Scalar Connection to Meaning of Life?
Because I’ve written so much about arguments from scale lately, the following statement in Dennis Prager’s op-ed on atheism and consolation caught my eye. “‘And we promise to work for more gun control. But the truth is we don’t have a single consoling thing to say to you because we atheists recognize that the human … Scalar Connection to Meaning of Life?
Tom Flynn on Dennis Prager
As always, Tom Flynn has written another spirited essay, this time in response to Dennis Prager on atheism and consolation. LINK I agree with pretty much everything he writes. Yet I find myself thinking, “Yeah, but …” as I read it. I think the first thing that needs to be said is that what counts … Tom Flynn on Dennis Prager
Atheistic Criticism of Atheistic Scholarship
Here are several examples of criticism of atheistic scholarship, by fellow atheists. Keith Augustine: Julian Baggini: Richard Carrier: Paul Draper: Graham Oppy: Mark Vuletic:
Did the Cosmological Principle Get Knocked Down?
This looks relevant to arguments from scale. LINK
Theism, Atheism, and Tragic Loss
This is the response by one Dennis Prager to an earlier article published in the NY times by Susan Jacoby: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/337673/atheist-response-sandy-hook-dennis-prager# Does atheism offer less to those who mourn than theism? Let’s start by asking what theism has to offer. Well, naturally, there is the hope of eternal life, right? Surely, mourners are deeply comforted … Theism, Atheism, and Tragic Loss
Atheism and Intraorganizational Free Speech
That is the title of a 1996 essay by Michael Martin on the Secular Web. Martin concludes: The suppression of expressions not only has harmful results but is inconsistent with atheists’ criticism of religion’s suppression of speech. It also defeats what is in the atheistic organizations’ own best interests. I conclude therefore that atheistic organizations … Atheism and Intraorganizational Free Speech
The Argument from Scale (AS) Revisited, Part 2 (Revised)
(Note: the revised version of this post begins in the third paragraph after the section title, “The Ratio of Explanatory Powers.”) In part 1 of my series on the evidential Argument from Scale (AS), I concluded that Everitt’s formulation of AS is unsuccessful. At the same time, however, I said that there is something about … The Argument from Scale (AS) Revisited, Part 2 (Revised)
Is religious freedom threatened by gay rights?
Last year I was a participant in a conference on Religious Freedom at Magdalen College Oxford. The conference focused particularly on “the emerging conflict between new equal rights claims on behalf of homosexuals and existing claims of religious freedom.” Cases such as the right to wear a cross at work, or to turn homosexual couples … Is religious freedom threatened by gay rights?
Ontology 101 part 3
The following three criteria can be used to generate a set of categories of kinds of entities: C1. Is this entity a natural entity? C2*. Is this entity able to affect a natural entity? C3. Is this entity a person? We are looking at various pairings of these criteria to see whether some combinations can be … Ontology 101 part 3
New Chick Tract
You can’t even tell where the religious weirdness ends and the political right-wing weirdness begins.