Clik here to view.
I am …
The fall equinox occurs today at 15:44. As the sun sits in balance, straight above the equator, I give you a post about balance, about thinking of the other side. About including others with you and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Thoughts for the World
It’s that time of the year again. Darwin Day is coming up on Thursday – the bicentennial of the great scientist’s birthday. This year is also the 150th year since the publication of his world-shaking...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Guest thoughts
Last week, I had a conversation at the university chaplaincy with a couple of the honorary chaplains. As always, I enjoyed learning about different people’s backgrounds, and the beliefs that inspire...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A transitory Yes
From A Room With a View, via my friend Gareth, comes this quote: Then make my boy think like us. Make him realise that by the side of the everlasting Why there is a Yes—a transitory Yes, if you like,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cosmic birthday: HE 1523-0901
I would like to make a confession. I am beginning to feel some of the symptoms of age. Not old age, so much. Just age. Exercise is becoming something I need to consciously undertake, no longer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ephemeral or Eternal?
Jim at Agent Intellect has just passed on a very interesting philosophical musing from the Maverick Philosopher, Bill Vallicella. Here is a taste: The problem with time is not that it will end, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Selfish Gene
I just finished reading The Selfish Gene, the first of Richard Dawkins’ many books popularizing the fascinating byways and unexpected consequences of evolutionary theory. The Selfish Gene was first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New snow
One evening not long ago, I took the garbage and recycling out to the curb. A gentle snow was falling, drifting down through the orange glow of the street lights. I stood in the serene silence,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The precariousness of libertarian free will
I’d like to give you a glimpse of how I view free will and why. This will not be a strictly formal philosophical argument. I have to admit some non-rational reasons for holding the position I hold....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Insights as mutations
“Insight, untested and unsupported, is an insufficient guarantee of truth, in spite of the fact that much of the most important truth is first suggested by its means.” – Bertrand Russell, in his essay...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who am I to talk?
Who am I to talk about this stuff? What does a lifelong atheist have to offer when many of the key problems we as a secular community face (antagonism, discrimination, psychological scars from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On death (recycled)
This is a repost of a comment I made back in September 2012 over at Dale McGowan’s excellent blog, The Meming of Life. It was in response to his request for thoughts about how atheists deal with death....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Labels that define me
This post was originally inspired by a very animated discussion with Jamie Ian Swiss in the this 2012 episode of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast. Long-time readers of this blog have learned...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Belief without evidence (1 of 6): Skepticism versus religion
Religious believers believe things without sufficient evidence. This is a common accusation leveled by skeptics of religion (and many other belief systems). Believers respond, in general, with one or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Belief without evidence (2 of 6): A skeptic’s inventory
The previous post introduced the topic of skeptical “beliefs without evidence”. This post gets to the meat of it by identifying three beliefs that I hold without evidence or sound reasons to back them...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Belief without evidence (3 of 6): A skeptic’s values
On top of the metaphysical beliefs (inductivism, non-solipsism, non-just-nowism) I talked about in the previous post, I also have a couple of values that do not break down to simpler or more basic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Belief without evidence (4 of 6): Not on my list
I’ve introduced five points of dogma that I accept – three claims about the nature of reality and two values. Now I’m going to discuss three things that may seem to be dogmatic (I hold them fairly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Belief without evidence (5 of 6): A religious inventory
I have listed some basic beliefs and values that I hold, and that I think others hold too. And I have pointed out some things that are often claimed as points of humanist/atheist/skeptic dogma, but are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Belief without evidence (6 of 6): Comparing and evaluating
So, since introducing this series, I have identified five elements which might be considered my “dogma” – things that I cannot prove with reason and evidence from other, more basic principles. Claims...
View Article
