A quote from Hume 6 Oct 2008 But, allowing that we were to take the operations of one part of nature upon another, for the foundation of our judgement concerning the origin of the whole, (which never can be admitted,) yet why select so minute, so weak, so bounded a principle, as the reason and design of animals is found to be upon this planet? What peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call thought, that we must thus make it the model of the whole universe? Our partiality in our own favour does indeed present it on all occasions; but sound philosophy ought carefully to guard against so natural an illusion. [Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, 1779, part 2] Have to say that “What peculiar privilege” would be a great title for a blog… Hat tip to John Atkins, my office mate. Creationism and Intelligent Design Religion
Epistemology Some of my recent talks 30 May 201222 Jun 2018 I just discovered SlideRocket, a Google app that displays slides, and so I thought I’d put up some of my talks. Here goes. I hope they work. This is a talk about whether God could create a world in which Darwinian accidents occur. It ended up as a paper in Zygon: This… Read More
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Why should abortion be a matter of public policy? 1 Jun 2009 Something I don’t get, possibly because I’m a white male, is why we should pay any attention in the public domain to the concerns various people have about abortion. If Catholics don’t like it, don’t do it. If Protestants don’t like it (and that is something that only arose in… Read More
Rant I wonder how non-Christians will be less than human this Easter? 18 Apr 20192 May 2019 Every time religious leaders give Easter and Christmas sermons, they are reported as saying something like “only with Christ can one truly love” or “non-Christians do not experience the totality of life”. In effect this is a way to dehumanise non-Christians, and I have mentioned it before on this blog…. Read More
What peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call thought, that we must thus make it the model of the whole universe? It’s not a privilege. It’s not even a choice 😉
What is Man that a creature of such limited intellect thinks Himself competent to establish what the Infinite may do?