Tag: atheism
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An Evidence Problem
Professor Jerry Coyne, author of Why Evolution is True, recently asked the people of faith who correspond with him from time to time to say what evidence they would accept for the non-existence or non-reality of God. His point is that he’s able to say what evidence he would accept for the existence or reality…
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Assumptions, Questioned and Un-
What counts as knowledge – that is, knowledge of reality? This is a question for the philosophers, in the end; but, as Gramsci said, everyone is a philosopher, so it’s a question for all of us. And while Gramsci’s point was that everyone has a philosophy, one they live by, some philosophers are better than…
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What People Mean By “God”
Professor Stevenson has written a remarkable book: clear enough to understand the first time through; short enough to read through again, just to be sure; engaging enough to want to do that; interesting and important enough to want to hang on to for future reference. Stevenson, Leslie. Eighteen Takes on God: A Short Guide for…
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Fear, Logic, and Hiccups
Patten, Bernard M. Truth, Knowledge, or Just Plain Bull: How to Tell the Difference. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2004. [An installment of the “Read Me” Project.] I have a history with this book. I read it once before, about 10 years ago, at least part-way through, while sitting in the surgery waiting room of…
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Maybe Not So Little
An article showed up in my Flipboard feed yesterday, “Little Things Can Make an Atheist.” I read it, because I was curious to see what the “little things” were. It struck me that the “little things” the author referred to were specific theological claims, rather than propositions about defensibility of the reality of [any version…
Matters of Interpretation 