The 2016 US presidential election and the Trump presidency have helped make visible that a variety of epistemically perilous features are far too common in the thought and behavior of Americans. David Roberts, in a 2017 blog post for Vox, aptly labeled one such feature tribal epistemology. Roberts describes a world dominated by tribal epistemology as one in which Continue Reading …
Developing Records with Trials: A Review of Speak Now: Marriage Equality on Trial by Kenji Yoshino
In recent years, trials have played an important role in shaping the legal definition and cultural understanding of marriage in the United States—mostly notably with last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that legalized same-sex marriage across the country. But have such legal events and the cultural conversation around marriage also shaped our Continue Reading …
The Bill Nye and Ken Ham Debate: Predictions, Starting Points and Degrees of Justification
Estimates suggest that over five million people have now watched the debate that was streamed live last week between CEO of the Planetary Society, Bill Nye “The Science Guy,†and president of Answers in Genesis, Ken Ham. The debate benefited from a fairly concrete question—“Is creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern, scientific era?â€â€”although the Continue Reading …
Voldemort as Plato’s Tyrant
[From friend of the blog Mark Satta] One of the great things about good literature is the ease with which it brings to life the characters in the mind of the reader. This “bringing to life” gives the reader an ability to play around with the facets of the character’s personality in a way that I think a philosophical text rarely allows for. Elements of this benefit can be Continue Reading …
Universal Salvation: One Hell of a Question
In the recent Candide episode we saw how Voltaire satirized Leibniz’s solution to the Problem of Evil. The Problem of Evil is still a popular topic in contemporary philosophy of religion. One twist on the traditional problem of evil comes from philosopher and theologian, Marilyn McCord Adams, who suggests that for Christians the principal problem of evil is the compatibility of Continue Reading …