Dear readers, Rationally Speaking is soon going to be (also) a podcast, produced by New York City Skeptics, and co-hosted by Julia Galef and yours truly. Before each (initially biweekly,…

Why science is a better way to explore morality.We think of science as a noun, in reality it is a verb, a process. The scientific method is a codification of a specific technique of handling and…

We think of science as a noun, in reality it is a verb, aprocess. The scientific method is a codification of a specific technique ofhandling and processing information. This method involves…

I recently re-read a classic piece by J.L. Mackie (April 1955), entitled “Evil and Omnipotence,” a stupendous philosophical essay about why theologians like Richard Swinburne are forced by their…

The question was just raised in a previous blog entry about what a research scientist could learn from philosophy.  Perhaps this article, "Mad Science? Growing Meat Without Animals" can provide…

Attentive readers of this blog may have noticed that those who post comments to my entries often show two interesting and complementary attitudes: a fundamental distrust of (if not downright contempt…

In my younger years, the belief in a world populated by divine entities plagued my thoughts. To the eyes of an atheist, I was a religious adherent, albeit not as devoutly as some of my contemporary…

(Essay 3 in the Evolution and Morality Series) Religious morality is by no means the only source of moral reasoning available to us. There is in fact a long history of secular philosophy dating…

Massimo had an interesting post on his “Rationally Speaking” blog last week about the rift between science and philosophy. He feels that too many of the “new atheists” are being over enthusiastic in…

Thursday, September 10, 2009 Yes work will be good for you. Some times "we" think too much. I know I do. Instead of living in the moment we project our fears into the future and create a reality…