The Secular Frontier

In George Orwell's 1984, doublespeak is not explicitly named but is embodied in the concept of "doublethink," a key mechanism of the Party's control. Doublethink is the act of simultaneously holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind and accepting bo ... Read Article

(HINT -- PARTLY BECAUSE THE SLAUGHTER OF TENS OF BILLIONS OF KIDS MEANS THERE CANNOT BE A WISE AND LOVING CREATOR) TO BEGIN WITH We are hearing it all the time these days. That the American economy is now the envy of the world. Wages are higher in t ... Read Article

Last Time: Trump Playing 4-D Chess Once again Trump put on a mask, pushed an old lady down the stairs, and tore off the mask to go help her up: he once again wants to be congratulated for solving a problem he created.  Putting on his stron ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geKNWCQpvfg ... Read Article

"Concept/conceive/understand" are etymologically related to the hand/grasping in either (sort of) Greek or Latin etymology, e.g., "I was able to grasp his meaning." The words "concept," "conceive," and "understand" have etymological connections to the id ... Read Article

Large scale war and mass atrocities have been afficting humanity since the advent of civilization. So who is most to blame for these disasters? According to the religion industry if most or all folks would just be good and obedient sheep and behave themse ... Read Article

These days many who are secular and/or on the center-left just don’t get why so many on the evangelical right seem so darn dead set against the threat of global climate change, to the point they thrill in chanting “drill, baby, drill!” After crude i ... Read Article

We looked at the idea last time of the understanding relationship we have with the world, and so for example this is manifest in the encounter with beings founded on an understanding of their Being, which is conspicuous in allegory like Plato’s allegory ... Read Article

Last time I ended with: For example, when we think of experience in a modern way, we usually think of sense vs thought.  But if we reflect back on Plato, the sensuous is not just the immediate but also the most thoughtful and the true place for th ... Read Article

“Faith has no place in thought” (Heidegger, Anaximander’s Saying [1946, pg 280]) "Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing whether they exist or not, nor of what sort they may be …” (Protagoras, On the Gods) Protagoras was a pro ... Read Article

We have an inauthentic disposition toward death: living "as though" the next moment won't be denied us, though it certainly might get denied. How we decide about this inevitability transforms our life. Heidegger comments: Death, as the extremity of t ... Read Article

So, Trump got a bit of a setback recently when 3 judges (including one Trump appointed) in a court on international trade ruled he didn't have the power to impose tariffs. An appeals court paused the ruling giving both parties the opportunity to present ... Read Article

Heidegger notes somewhere there was a story from the war (I don't recall whether it was WW1 or WW2) where a report was made that a fort had been taken and in fact the officer looked at the fort in the distance and saw a friendly flag was flying. The disa ... Read Article

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted on Heidegger and Greek Philosophy. Let's get back to his "Contributions" book. Of critical importance of a thorough secular reading here is the Greek metaphysical position that "he psyche ta onta pos estin," whi ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isJJiiGqSS4&t Dr. Bob sides with Prof Nina Livesey! See 1:49:14 ... Read Article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gqCg5ZaSOI This was fun. I have a three-article series on this topic under review so hopefully they will see the light of day! ... Read Article

The "Q" source, a hypothetical document in historical Jesus studies, is thought to contain sayings of Jesus shared by Matthew and Luke but not Mark. Since Q is reconstructed from these shared texts, it primarily focuses on Jesus' teachings, such as parabl ... Read Article

As is the case with new scholarship like Nina Livesey's recent book on Paul's letters as pseudonymous, it sometimes involves for the reader a back and forth with implications trying to appropriate the new materials. I originally tried to challenge a late ... Read Article

PREVIOUSLY: Easter Post: Dating the Gospels Now, the conclusion: I've been looking at the New Testament literature dating issues considering a lot of it to be written post Bar Kokhba revolt, with the exception that Luke-Acts seems to stem fro ... Read Article

Here is my 2025 Easter Post! 33 When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land[g] until three in the afternoon. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My Go ... Read Article

PHILOSOPHY (INDEX) How Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin Helped Us Rethink Ancient Thought RELIGION “The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus (2024)” Anthology by James Crossley (Editor), Chris Keith (Editor) – FINAL Updated Blogging ... Read Article

PREVIOUSLY: (Part 1) Martin Heidegger’s “Contributions to Philosophy (Of the Event)” As we continue with Heidegger's Contributions book, we note it is not a linear development of an argument. Heidegger never intended it for publication. What ... Read Article

SCORE 5/5 My thanks to Cambridge for providing me with a review copy of this book. PREAMBLE: LETTER TO PROFESSOR VINZENT Hi Prof Vinzent, My name is John MacDonald and I am president of the Secular Web. I recently posted ... Read Article

Given that we are coming to the Season of Passover, it is appropriate to meditate on how the story of Jesus was formed to reflect Jewish scripture and tradition, and so is often unhistorical, e.g., Mathew invents stories about Jesus to portray him as the ... Read Article

It might seem that the religion industry in its many brands continues to be a powerful force in human societies. And of course in some regards it remains so here and abroad, what with most Americans being divinity worshippers, and the religious right enjo ... Read Article