Feeling smug 29 Jul 2009 … because I sent off two papers this week to journals. I’ll feel a lot smugger, of course, if they get accepted. One is on genetic information (yeah, you all know about that one!) and the other about natural kinds in biology, a historical-philosophical piece. We’ll see. Even more smugifying, I started a new paper on what it means to be atheist and agnostic: thanks to all my readers, discussants and outright opponents on this blog. It won’t be done for a few weeks or months, but it’s based closely on some of the arguments we’ve had here. I aim to submit it to Zygon. I’m continuing on my paper about evolution and religion and what it means if religion evolved for the truth of it (with Paul Griffiths), and also a talk about adaptation and religion, both of which I hope to give at a conference at Notre Dame in Indiana. *Sigh*, more travelling. I’m not as young as I once was. I only have four book reviews to do. I might write a book… [You watch. Now that I have invoked the academic gods, they will strike me down.] Epistemology Evolution Philosophy Religion Science
Epistemology Philosophy as forgetting, and index characters 13 Nov 2009 I was talking to a friend, Damian Cox, yesterday, and we were discussing how many of the ideas of, say, a Wittgenstein had been a rediscovery or reformulation of what had been commonly held over a century before. Damian made the comment that philosophy is a process of forgetting what… Read More
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… Read More
History A plea for the pope 17 Jan 200818 Sep 2017 This isn’t something I would often write, but I think that the recent protest against the Pope speaking at the secular university La Sapienza in Rome is misplaced. Critics say that the Pope, when he was of more humble rank, had in 1990 defended the Inquisition’s judgement against Galileo in… Read More
I’ll be flying to NYC first and then Washington. So I might come via that airport – one I’ve been to before. Shall I visit Morris Minnesota? Does anyone even live there?
Good work. I haven’t ever perused the periodical, Zygon, before. Randomly picked out an article entitle “Beauty of the Living World”, which looks interesting. “I’ll feel a lot smugger, of course, if they get accepted.” True dat. Although I can never manage to drum up a sense of smugness on submission. Only a sense of fear and foreboding.
both of which I hope to give at a conference at Notre Dame in Indiana. Will you be announcing when this is? I’ll be in Bloomington at IU, and I’d be more than willing to head up to South Bend and see your presentation.
Two very intresting conference papers, would love to attend, bit to far from Edinburgh though. I take it they will turn up in print in some form in the future? Looking forward to seeing these ideas developed further.
This isn’t a democracy! It’s an elite group of bastards who happened to have wangled an invite. Actually, right now I don’t know, but I’ll be finalising the trip over the next week, so I’ll announce what I can when that’s done. I can always give other talks, you know, if someone wants to organise them…
One is on genetic information I’m looking forward to that. Will you be running it past the Fig Newton of Information Theory, by any chance?