“Let no one ignorant of geometry enter.” –Said to have been inscribed above the doorway of Plato’s Academy
Stop Using the President’s Name. Just Call Him “That Asshole.”
It is our moral duty to call things as they are, and stop giving the asshole power by polluting the air with his name. Stop the erosion of our political discourse by using the hashtag #theasshole.
Louis C.K., Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche on How to Suffer and Be Happy
Why does happiness so often present itself as a problem?
Science, Religion, and Secularism Part VI: Jonathan Hedley Brooke, Complexity Thesis
“Serious scholarship in the history of science has revealed so extraordinarily rich and complex a relationship between science and religion that general theses are difficult to sustain. The real lesson turns out to be complexity.” –Jonathan Hedley Broke
Is Capitalism Moral? (Reactions to a Video by Walter Williams)
Yes, capitalism has provided a high standard of living, but how should goods other than monetary ones play into a public policy debate? Mark riffs off of Adam Smith and a video by Walter Williams.
Fictional Characters: Cross-Platform Software
“Batman is haunted by his dark past yet perseveres in fighting crime.” We know that Batman is a fictional character, but nonetheless talk about him as if he were a real person. But is Batman real or not? Instead of accusing him of non-existence, or granting him reality as an abstract object, could we not instead regard fictional characters as software running on the hardware of our brains?
Science, Religion, and Secularism Part V: Ian Barbour—The Synthesis Model
“I need the binocular approach of science and religion if I am to do any sort of justice to the deep and rich reality of the world in which we live.”
–John Polkinghorne (Physicist, Anglican Priest)
Art, Authenticity, and Film
The Romantic film-philosophy of Cavell, Mulhall, Sinnerbrink, and Smith completes the triangulation of values among the ethical, cognitive, and aesthetic: in the same way that film links Smith’s innovations in the disciplines of aesthetics, philosophy, and culture, authenticity links the ethical, cognitive, and aesthetic values of film.
Demagogue Lover: Aristophanes’s “Wasps” in the Age of Trump
“Surely if liberalism has a single desperate weakness it is an inadequacy of imagination: liberalism is always being surprised.” –Lionel Trilling
Science, Religion, and Secularism Part IV: Ian Barbour—The Dialogue Model
“God is also glorified in astronomy through my work.” –Johannes Kepler
Science, Religion, and Secularism, Part III: Ian Barbour—The Independence Model
“The Goal of Science is understanding lawful relations among natural phenomena. Religion is a way of life within a larger framework of meaning.”–Ian Barbour
On Integrative Encounters of the Cinematic Variety: Reflections on ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ on Its 40th Anniversary
“Your father was a computer engineer; your mother was a concert pianist, and when the spaceship lands, they make music together on the computer.”
Science, Religion, and Secularism, Part II: Ian Barbour—The Conflict Model
“I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.” –Richard Dawkins
Whose Country Is It? Whomever It Inhabits
King Laius died at the Cleft Way, where he got in the way of an emigrant to Thebes who happened also to be his son. The prophecy was that Oedipus would be the death of Laius, and it was in the name of avoiding this fate that father and son worked together to seal it. Yet what truly made Oedipus Continue Reading …
Nothing So Absurd? (Part Two)
In the second installment of a two-part series, Nicholas Joll examines a view that morality is impossible and explores the opportunities offered by possible worlds.
Science, Religion, and Secularism, Part I: Introduction
What are science, religion, and secularism? How have they interacted, historically, and what are the major issues in contemporary reflection on them? A new series explores these questions through the works of the scientists, theologians, and philosophers who have shaped the dialogue over the last century and a half.
Nothing So Absurd?
In the first installment of a two-part series, Nicholas Joll tries to convince us that, for one thing, fire is not hot and, for another, that sincerity is impossible.
Penn Jillette’s Deceptively Simple Rhetoric of Libertarianism
Consider his claims: 1) We do not know what’s best for other people and 2) Since governance is ultimately founded on the threat of violence, the government should only exert its power regarding those things that we would ourselves defend with a gun. They sound reasonable, but are interestingly wrong.
How Could Scalar Consequentialism Ever Lose at Chess?
Scalar consequentialism is an ethical theory that has us always choose the better option. That’s very much the way that today’s computer chess programs play. There’s a lot to learn from the study of their games against human chess players who use a different approach.
Political Defense Mechanisms
“Tradition must be defended,” says the political conservative, “it is the source of our highest and truest values.” Many traditional beliefs and practices may indeed have much to recommend them, but they also have a dark side.
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