or perform competently in analyzing complex, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged atheism, cells, critical thinking, Derek Bok, education, philosophy, reason, science, st. augustine, thinking
Leave a comment
Richard Dawkins Won’t Debate William Lane Craig Because Craig Rationalizes Genocide
Though I’d like to see Richard Dawkins debate William Lane Craig, I actually think that Dawkins has given a good reason for not debating him, highlighting the following passage from Craig’s writings in which Craig rationalizes genocide: I have come to appreciate … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, Canaanites, genocide, isreal, jerry coyne, Jesus, Richard Dawkins, the Holocaust, william lane craig
10 Comments
Naturalism, Supernaturalism, and Motivated Reasoning
At the ID website, Uncommon Descent, a person who goes by the name of “Mirrortothesun” makes the following thread comment: Here’s the problem with every single post on this site, including this one. They are all examples of motivated reasoning. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, Charles Darwin, creationism, critical thinking, evolution, Genesis, intelligent design
Leave a comment
Bearing Witness to Maspero: Image of Egyptian Christians at Maspero Morgue Killed by Police and Islamic Mob Violence, October 9th, 2011
The image comes from Wikipedia Commons. These were among the 26 victims of October 9th, 2011, in the Cairo district of Maspero. The image was taken at the Coptic hospital’s morgue. ———- This, from the European Council on Foreign Relations, seems … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged arab spring, cairo, Christianity, coptic, coptic christians, Egypt, Islam, kristallnacht, muhammad, religious persecution
Leave a comment
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria Comments on the Maspero Square Massacre of Egyptian Christians
Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is a graduate of Cairo University and has been the leader of Coptic Christians in Alexandria (and most other Christians residing in north Africa and the Middle East) since 1971. Coptic Christians make up about 9% of the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged alexandria, Christianity, coptic, Egypt, human rights, Islam, Jesus, muhammad, religious freedom
4 Comments
Kansas City Bishop Robert W. Finn Knew of the Child Pornography Photographs Taken by Father Shawn Ratigan
Father Robert W. Finn is bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph archdiocese. He is also, according to today’s New York Times, an outspoken theological conservative. And he’s a protector of at least one child abuser. That child abuser’s name is Father Shawn Ratigan. Here’s the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Catholic Church, Catholicism, church and state, God, Jesus, law, pedophiles, priests, religion, robert finn, Voltaire
3 Comments
No Matter How You Supplement, Cosmo, You’re Still Going to Die
A little reminder, from Ronald Bailey at Reason magazine, that there continues to be no evidence that vitamin supplementation improves health or increases longevity. Here’s his summary of two recent medical studies: One finding is that men in the prostate cancer study who took … Continue reading
Sarah Churman, Deaf from Birth, Hears for the First Time
Implants, not from the laying on of hands. Try not to cry. _____ A big thank you to the Enlightenment (yes, that Enlightenment) and Francis Bacon (who got the whole “let’s try systematic empiricism” thing going in earnest). Hat tip: Andrew. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, atheism, deaf, healing, hearing, Jesus, life, miracle, reason, science, the Enlightenment
Leave a comment
