Monthly Archives: July 2011
Atheism, agnosticism and theism 5: Scope and indexing
Previous posts in this series: One, Two, Three and Four. As soon as you say in a public forum that you are agnostic, somebody will rejoin smugly, “Are you also agnostic about fairies?” as I said last post. Obviously I am not. I … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy
What should evolutionary psychology comprise?
Recently there have been a number of posts and comments on evolutionary psychology. A new paper in PLoS Biology argues that human brain evolution since the “stone age” (really?) has been rapid and multifaceted. And there are renewed calls for … Continue reading
Atheism, agnosticism and theism 4: Existence claims
Previous posts in this series: One, Two and Three. There are basically three kinds of philosophical questions. Given that philosophy is what you do when you have a question that can’t be resolved by facts, these are: 1. What is … Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy
On Hauser
Marc Hauser, the primatologist psychologist at Harvard who recently was accused of mistreating evidence and graduate students, has resigned. I am in two minds about this. His work, although I am unconvinced by some of it, was very important, and … Continue reading
Filed under Biology, General Science, Science
Atheism, agnosticism and theism 3: Knowledge claims about gods
Previous posts in this series: One and Two . In an influential book, W. V. O. Quine, one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century, wrote with his student: It is important to distinguish between disbelief and nonbelief – between … Continue reading
Filed under Epistemology, Logic and philosophy, Philosophy, Religion
Apture
While I am becoming intimately familiar with the single most compelling argument against God’s existence (sinuses and mucus) I came across the Apture script. This allows you the reader to highlight words and see a popup window to Wikipedia or … Continue reading
Filed under Administrative
