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…
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…
Prescriptivism and Normativity – SciPhi 001 [Video]
A new show from Dave and Joe (TolleyDave and Davidian) launched for testing. The SciPhi broadcast hopes to bring you lots of quick snappy chats about a variety of topics. The intention is to discuss philosophical concepts or current science of import either whilst having a mix or playing a game. You can find us…
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…
So what is this ‘Normative’ thing all about anyway?
Language is descriptive. It is defined through use. People might describe their use of words in slightly different ways, be that through regional differences, common usages, or indeed there might be contextually correct usages of words. So what is this Normative thing all about then? When we speak about ‘Normative’ usage of words we largely…
Definitional Problems with Lacking Belief
It is commonplace to hear these terms Agnostic/Gnostic as a modifier to atheism these days rather than Agnostic being that withholding judgment position. Please note, atheism and agnosticism are polysemous, and language is defined through common use. What I hope to do is draw your attention to the difference between the colloquial definitions and the normative ones….
Why should we use the rules of logic?
I have written a few articles recently speaking of logic, propositions, and beliefs. Some folks agree, and others do not, so I thought I would expand on why I believe we should be using the rules of logic. In CMT5 – I don’t believe, I tried to explain the difference between how folks used the…
Objective / Subjective – Morals / Morality – Conflated and Misunderstood Terms – Volume 3
This article is to define and discuss objective and subjective, morals and morality. As with any article on AiR we don’t always agree. Where science is concerned and the evidence is irrefutable we of course accept and believe it to be true. When it is opinion or something philosophical we may have differences. As such…
