Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free. We continue from ep. 296 with our close reading on Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927), covering in this part of the discussion chapter 1. Featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. This selection (aka section 9) covers existence (in German, Existenz) vs. existentia. The former is Dasein's (humanity's) specific way of Continue Reading …
Ep. 297: Heidegger on the Human Condition (Part One for Supporters)
We continue from ep. 296 with our close reading on Martin Heidegger's Being and Time (1927), covering in this part of the discussion chapter 1. Featuring Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. This selection (aka section 9) covers existence (in German, Existenz) vs. existentia. The former is Dasein's (humanity's) specific way of being, which involves possibility and thus choice. H was Continue Reading …
Science, Religion, and Secularism Part VI: Jonathan Hedley Brooke, Complexity Thesis
In previous articles, we’ve explored conflict, independence, synthesis, and dialogue models in science and religion studies. Since I’m a historian, or at any rate studying to become one, it would be remiss for me to not mention a fifth model, not discussed by Barbour, but squarely in the mainstream of historical scholarship. This is the complexity thesis: that the richness and Continue Reading …
Science, Religion, and Secularism, Part II: Ian Barbour—The Conflict Model
If one had to attach a name to the contemporary revival of interest in science and religion, the name would almost certainly be that of physicist Ian Barbour (1923–2013, pictured right). His 1966 book, Issues in Science and Religion, outlined four models for interaction between science and religion: conflict, dialogue, synthesis, and independence. These four models have Continue Reading …
The Poverty of Scientism
If you drop a hammer on your foot, is it real or is it just your imagination? You can run that test, you know, a couple of times, and I hope you come to agree that it’s probably real. –Bill Nye A great deal of time and attention has been taken up in the last few generations on the question of religion and science: Do they conflict? If so, how? And with what consequences? Or Continue Reading …
Why Substance Matters
Samuel Johnson's refutation of Bishop Berkeley's immaterialism, which says that matter does not exist, is one of those slightly famous moments in the history of philosophy. As the story goes, Johnson and his friends stood outside a church and complained about "Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter." They did not believe the idea but did not Continue Reading …
Conversation vs. Crossfire (Philosophy, Arrogance, and the David Brin Episode)
Some of the initial listener reaction to our David Brin episode harkens back to similar comments we got about our Pat Churchland episode, our first attempt at including a celebrity author in the discussion. As Seth commented right after the recording with David, there was little purchase on his edifice in which to plant a foothold in real time. I did my best to engage him in Continue Reading …
Eliezer Yudkowsky and Luke Muehlhauser on Modern Rationalism (Conversations from the Pale Blue Dot)
I'm generally skeptical when someone proclaims that "rationality" itself should get us to throw out 90%+ of philosophy. So I was a bit puzzled when someone on our Facebook group pointed at some articles by Luke Muehlhauser (specifically "Philosophy: A Diseased Discipline" and "Train Philosophers with Pearl and Kahneman, not Plato and Kant"), host of the excellent Conversations Continue Reading …
Scientism and Scientific Sensationalism
Not long after I wrote this post linking to Isaac Chotiner's negative review of Johah Lehrer's Imagine and its "fetishization of brain science," Lehrer was forced to resign from The New Yorker for fabricating Bob Dylan quotes. A lot has been written about the meaning of Lehrer's transgression; but I was bothered less by the distortion of relatively trivial facts than the use to Continue Reading …
Evolutionary Psychology’s Pseudo-Explanations of Art and Culture
Evolutionary psychologists seem to assume that all of an organism's traits must be the result of natural selection. This is not the case. As Stephen Jay Gould pointed out, it is entirely possible that a given trait is merely a by-product of another trait that is adaptive. This by-product may in fact thwart reproductivity ("fitness") as long as this is outweighed by the benefits Continue Reading …
Science-Based Anti-Intellectualism
On a regular basis someone publishes a book in which they attempt to apply neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, or the social sciences to questions that the humanities are actually better equipped to address. As a consequence, such authors typically end up dressing up their embarrassingly sophomoric musings related to philosophy, literature, and culture in the trappings of Continue Reading …
Episode 48: Merleau-Ponty on Perception and Knowledge (Citizens Only)
Discussing Maurice Merleau-Ponty's "Primacy of Perception" (1946) and The World of Perception (1948). What is the relation of perception to knowledge? In M-P's phenomenology, perception is primary: even our knowledge of mathematical truths is in some way conditioned by and dependent on the fact that we are creatures with bodies and senses that work the way they do. Science Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 48: Merleau-Ponty on Perception and Knowledge
This is a 33-minute preview of a 1 hr, 42-minute episode. Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat Continue Reading …
Hannah Arendt on Scientism
The question of the "pernicious influence" of scientism on modern life and philosophy gets raised fairly often here at PEL. I get the sense that Wes and Seth think the influence 'quite pernicious' while Mark thinks 'not so pernicious'. (Correct me if I'm wrong guys). So I thought it would be helpful to clarify what is implied by the term, so that we might open the way for some Continue Reading …
Topic for #48: Merleau-Ponty on the Role of Perception in Knowledge
Maurice Merleau-Ponty's magnum opus--his equivalent to Being & Nothinginess or Being & Time--is The Phenomenology of Perception. It is reputed (by Seth, at least) to complete Heidegger's project by paying proper attention to our embodiedness: we have bodies, with specific perceptual limitations and are not only culturally but physically situated in ways that (as Heidegger Continue Reading …
Naturalism & Philosophical Thinking
[editor's note: Here's our guest blogger Tom McDonald with a bit of original philosophizing. You can read more like this on his blog zuhanden.com. -ML] I want to pose some general questions to all readers, but especially to those scientifically inclined and favorable to a naturalistic worldview. The questions are about the naturalistic worldview that is presently normative but Continue Reading …
Naturalism & Philosophical Thinking
[editor's note: Here's our guest blogger Tom McDonald with a bit of original philosophizing. You can read more like this on his blog zuhanden.com. -ML] I want to pose some general questions to all readers, but especially to those scientifically inclined and favorable to a naturalistic worldview. The questions are about the naturalistic worldview that is presently normative Continue Reading …
McGinn vs. Ramachandran on The Tell-Tale Brain
We've talked quite a bit recently about neuroscience, not to mention scientism -- which again, I take to be: the idea that science is applicable to any domain of inquiry that is meaningful, and will inevitably provide a solution to all meaningful questions Mark calls it "the dreaded scientism," I think because he doubts it's so prevalent or powerful; whereas I find it a Continue Reading …
“The Nation” on Brooks on Cognitive Neuroscience
We've bashed NY Times columnist David Brooks before on this blog for his attempts at philosophy, and I absolutely feel for the guy from a logistical perspective: he's not an academic that can take a sabbatical and hole up to write and revise. He's more or less a blogger who has to fumble around every few days to figure out something that he's read about to spit back in an Continue Reading …
The Pernicious Influence of Scientism
Alright, Mark has successfully baited me into a response on the issue of scientism. I should begin by saying that Mark has an interesting reading of Dennet that makes him out not to be a reductionist (as I and many others interpret him). I won't address that here; I'm more interested in the general question of the influence of scientism on well-educated, intellectually curious Continue Reading …