Do you feel justified in your position? How can you tell if that justification is actually enough to be considered rational? Is there some sort of measuring stick? When do we have to justify ourselves to others? Do we have to justify every action? These are all questions that perhaps we should care about a…
Philosophy of Science #1 SciPhi: 021
In this stream, we return to the realms of science, philosophy of science that is. We will be discussing the idea of scientific revolutions as discussed by Thomas Kuhn. We were also joined for the first time by Kevin Laprise. Want to Watch us Live? You can watch us live on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Answers-in-reasonTwitch: http://twitch.tv/u/davidiantwitchyballsTwitter: https://twitter.com/answersinreason…
The Problem with Consequentialism
Consequentialist moral theories, like utilitarianism, are quick and easy to use, like using fingers in the air to gauge the direction of the breeze, but they are not without fault. In this post, I hope to demonstrate the issues with consequentialist moral theories. What is Consequentialism? Consequentialism, as its name suggests, is simply the view…
Knowledge and Information
We’ve covered a number of different articles about how ‘Words are funny things!‘ and can have multiple meanings. The word, know, is no different in this regard. As a word by itself or in a phrase can be used to describe a number of things. KnowledgeInformationAwarenessCertainty/Uncertainty Therefore, it can be said that you know something…
‘What if you’re wrong?’ – Pascal’s wager – SciPhi: 020
Pascal’s wager is a Commonly quoted argument from the 17th Century Philosopher, Theologian and Mathematician, Blaise Pascal, but is there more than folks realise? Tonight we get under the skin of this argument and explore various thoughts and rebuttals. Pascals Wager Pascals wager is an argument often used by theists but one of the key…
Normatively Atheist
I’ve said language is descriptive and people are free to identify how they like a number of times, but when discussing definitions I speak of the normative or most logical. This can be met with some hostility, with people often telling me I am the one being illogical or that I don’t understand what normative…
Russell’s Teapot and World – SciPhi: 019
Russell’s Teapot and World (aka 5 min Hypothesis) Tonight we continue our thought experiments by looking at Russell’s teapot and world. Russell’s World/The 5 Minute Hypothesis (Analysis of Mind, 1921) ‘There is no logical impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly as it then was, with a population…
Agnostic Atheism – CMT – Vol: 13
It is very common to hear folks use the term agnostic atheist to describe themselves, and others. Let me say that you are free to identify how you like, though I would suggest you don’t be prescriptive with your identification on to others. If you wonder why; consider if you are the sort to tell…
Analysis of ‘Caffeine Corner w/David C. Smalley: A Philosophical Discussion’
I figured I would write some notes in response to a video I watched of ‘Caffeine Corner’ with Steve and Chesh and found I ended up writing almost 11 pages of notes – I figured may as well sort it out and post it as an article. Before I get accused of bias, I will…
Free Will & Determinism
I have spent a lot of time thinking about free will and determinism, and a fair bit reading others thoughts on it too. I’ve been trying to sift through my own thoughts on the matter because I am still mostly agnostic towards the whole thing though I do lean towards a form of compatibilism that…
