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…
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…
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…
You won’t believe this… CMT – Vol: 12
I’ve been trying to think of another way to explain beliefs as I still hear folks saying they are ‘absent of belief in regards to x’ or ‘have no beliefs’. Whilst I am sure they believe what they are saying, it makes me feel I have failed in my explanations. Rather than spray out the…
What’s in the Box?: A Three-Pound Rabbit
Introduction Imagine that someone presents us with a box. That box weighs three pounds. The person presenting us with the box says that there is a rabbit in the box, and the fact that it weighs three pounds proves that there is a rabbit in the box. This is not the case of course, just…
Beliefs and Rationality – CMT Vol: 10
I so often see my fellow atheists saying things like ‘I don’t believe x I accept the evidence for x’ and I can’t help but facedesk. I tried to address the problem in articles like I Don’t Believe, Dirty Words: Belief, Faith and Evidence, Beliefs and Logic but so far have not got anywhere. Perhaps…
How Rational Are You?: A Nightmare on Reason St.
Introduction Many of us have our favourite characters from TV shows and films, as well as favourite TV shows and films. We laugh at our favourite comedies, or cry at our favourite dramas, or jump at our favourite horrors. We become so engrossed by the content that the stalker on the screen holds us in…
In response to Ra’s ‘What is Atheism?’
I was invited on Cheshire’s live stream ‘A Goblin Reads’ with Dave as she had seen my discussion with Aron about his belief that ‘Rocks are atheist!’ who then wrote a post called ‘What is Atheism?‘ In planning for this, I started reading Aron’s article where he argues why his definition of atheism is the…
Rockin’ Atheism Pt. 1: The Wrongness of Aron Ra
Introduction A discussion involving Aron Ra, centered around the definition of atheism, blew up on Twitter the other day. Generally, it is not a discussion I tend to get involved in. That is not to say that I have not got into discussions about how it is defined, it is just to say that for…
