Category: Essays

  • Loving strange food or: how I learned to stop being picky and love food

    Like most Americans, I used to hold some self-evident beliefs about food: The three dogmas of the food phobiac: There are foods I “like” and foods I “dislike” and I ought to stick to the things that I like. The better something tastes, the more unhealthy it must be and vice versa.  You must choose…

  • The Bill of Rights versus the "War on Terror"

    The Bill of Rights versus the "War on Terror"

    The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to make a fundamental and clear statement about the rights of man. They are fundamental because all Congressional acts are subservient to them and clear because, unlike the complex legal code, the basic rights were intended to be known by all. Having lived through war, the Founders…

  • The case for evidence-based medicine

    The case for evidence-based medicine

    Few people would openly admit that they prefer irrational treatments and doctors. But most people do in fact advocate irrational health practices – using pseudonyms for “irrational” as “holistic,” “alternative,” “homeopathic” and the deadly “natural.” Medicine requires reason The human body operates according to certain causal principles. If we wish to make a change in…

  • Re-evaluating the value of religion

    Re-evaluating the value of religion

    This essay was written on August 13th, 2003 and edited slightly for this post: Is religion a value to mankind? Some alleged benefits which have been attributed to religion include: scientific and philosophical principles, technologies such as the printing press, the colonization of the new world, great works of art such as Michelangelo’s David and…

  • Are philosophical claims scientifically provable?

    This question makes the logical fallacy of the stolen concept.  The question of what is “scientifically provable” is derived from our metaphysics and epistemology.  We use our basic philosophy to derive the epistemological standard by which to investigate the specific aspects of reality (e.g. physics, chemistry, mathematics, and economics).  To demand that philosophical statements be…

  • Faith is emotionalism, Part 2: Perception versus Emotion

    (This is the second part of selections from a Facebook debate.  Part 1 is here.) Introduction: The key to my disagreement with the theist hinges on the question of “Can we know God?” or “Can have knowledge of the supernatural?”  The theist says yes, we use both experience and the “sensus divinitatus” to acquire knowledge…

  • Faith is emotionalism, Part 1: Epistemology

    (In the next few posts, I’m going to re-post selections from a Facebook debate:) Many apologetics claim that their faith is based on reason and evidence. In fact faith is just a kind of emotionalism. Two analogies: Suppose you decided to base your knowledge of reality on the result of dart throws. Whenever you have…

  • On Jury Nullification

    Image via Wikipedia I have jury duty tomorrow morning, so I thought I would share some thoughts on the moral and contractual obligations of a juror: A trial is, or ought to be, a fact-finding process, conducted in order to determine whether pre-existing legal principles are applicable to a specific case.  It should not be…

  • Five tips for improving your communications skills

    How good are your communication skills? How often do you feel that misunderstandings get in the way of your personal relationships or your career? Do you ever avoid talking to people because you don’t know how to express what you feel, or because you are afraid that you will be misunderstood? What if you could…

  • Free Will vs. Determinism v2.0

    November 25th, 2002  The debate between free will and determinism stems from the apparent conflict between the universal rule of causality found in nature and the apparent ability of men to choose between multiple courses of action in order to lead to the most desirable outcome. Inorganic matter such as chairs, stones, and planets, blindly…