Category Archives: philosophy

Men, not gods

Posted on March 25, 2011 by David Hume

The New York Times Magazine has a long profile up of Yasir Qadhi, a religiously conservative American Muslim cleric. It is long and worth reading in and of itself, but I want to focus on one section: American Muslims, Qadhi … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Wisdom of the East

Posted on March 23, 2011 by David Hume

SuperSnail asks: Hey Razib, could you compile a list of Chinese and Indian religious history/philosophy books? I’ve actually made the call for books on Indian religion and philosophy elsewhere. My knowledge set in this domain is very thin, so I … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, philosophy, Religion | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Old-Time Irreligion

Posted on March 16, 2011 by Bradlaugh

The British philosopher Colin McGinn gives us that old-time irreligion in this essay “Why I Am an Atheist“. I normally can’t take very much of this well-worn atheism-vs.-agnosticism stuff, but McGinn pulls it off very well & I found myself reading … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, philosophy, Religion | 5 Comments

I Can’t Help Thinking . . .

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Bradlaugh

Just catching up here… To the best of my knowledge — which isn’t saying much: I’m not well-read in philosophy — I am in a minority of one on the subject of free will. The discussion is always: do we … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | 19 Comments

Free will and morality

Posted on June 26, 2010 by David Hume

In light of recent comments, I thought readers might find this discussion between Joshua Knobe & Roy Baumeister of interest. Please keep in mind that broad swaths of humanity, such as Calvinists and most Sunni Muslims, have nominally rejected free … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | Tagged | 9 Comments

Liberalism Claims the Transcendent

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Bradlaugh

Of the great mid-2000s tranche of “celebrity atheists,” each has his own distinctive style: the professorial Dennett, the street-fighter Hitchens, the smartypants Dawkins, and so on. For me at least, Sam Harris is the least distinctive of the crowd, the … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, philosophy, Science & Faith | 29 Comments

Moral thought, rational or reflexive?

Posted on March 3, 2010 by David Hume

Rod Dreher, Does moral action require rational thought?: What do you think? My answer is, “Mostly, no.” I believe virtue is mostly a matter of habit. This is not to say that reason has nothing to do with morality; obviously … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Creative Destruction: Pretty Much a Good Thing

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Andrew Stuttaford

The house of the right should have many mansions, whether it’s the cathedrals of the theocons, the country clubs of the RINOs, the unadorned blocks and towers of the Randians, the revival tents of Huckabee County and… well, you get … Continue reading →

Posted in economics, philosophy | Tagged , | 6 Comments

The Death of Intellectual Protestantism

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Bradlaugh

This past few days I have been undergoing a strange immersion in Protestant theology. The subject here is Martin Gardner. I have been a fan of Martin’s since the days when I was a pretty regular reader of Scientific American, approx. … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy | 16 Comments

Goodness!

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Bradlaugh

Some readers have asked me to comment on the extracts from Dinesh D’Souza’s new book, Life After Death: The Evidence currently appearing on National Review Online. The first one’s here, the second here. I confess I can’t find much to … Continue reading →

Posted in philosophy, Science & Faith | 49 Comments