Some disappointing bigotry from Adam Lee
November 19, 2009 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under epistemology, philosophy, politics, religion, social and literary criticism
Adam Lee has a post on polygamy and polyamory that I largely agree with, saying that adults should be allowed to do as they please with regards to their personal relationships, but marriage as a legal institution should be a one-legally-recognized-partner-per-person deal, largely due to practical difficulties with institutionally-supported polygamy. But in the middle of [...]
Continue Reading »How agnostic are you willing to be in philosophy?
November 18, 2009 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, philosophy
Should finding out that other people disagree about something with you lead you to be agnostic about it, or at least moderate your views? I tend to think “yes,” but Peter van Inwagen has pointed out one difficulty for this view, especially for philosophy people like me: an awful lot of our beliefs are subjects [...]
Continue Reading »Why decent philosophers use too much jargon
November 18, 2009 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under metaphysics, mind, philosophy, social and literary criticism
In general, I think analytic philosophy (as in current, Anglophone academic philosophy) has a lot going for it. It’s the only subculture in the world that really tries to cultivate the skills needed to think clearly as such, as opposed to just doing competent work in one specialty. But there are also trends in it [...]
Continue Reading »Quote of the Time Being
November 18, 2009 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under quote of the time being
Only two things are certain in life: anti-tax militias and cryogenic freezing.
–My roommate Joe
The humble side of the debate
November 17, 2009 by Chris Hallquist
Filed under religion, science, stupidity
Via Chris Mooney, a tidy example of one of the more annoying kinds of rhetoric that flies in public debates: “Forrest argues that new atheists should respect the personal nature of faith, and nurture a sense of humility by recognising that scientific evidence does not rule out existence of the divine.” The trick is to [...]
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