Philosophy & Ethics

Nicholas Wade has a new article on the evolution of religion. Evolution of the God Gene http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/weekinreview/12wade.html?hpw He seems to be making the case for a conciliatory relationship between religion and science. Here is what he says: Could the evolutionary perspective on religion become the basis for some kind of detente between religion and science? Biologists and many atheists have a lot of respect for evolution and its workings, and if they regarded religious behavior as an evolved instinct they might see religion more favorably, or at least recognize its…

I recently attempted to write an article with the above title for a writing competition that I randomly decided to enter. I have to admit that I failed miserably. It’s a pretty hard topic to write about (or at least I thought so). A few months later, I still I haven’t changed my mind (that it’s hard, and I’m a failure at writing about it), but at least I’ve thought about it a bit more. Unfortunately, even with months of thought, I have not managed to justify working on quantum information science in this context, although no one can say I haven’t tried. I think one pretty big problem with…

One of the key points that perpetually surfaces in the Intelligent Design debate is comparing animate with inanimate objects and attempting to draw comparisons or conclusions1.  This becomes more pronounced when we begin to consider the role of less tangible elements, like intelligence, and begin considering how such a thing would manifest in a machine.  In effect, it's the problem of determining what life is and how does it differ from everything else. Often we look at complex machinery and associate meanings or parallels to biological systems, however this is an incorrect…

(Essay 2 in Evolution&Morality Series) The atheistic blowback to the overbearing religiosity of the Bush era has been something of a boon for the publishing industry. In an uncertain and weakening economy, they discovered a new profitable genre almost overnight. Clearly, all that oppressive God talk from the Bush administration had antagonized a sizeable group of readers. A few savvy editors were quick to recognize the appetite for books like God Delusion, End of Faith and God is not Great. Books, that took a more or less unapologetically contemptuous view of all things religious and God…

(Essay 1 in Series Evolution&Morality ) Can you believe it? It has been a year since a majority of Americans voted for and elected Barak Obama as president, shattering once and for all the proverbial marble ceiling. Yet, if you look back at the mood of the time, you have to admit, what really drove all those people to the polls was something more than a desire to create history. It was a feeling well captured by the catchphrase of the Obama campaign – change. There is no doubt Obama was the beneficiary of a collective yearning to end the dark ages that were the Bush years. No one had…

This blog is my way of looking at moral values from an evolutionary perspective. If we agree that evolution explains human behavior, then it must be true of moral behavior as well. Today I will post the first two essays in a series that argues for taking an evolutionary approach to moral theory.

I found the premise of Barbara Bradley Hagerty's new book "Fingerprints of God" quite intriguing.  The author, raised as a Christian Scientist, attempts to look into alternative religions and science to see if her faith is justified.  There is nothing really new here - in terms of topics that have been covered in many other popular books.   But what I found interesting was her interpretation of her experiences and investigations.  She chronicles her struggles and revelations in an autobiographical format - and I'm usually a sucker for autobiographies. It was also quite fun…

David Chalmers is a philosopher of mind, best known for his argument about the difficulty of what he termed the “hard problem” of consciousness, which he typically discusses by way of a thought experiment featuring zombies who act and talk exactly like humans, and yet have no conscious thought (I explained clearly what I think of that sort of thing in my essay on “The Zombification of Philosophy”). Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing Chalmers in action live at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He didn’t talk about zombies, telling us instead his thoughts about the so-…

Deism maintains that

LAST THOUGHTS OF JESUS Ayad Gharbawi October 28 2009 - Damascus What were the last thoughts of Jesus Christ as he was crucified? Did he not doubt God when he uttered those famous words: “My God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?” It sounds plain and clear: the cry of a tortured human being who is asking why has his God, or Father, left him to suffer in this unimaginably excruciatingly painful manner? Why didn’t God save him from this hour’s long torture? Did Jesus forget his Mission? Momentarily, yes he did, for he was after all, human. Who wouldn’t in such circumstances? The sheer agony of…