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Tag Archives: truth
Three Things I Think Are True
At this point in my life, I think there are three things that are true–the first one being rather obvious: I am a limited being, embedded in the system I’m trying to explain. This means I cannot be wholly confident that … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, Buddhism, God, life, meditation, now, philosophy, psychology, truth
2 Comments
Does the Truth Matter or Not?
Catholic Andrew Sullivan, in the context of reading the biblical scholar Bart Erhman’s new book, How Jesus Became God (Harper 2014), makes a crisp and refreshingly direct statement to his fellow biblical religionists who ignore expert consensus and the general … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, critical thinking, God, Jesus, philosophy, the Bible, truth
11 Comments
What is Information? A Three Word Definition
The three word definition. The physicist Brian Greene, in his book The Hidden Reality (Knopf 2011), gives the best definition of information I’ve ever encountered: So, you start to ponder. What actually is information, and what does it do? Your … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, critical thinking, david hume, entropy, God, information, philosophy, science, truth
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Howard Kurtz is My Hero
Journalist Howard Kurtz has been goofing up lately, but the way he addressed it this past weekend is incredibly impressive (as can be seen in the below video). It’s rare, almost unheard of in any context, for someone to so … Continue reading
Ludwig Wittgenstein for Beginners
First thought. To get a handle on the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, one can start with a simple question: what does the scientist (as opposed to the philosopher) do and accomplish? The answer seems pretty straightforward. The scientist reasons and experiments … Continue reading
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Tagged language games, Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosophy, rhizomes, richard rorty, science, truth
13 Comments
You Don’t Know What Work Is
John Churchill has a contrarian take on work: Is there no intrinsic value ─ no good in itself ─ in the work of a life that does not rise, in its own span, above the level of the mop and … Continue reading
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Tagged blindness, life, love, philip levine, truth, what's hard, work
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Three Grandmas Watch Something Naughty
Very naughty. A nice reminder that adults can see and hear things without the least harm. __________ I love the display of irony here because we all know that this is exactly how individuals tend to respond to “shocking” images … Continue reading
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Tagged beauty, comedy, free speech, grandmas, humor, irony, offense, solidarity, truth
1 Comment
Appearances vs. Reality
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Tagged 20-something, America, appearances, Darwin, evolutionary psychology, living at home, narcissism, reality, truth
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Critical Thinking as a Spiritual Path: Prepare Ye the Way of the Truth?
Yale Divinity School graduate, and former evangelical, Jonathan Dudley, explains, in a recent essay, how lay evangelicals tend to evaluate expert testimony (and so arrive at ridiculous conclusions): Lay evangelicals evaluate the arguments made by “experts” in a manner different from many non-evangelicals. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged apologetics, atheism, atheist, critical thinking, evangelicalism, Jesus, philosophy, truth
3 Comments
Neutrinos Faster than the Speed of Light: Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
Or, as the New York Times put it today, “Incredible claims require incredible evidence.” The reference is to the mind-blowing (apparent) discovery that there are neutrinos that can outpace the speed of light. Here’s more from the New York Times: According … Continue reading
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Tagged critical thinking, einstein, epistemology, lizard lick towing, physics, science, speed of light, truth
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If You’re Angry, And Words Fail
Don’t shoot! Try gesture: . Or, how about this? (Buddhist equanimity.) . The above painting is from a Laotian monastery. It’s an image of the Buddha leading monks through a treacherous path. He is silent and calm, walking through … Continue reading
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Tagged anger, Buddha, Buddhism, grace, Hinduism, life, light, love, meditation, revenge, truth, yoga
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In the Free Will Debate, Does the Truth Matter?
According to the New York Times this morning, researchers have discovered a curious correlation between belief (or disbelief) in free will and behavior: [W]hen people doubt free will, they do worse at their jobs and are less honest. This raises … Continue reading
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Tagged arthur schopenhauer, atheism, critical thinking, determinism, free will, God, materialism, philosophy, pragmatism, psychology, truth
6 Comments
Chris Hedges the Prophet on Print Culture Turning to Image Culture
Former New York Times war correspondent, Chris Hedges, has, over the past couple of years, taken on the mantle of a secular prophet—an emperor has no clothes truthteller—writing scathing (and I think powerful) books and essays documenting the messes that we find ourselves … Continue reading
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Tagged America, books, Chris Hedges, Fox News, illiteracy, intellectuals, life, literacy, propaganda, reading, truth
4 Comments
Was Keats Right? Surfer-Physicist Garrett Lisi’s TED Talk
The poet John Keats famously wrote, at the end of his “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, the following: Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. I’m not sure this … Continue reading
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Tagged beauty, Garrett Lisi, John Keats, philosophy, physics, poetry, truth
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The Human Bones Discovered at Masada: An Example of Religion Hindering Science
At the academic web magazine, Bible and Interpretation, anthropologist Joe Zias complains about ultra-orthodox Jews hindering archaeology and anthropology: For several decades self-appointed groups of the ultra-orthodox have been waging an all out cultural war against the archaeological community in general and … Continue reading
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Tagged apologetics, atheism, Bill Maher, fundamentalism, Islam, Judaism, masada, orthodoxy, philosophes, pilate, the Enlightenment, truth
8 Comments
Ground Zero Mosque Fact Check
Not that the facts matter (for the right in this country makes up its own facts exactly as it pleases), but some AP reporters actually went to the bother of fact checking some of the claims that prominent Republicans like … Continue reading
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Tagged bill of rights, dignity, fact check, freedom, ground zero, Islam, lies, mosque, truth
4 Comments
Quote of the Day
From an interview with Rutgers philosopher and cognitive scientist, Jerry Fodor: God provided us with tenure so we could do our best to say what’s true. I’m doing my best.
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Tagged Charles Darwin, evolution, free speech, God, integrity, jerry fodor, philosophy, speaking truth to power, tenure, truth
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Prometheus Unbound 