Category Archives: Philosophy

New Ten Commandments

Posted on Friday 20 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Came across this recently, The New Ten Commandments which strikes me as eminently sensible and admirable. This is from a blogger named Adam Lee, who posts at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism and who’s published a book by the same name. He makes a … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Religion, Ten Commandments | Comments Off on New Ten Commandments

Hitchens and the Speculative End of Religion

Posted on Wednesday 18 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

There have been several online articles in recent days about Christopher Hitchens, author of god is not great [lower cases intentional], who died just two years ago. Jerry Coyne checks in on rival takes on Christopher Hitchens, both on Salon, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Hitchens and the Speculative End of Religion

Awe

Posted on Wednesday 18 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a story that’s gotten some attention this past week — reports that when people look at awesome scenery, like the Grand Canyon, they are more inclined to attribute them to God (whatever that means). www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-hutson/awe-increases-religious-belief_b_4423247.html The emotion of awe … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Religion, Thinking | Comments Off on Awe

Aggressive Atheist Steps Down

Posted on Wednesday 18 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Interesting article by Martin S. Pribble, whose blog I’ve noticed from time to time, which post has been repurposed by Slate.come http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2013/12/why_i_m_quitting_the_online_atheism_community.html Faith overrides knowledge and truth in any situation, so arguing with a theist is akin to banging your … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Religion | Comments Off on Aggressive Atheist Steps Down

Getting Along without Knowing

Posted on Sunday 8 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Interesting interview with Patricia Churchland, UCSD ‘neurophilosopher’ in Slate today, originally from New Scientist, about the dismay some people feel at the notion that, to quote the interview’s intro, “our hopes, loves and very existence are just elaborate functions of … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Getting Along without Knowing

A Celebration of Human Ingenuity

Posted on Monday 25 November 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish on The Inevitabilty In Beauty. Theoretical physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed and novelist Ian McEwan recently discussed the relationship between art and science, often agreeing that what might unite them is beauty. I like McEwan’s response: I would … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on A Celebration of Human Ingenuity

The Trolley Problem

Posted on Sunday 24 November 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

NYTBR reviews not one but two books about the ‘trolley problem’, a hypothetical situation in which the decisions people make reveal how intuitive moral decisions are made differently by different people. The question is, suppose you see a runaway trolley … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Comments Off on The Trolley Problem

David McRaney 2, Gravity, Haiyan, GRR Martin

Posted on Tuesday 19 November 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve been meaning to close out my thoughts on David McRaney’s brilliant second book, YOU ARE NOW LESS DUMB, which I first posted about a month ago. First, let me follow up on his ‘narrative bias’ described in the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Lunacy, Philosophy, Religion, science fiction | Comments Off on David McRaney 2, Gravity, Haiyan, GRR Martin

To put matters at their simplest

Posted on Tuesday 29 October 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Reading A.C. Grayling’s The God Argument, a simplistic title that might be better replaced by its subtitle: “The Case Against Religion and for Humanism”. Grayling is a British philosopher who has written on many topics; i.e. he’s not just a … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Religion | Comments Off on To put matters at their simplest

Man in the Sky

Posted on Monday 21 October 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Via The Dish, Embracing the Void. Making the sky into a humanlike God is a shortcut to making it legible. If you believe that there is a man in the sky, you can interpret its unpredictable cinema, its colour shifts … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Quote at Length, Religion | Comments Off on Man in the Sky