What objectivity and the study of philosophy require is not an “open mind”, but an active mind - a mind able and eagerly willing to examine ideas, but to examine them critically.
~Ayn Rand


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Not unexpectedly, seeing as I am a chemist, I have written about science quite a lot. Here are some recurring themes and opinions about science I have covered over 73 entries on this blog:

• Science is, first and foremost, a method.
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My third ever entry on this blog had to do (in part) with René Descartes and his famous Cogito, ergo sum.[1] I have referred back to that entry many times in discussions here about epistemology, how my belief in my own existence is (after believing in logic) the second most secure of all my beliefs.[2]While I highly respect Descartes - he's the ( Read more... )

(My apologies to Mr. Rishel for the title of this entry....)

In both religion and science, the question often comes up as to what existed before the universe began.

The question itself is meaningless in both "fields", because the universe includes time.

Even Augustine understood this,[1] though he would have known nothing of the modern, ( Read more... )

The word "ignorance" is another word for which I wish there were separate, more precise words in the English language.[1] (Other examples are "love"[2] and "beauty"[3].)

( a brief analysis of one particular modern usage )

(I haven't done one of these flavor of entries in a while....)
I was having an interesting coffee discussion with two coworkers the other day who each reiterated something I've heard countless times from anti-religious folk -- a very negative view of faith, whether that be that it is foolish, stupid, or even evil ( Read more... )

One of the biggest issues I had with the Veritas speaker here at Hopkins a month or so ago[1] was that one of his arguments for substantive dualism was that there is a vast pile of accounts of people who have had out-of-body experiences, particularly near the time of death or before being resuscitated ( Read more... )

The most famous example of a self-refuting statement that I know is: "Nothing is absolutely true." Of course, the statement itself cannot then be true ( Read more... )

I received the same article in my Inbox twice last week, so maybe some of you (in the States) have also seen it. It was an article written my a person who feels strongly that people should have to pass a "Civics" test to be allowed to vote. (The test is under the cut at the end of the entry ( Read more... )

Just over two years ago on 1 Jul, 2006, on the last day of our honeymoon, sadeyedartist and I visited the original Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. In my "Happenings" report following, I indicated how visiting there changed my opinion of the man ( Read more... )