Category: Philosophy

  • Understanding and judgment in nature and society

    In the natural world, we can attempt understanding, but not judgement. We can ask why the lion hunts the antelope, but not whether it is right or wrong. We can feel pity for the prey, but we know that while the antelope must die for the lion to live, neither can be said to be…

  • Warning: relying on magic and anecdotes is bad for your health

    Warning: relying on magic and anecdotes is bad for your health

    In my post on evidence-based medicine, I said that “when valid scientific principles are not followed, no valid conclusion can be reached.” Why not? Why don’t anecdotal claims (such as personal experience) count as evidence? Here is an example of what I mean: A young woman who was a Christian Scientist told me that various relatives of hers…

  • Parasitism and intentionality: lessons from the cuckoo

    Parasitism and intentionality: lessons from the cuckoo

    Many species of the cuckoo and cowbird reproduce exclusively by sneaking their eggs into other birds nests, where their chicks kill or starve their nest-mates and so steal resources from the host mother, who often has to raise chicks bigger than her. So why doesn’t the host kick out the foreign eggs? In many cases,…

  • 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 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…

  • Yaron Brook: Why Unregulated Capitalism Is Moral

    Watch more great videos at the Ayn Rand Institute channel on YouTube

  • Three Proofs Against the Existence of God

    I was feeling argumentative tonight, so I started a debate on God at the TexAgs forum. This post is mostly for my use in some future debate, but check out my arguments if you care to. Edit: I realized that my arguments have some major flaws. While true, the background knowledge required to understand the…

  • Whos the worst dictator of all time?

    Today’s blog is a reply to the following question I saw on a local forum: Who is the worst dictator of all time? My post: How can you answer this kind of question without first determining what makes someone evil in the first place? And how can you possibly make such a comparison without some…

  • Update

    After going shooting this weekend, I was inspired to write an essay titled Guns and Abortions: Two Sides of the Same Coin. I just finished the first draft, and I’m looking for comments and suggestions. If you were inspired by the essay and want to learn more from groups and individuals that that support the…