Evolution God and evolution 2: The problem of creation 4 Apr 201322 Jun 2018 Objections to evolution from the particular perspective of religion come in three forms: the problem of creation, the problem of purpose and the problem of chance. All other objections are general philosophical ones, and I’ll discuss them under that heading. The problem of creation The majority of believers in the… Continue Reading
Creationism and Intelligent Design God and evolution 1 1 Apr 201322 Jun 2018 [I have decided to restart ET for a bit, but given my circumstances, it will be sporadic at best. This is the first in a series that will be tagged “Living with Evolution”, and is the first rough draft of what I hope will be a book.] The common view… Continue Reading
Biology Why is Darwin’s theory so controversial? 24 Nov 2012 So asks this essay and gets the whole thing wrong. Darwin’s theories (plural) are not controversial because they imply that species are mutable. This was a widely held view by preachers, moralists, Aristotelians, naturalists, breeders, formalists, folk biology, and even biblical translators. Darwin was not controversial because he implied racist… Continue Reading
Chocosophy Chocolate causes Nobel Laureates 12 Oct 20126 Feb 2013 My research associate, Dr Malte Ebach, has brought to my attention an inadvertent proof of the truth of chocoholism. The New England Journal of Medicine, a most prestigious and scientific journal, has published a paper by Franz H. Messerli, M.D, which shows a strong correlation between the annualised national consumption of chocolate… Continue Reading
Education Scientism and methodological naturalism 9 Sep 201210 Sep 2012 So I’ve been busy with work, and finding a flat and preparing to move. Larry’s been busy tearing strips off those who argue that the ENCODE data shows the genome is mostly functional (only if you think that doing anything happens to be functional). But I hadn’t forgotten his latest… Continue Reading
Chocosophy Xocolatl and the creation of the universe 28 Aug 201224 Nov 2022 Once upon a time, the great god Xocolatl was bored. The party was over, there was a mess in the divine mansion, and nothing was left besides savory snacks and stale beer. Now Xocolatl was a cool god, but he hated being bored and having to clean up after his hosts, so… Continue Reading
Cognition New publications 25 Aug 201225 Aug 2012 I have added some under-review drafts of my papers to the PhilPapers archive: Essentialism in Biology. Essentialism in philosophy is the position that things, especially kinds of things, have essences, or sets of properties, that all members of the kind must have, and the combination of which only members of the… Continue Reading
Ethics and Moral Philosophy Urkkkh! 19 Aug 201219 Aug 2012 If words were water, I would be paddling hard up to my ears being nibbled by piranha as an alligator came for me. So I haven’t said much here for a while. There’s this paper, this book, this contract, this report and this tendency for me to post comments elsewhere…. Continue Reading
Cognition How not to give a keynote 6 Jul 201222 Jun 2018 So we finally managed to get things going for the Poland keynote. It took over half an hour to get the sound working, after a fashion, and the connection was blocky at best. The hardest part was that I kept trying to hear what people were saying at the other… Continue Reading