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Tag Archives: rhetoric
Psychopathic Trolls and The Dark Tetrad
Chris Mooney at Slate reports on some actual psychological research that has been done on Internet trolls: [R]esearch, conducted by Erin Buckels of the University of Manitoba and two colleagues, sought to directly investigate whether people who engage in trolling … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, evolution, intelligent design, psychopathy, rhetoric, science, Ted Cruz, The Dark Tetrad, trolls
9 Comments
Atheism and Free Will: The End of Praise and Shame?
If you’re an atheist and have concluded that free will doesn’t exist, where does that leave praise and shame? Atheist Jerry Coyne, who does not believe humans have free will, suggests that it leaves praise and shame in the dust: … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, b.f. skinner, critical thinking, determinism, free will, God, jerry coyne, language, philosophy, rhetoric
3 Comments
Evolution vs. Creation Rhetoric Watch: Cornelius Hunter Notices an Interesting Rhetorical Move That Charles Darwin Made in the Origin of Species
At his blog recently, Cornelius Hunter called attention to this statement of Charles Darwin’s from the Origin of Species: If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, Charles Darwin, cornelius hunter, creationism, evolution, God, Jesus, rhetoric, science
7 Comments
Atheists v. Theists: In Debate, Who Bears the Burden of Proof?
In a free country’s courts of law, the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. This burden of proof rests with the accusers because a free society has a vital interest in protecting the rights of individuals. When one makes a claim against an individual … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheists, burden of proof, critical thinking, God, Jesus, reason, rhetoric, Richard Dawkins, the Bible
12 Comments
Agnosticism and Marketing
At Marginal Revolution today, economist Tyler Cowen was asked about whether there are some especially good economic ideas out there that are hard to popularize, and his answer led to a brief digression on complexity and agnosticism: [I]t is hard to popularize … Continue reading
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Tagged agnostic, agnosticism, economics, green, marketing, memes, money, psychology, rhetoric
1 Comment
Your WTF is not necessarily your neighbor’s WTF
A little life reminder that the messages we send, and the messages we think we send, may not be the same: There is an image circulating on the Internet (but that I can’t seem to embed here) of a megachurch promoting … Continue reading
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Tagged buddhists, Christians, communication, have a meal with a muslim day, hindus, irony, Islam, Jews, Muslims, rhetoric, social psychology, wtf
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A Thoroughly Awesome Take on Civility in Public Discourse from Terry Teachout (and George Washington)
Not that I always live up to it, but I think that this is great: George Washington once drew up a list of rules of civility. Here is the first one: “1st Every Action done in Company, ought to be … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, blasphemy, civility, critical thinking, dialogue, discourse, reason, rhetoric, templeton foundation, terry teachout
1 Comment
Christopher Hitchens, Henry David Thoreau, and Peitho
Christopher Hitchens was recently interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, and offered an interesting tidbit on a rhetorical strategy that tends to work for him: [W]hen I write, as often as I can, I try to write as if I’m talking to people. It … Continue reading
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Tagged Christopher Hitchens, creative writing, Henry David Thoreau, peitho, persuasion, Politics, rhetoric, writing
2 Comments
Truth, Socratic Dialogue, Internet Threads, and Giambattista Vico
Giambattista Vico was, from 1699-1741, a professor of rhetoric at the University of Naples, and I love the open way that he ended his speech, “On the Study Methods of Our Time” (1709). It represents well the spirit of Italian humanism that … Continue reading
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Tagged blogging, dialogue, Giambattista Vico, humanism, openness, reason, rhetoric, socratic dialogue, speech, truth, vulnerability
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A bit of writing advice from Voltaire
Trying to find your take on the world, and your writing voice? Here’s a bit of advice from the 18th century philosopher, Voltaire (from the “Authors” entry in his Philosophical Dictionary ): If you are said to be sick, content yourself … Continue reading
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Tagged audience, blogs, opinion, philosophy, readers, rhetoric, social psychology, Voltaire, writing
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An Invitation: Believe in Evolution and You Too Can Join Richard Dawkins, and His Alien Friends, in the Universe’s Superior Club
When I read this Richard Dawkins quote on page 194 of Schick and Vaughn’s How to Think about Weird Things (5th edition), I smiled at its echoes of religious manipulativeness: If superior creatures from space ever visit Earth, the first question they … Continue reading
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Tagged aliens, apologetics, atheism, atheists, God, Jesus, manipulation, Michael Behe, rhetoric, Richard Dawkins, schick and vaughn, UFOs
3 Comments
Blogging Schick and Vaughn’s “How to Think about Weird Things,” Chapter 3, page 37
Something that jumped out at me early on in chapter 3 of the college critical thinking text, Schick and Vaughn’s How to Think about Weird Things (5th edition, 2008), is the distinction that was made between argument and persuasion. To win support for … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, argumentation, atheism, evidence, Michael Shermer, paranormal, reason, rhetoric, Richard Dawkins, weird things, writing
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To Boldly Split Infinitives Where No One Has Split Them Before?
Salon today reviews Jack Lynch’s new book, The Lexicographer’s Dilemma (2009), an evolutionary history of proper grammar. So is Lynch, in writing his history, sympathetic to the describers (the camp of linguists) or the prescribers (the camp of traditional grammarians)? Should we, … Continue reading
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Tagged democracy, English, freedom, grammar, power, rhetoric, speech, split infinitives, writing
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How I Tend to Come at Issues
My habit (though I’m not always consistent about this) is to look for diamonds in the rough of ideas, even apparently bad ideas. And I find that this sometimes gets me in trouble with some readers of this blog. For example, … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheists, Ayn Rand, liberalism, logic, philosophy, psychology, reason, rhetoric
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Prometheus Unbound 