Haughtiness
Could a rock achieve awareness, if its faith was strong enough? (Clearly, faith would be the only way, since logic might be tough) Could a frog achieve enlightenment? What argument convinces? (It’s...
View ArticleSince We’re Coming Up On Thanksgiving…
Another oldie. Sorry. But I want you to donate to food banks, before thanksgiving. (non USAians, I just want you to be good people.) This verse, from a year and a half ago, examined motives. At the...
View ArticleWhen Alvin Plantinga’s Car Won’t Start
I got in my car, and turned the key; The engine pathetically sputtered. The idiot light on the dashboard blinked, And the idiot—me—simply muttered. It’s Satan again, playing loose with my car, With his...
View ArticleOn Free Will, Continued
Over on The Uncredible Hallq, I have run out of room in the comment thread, and there are two or three people there who clearly do not understand me. More after the jump: I have to go teach now, so...
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Clues…
A small handful of commenters on my Rainbow Connection poll said they knew what I was getting after. Could be, actually. If you know me well, I’m pretty predictable. As a clue, a hint, to those people...
View ArticleThe Philosophy Of Atheism
So, this pops up in my inbox this afternoon, and it’s the most beautiful bit of writing I have seen in a long while. Nobody writes like this these days–who is it? I ask. Ah. Emma Goldman, writing in...
View ArticleAbsolute Truth(s)
It’s fun* sometimes, to look at what other people think atheists must think. I saw an example of this recently: Atheists love to tell Christians we’re just about as atheistic as they are. We’re...
View ArticleMechanism, Contextualism, And The Limits Of Brain Science
Over at NPR’s 13.7 Cosmos and Culture blog, Alva Noë writes about “Science And The Allure Of ‘Nothing But“, a topic near and dear to my hearts. Reductionism in science has led us to some frankly silly...
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At The Dalai Lama’s Science Conference…
They’re analyzing consciousness By means of introspection And none of them have noticed that They’ve looked the wrong direction. The Dalai Lama saw the moon Was not lit from within He shared his...
View ArticleOn Free Will
Our free will, or its illusion, Is the source of much confusion; We make choices all the time, but can we say that they are free? Mind and body in cohesion Make us think we are Cartesian, But the whole...
View ArticleDoes Life Have A Purpose?
What does it mean to be alive? What is life’s purpose, if any? Material stuff that wants, that strives, To turn its one self into many What does it mean to have an urge? What does it mean to struggle?...
View ArticleThe Effing Ineffable
We need a sort of language To describe the indescribable— To build a firm foundation To discuss what no one’s seen A light to shine on empty space To highlight shared experience So others of my tribe...
View ArticleOh, Nothing, Really….
When philosophers talk about “nothing” Why, their nothing has nothing at all No time, and no space, and no matter, Not even the quantumly small When philosophers talk about “nothing” It’s a special and...
View ArticlePresupposing Zeus
Is there really any reason We should not believe in Zeus? Or at least to say he possibly existed? A professor of philosophy Believes there’s no excuse, Though his writing seems, to me, a bit...
View Article“Christmas and the Religion of Atheism”
There is nothing religious Americans hate Like the phrase “separation of church and state” Their claim, if they note the construction at all Is that Jefferson wanted a one-way wall Now the latest new...
View ArticleNeurophrenology
Scannily, cannily, Neuropsychologists Use pretty pictures to Search for the mind; Sadly, it’s no more than Neophrenology— Looking for lumps of a Different kind I think if I read one more article using...
View ArticleIn Which I Argue At Length With A MacArthur Genius
Strong-ily, wrong-ily Neurophilosophers Tout their position: “The self as the brain” Finding our cause in our Neuroanatomy— Sadly, it’s fictional: Lemme explain…. (tl;dr–”brain as self” models are...
View ArticleRandom Thoughts On Alvin Plantinga’s Rambling Thoughts
So… there’s an interview with Alvin Plantinga on the New York Times’ “Opinionator Blog”. It’s… horrific. Embarrassing. Such a national platform for arguments from ignorance, false dichotomies, and...
View ArticleDid You Ever Consider The Possibility That Maybe God Is A Parasitic Worm?
There’s a little kid, infested with a parasitic worm His extremities are swollen and in pain But this doesn’t pose a problem, or disprove a loving God As philosopher Plantinga will explain: See, God...
View Article“You’ve Got To Have Faith In Something”
You must have heard it somewhere. Probably half a dozen times today alone. I think I just saw it over at Hemant’s–somebody making the argument that science requires a faith of its own, what may be...
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