A very British dream | Richard Seymour on Patreon “Problem number one for the Conservatives is that they no longer have any idea how to administer capitalism. No viable long-term growth strategy avails. They can’t address the financial sector without hurting their allies in the City. They can’t address the crisis of productivity and investment ( Read more... )

On Facebook, I ran across a couple of Christian responses to the recent resignation of Tim “Nice-but-Evangelical” Farron as leader of the Liberal Democrats.

A worrying sign

A post by John Stevens, Director of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, argues that Farron’s resignation is a worrying sign: Farron’s actions as a friend to LGBT ( Read more... )

Whig Party | Britain’s original progressive political party is back Crikey. It’s like a Neal Stephenson novel: “The Whigs are returning to British politics. We are going into the 2015 General Election to provide a fresh choice to the British people, and to show that everyone can get involved in politics. Our campaign will be positive and ( Read more... )

Feminism and The Search for Truth | The Merely Real Chana Messinger’s response to the Scott Aaronson thing (on whether feminism hurts geek guys) is the best one. I learned the term “scrupulousity”.
(tags: scott-aaronson nerds feminism laurie-penny chana-messinger) Hume and subjective/objective moral values A Twitlonger page (which I guess is what ( Read more... )

Robot makes people feel like a ghost is nearby | Science/AAAS | News You can induce sensed presences by having a robot poke you in the back.
(tags: emotions ghosts robots psychology) Philosophical Disquisitions: Is there a defensible atheistic account of moral values? Maybe, or at least, it’s as good as a popular theistic account.
(tags: morality ( Read more... )

Why Can’t We All Just Get Along? The Uncertain Biological Basis of Morality - Robert Wright - The Atlantic “Squaring recent research suggesting we’re “naturally moral” with all the strife in the world.”
(tags: morality science evolution utilitarianism joshua-greene trolley-problem) Djina Unchained A social justice blogger. I think it’s a parody, ( Read more... )

Back in August, Clark at Popehat did a slightly confusing posting on how some atheists are confused about rights because they speak as if rights exist while also saying that nothing but matter exists. Clark seems to be one of those theists who thinks that gods are be required to exist for objective rights to exist, but he doesn’t really say why he ( Read more... )

Rebecca Brightly did a couple of posts on connection and sexism in lindy recently. I found it via the discussion on Reddit.

Brightly’s stuff is getting so much comment because it combines thoughts on how to enjoy dancing more (which is good) with an Internet-feminist deontology (which is wrong, as any respectable consequentialist could tell you). ( Read more... )

The Euthyphro Dilemma - Greatplay.net Nice survey of the arguments and counterarguments, in relation to William Lane Craig's Moral Argument for the existence of God.
(tags: religion william-lane-craig euthypro-dilemma Euthyphro philosophy morality)

Interview: Russell Blackford on Atheism, Philosophy and Morality - Rational Hub Blogs Longish (written) interview with the philosopher Russell Blackford. I enjoyed the bits about the supposed incompatibility between science and religion, and the stuff about moral error theory.
(tags: scientism science scie error-theory religion morality ethics ( Read more... )