Browsing Archive: November, 2011
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Tuesday, November 29, 2011,
In :
Philosophy
I've recently written a new essay which I have posted here in the essay section of the website. Please read it and see what you think. Post any comments to it here. Here is the abstract to the essay: Abstract: This essay sets out to dispel the myth that the soul can be the originator for free will. I will start the essay by establishing the Cartesian idea of what the body is and showing that Descartes and modern biology indicate that the body is a biological machine. After indicating how Desca... Continue reading ...
Still one of the best songs about skepticism.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Tuesday, November 29, 2011,
In :
Science
Made me think
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Sunday, November 27, 2011,
In :
Religion
This one made me think!
I don’t know, I think this works.
Let’s take Craig:
Smart, religious. Dishonest.
Most religious people are honest and religious, but evidently not very smart.
Most secularists are clearly smart and honest, obviously! Continue reading ...
Yey to women! Boo to Bible...
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Sunday, November 27, 2011,
In :
Religion
Cheers Unreasonable Faith Continue reading ...
Why I am going on strike
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Sunday, November 27, 2011,
In :
Politics
This is the message i am putting on my window of the classroom in which I teach. WHY I, MR PEARCE, AM GOING ON STRIKE – A FAIR LOOK AT
THE FACTS
There has been an awful lot of
misinformation in the media about why teachers have decided to strike, and the
reasons for and against such action. I would like to give parents the reasons why
I have decided to strike, and to give my side of the story.
The present government plans
are due to have the following consequences, among... Continue reading ...
Calling all dads of twins!!!!
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Saturday, November 26, 2011,
In :
Books
An announcement to any dads of twins out there in the UK. I have just released my third book, Twins: A Survival Guide for Dads. It is out now on Kindle, and will soon be released in paperback. Twins UK and TAMBA has shown an interest, which is great. Here is the description and a review:"So you’ve found out the good news. How did you take it? Normally it is a choice of pure joy, pure terror or downright panic. In the event of any or all of these emotions, you will certainly be needing advic... Continue reading ...
Anthropogenic Global Warming Denial - what goes on in the minds
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Thursday, November 24, 2011,
In :
Science
I was recently posting on a right wing blog in the UK (James Delingpole's blog in the Telegraph). The blog was a response to the seemingly conclusive report by BEST. See it here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111021144716.htm
Now, the deniers still try to squirm their way out of accepting AGW, so I thought I'd look at it from a philosophical / psychological point of view. Hopefully, this exchange (not in its entirety here) might be of interest:
Do you really think Prof Curry debu... Continue reading ...
Mormonism - nice reasoning
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Thursday, November 24, 2011,
In :
Religion
Courtesy Unreasonable Faith. Cheers. Continue reading ...
Still the best video on religion. Fact.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Wednesday, November 23, 2011,
In :
Religion
Is the US heading for a theocracy?
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Tuesday, November 22, 2011,
In :
Politics
An article from the Slate: Rule of LordThe Republican plan to nullify the courts and establish Christian theocracy.By William Saletan|Posted Monday, Nov. 21, 2011, at 9:54 AM ET Is the United States sliding toward theocracy? That’s what Republican presidential candidates have told us for more than a year. Radical Islam, they’ve argued, is on the verge of taking over our country through Sharia law. But this weekend, at an Iowa forum sparsely covered by the press, the candidates made clear t... Continue reading ...
Quotes to keep you company #2
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Tuesday, November 22, 2011,
In :
Religion
Perhaps our role on this planet is not to worship God - but
to create Him. - Arthur C Clarke
I have too much respect for the idea of God to hold Him
responsible for such an absurd world - Georges Duhamel.
IMPIETY, n. Your irreverence toward my deity.
INFIDEL, n. In New
York, one who does not believe in the Christian
religion. In Constantinople,
one who does.
Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because,
if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of ... Continue reading ...
Quotes to keep you company #1
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Sunday, November 20, 2011,
In :
Religion
Some nice quotes from history to keep you company: Blind faith is
an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence - anon
The church
says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow
on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church -
Ferdinand Magellan
Every step
which the intelligence of Europe has taken has
been in spite of the clerical party - Victor HugoAll great truths begin as blasphemies - George Bernard Shaw
Religion
is wha... Continue reading ...
Goddidit
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Sunday, November 20, 2011,
In :
Humour
Thanks to unreasonable faith for this Continue reading ...
Luke's use of mimesis
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Saturday, November 19, 2011,
In :
Religion
In “Does the New Testament Imitate Homer?”, Dennis MacDonald
seeks to show how Luke / Acts imitates Homer. Luke, he claims very
convincingly, uses mimesis –the copying
/ imitating previous works for a variety of reasons – by imitating the
works of Homer. This then calls into question the factual historicity of the
events accounted.
MacDonald show in the introduction how Luke quite obviously
uses mimesis with regards to the Old Testament. Over to the author:
“To illustra... Continue reading ...
Irreducible Complexity? Hmmm.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Friday, November 18, 2011,
In :
Youtube
Good without God.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Friday, November 18, 2011,
In :
Humour
Too good to resist...
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Tuesday, November 15, 2011,
In :
Humour
Thanks to http://christiannightmares.tumblr.com/. This blew my mind. I mean, we've all seen Jesus on a piece of toast, but this...! Continue reading ...
Why Samson is clearly a solar myth
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Tuesday, November 15, 2011,
In :
Religion
Here are some notes I made from Tim Callahan's "The Secret origin of the Bible" a few years back. Excuse the note form and any spelling / syntax errors. It's still interesting reading and shows how clearly the account is mythological. Samson makes no sense as a stand alone tale, and has no allegorical or symbolic meaning at all, begging the question as to why it's in the bible at all, if not a story lifted from a nearby culture and adopted to Yahweh. Why is Samson myth?
Samson is clearly m... Continue reading ...
Gods don't kill people...
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Friday, November 11, 2011,
In :
Humour
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Friday, November 11, 2011,
In :
Religion
Over on the Secular Outpost blog http://secularoutpost.infidels.org/2011/11/christian-nt-scholar-and-apologist.html there is some debate over the resignation of Mike Licona over his interpretation of Matthew 27. " As reported by Christianity Today (see here), New Testament scholar Michael Licona has apparently lost both his job as research professor of New Testament at Southern Evangelical Seminary and been ousted as apologetics coordinator for the North America Mission Board (NAMB). Why? In h... Continue reading ...
Cherry picking intervention
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Wednesday, November 9, 2011,
In :
Humour
Courtesy of Unreasonable Faith: Continue reading ...
Evolution - nuff said.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Wednesday, November 9, 2011,
In :
Science
The differences in the Passion accounts - harmonisable?
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Wednesday, November 9, 2011,
In :
Religion
Some apologists explain the separate and different details of the passion
narratives by claiming that all the accounts of the passion, particularly the
empty tomb sequences, are harmonisable – ie that all the witnesses were at the
empty tomb, that all the discrepancies of the gospels were actual individual
events, not versions of the same event?
Reading around this, this is a classic situation of conservative vs
liberal. Liberals are not bound to
interpret the evidence charitably, and can... Continue reading ...
Objective morality and oughts
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Tuesday, November 8, 2011,
In :
Youtube
Bicycle pumps and why prayer seems to work... sometimes...
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Sunday, November 6, 2011,
In :
Religion
I have an analogy which I hope will illustrate why at least
a lot of examples of alleged successful prayer or interventions of God take
place.
Yesterday I was pumping up the tyres to my twins’ buggy. I
have an old bicycle pump which I bought probably seven years ago. I bought it
for £3 – peanuts. This pump has been very hard working – two bicycles and a
buggy at regular intervals (the buggy particularly often needing pumping up).
The pump has worked tirelessly (pun intended).
... Continue reading ...
The Human Soul: A simple category error.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Saturday, November 5, 2011,
In :
Philosophy
William Hamby, Atlanta Atheism ExaminerNovember 4, 2011 At some point in our evolutionary history, pre-humans made an important leap in cognitive ability. We moved from first order contemplation to second order. That is, we went from thinking to thinking about thinking. Before this leap, we were not very much different than most of the animals we’re familiar with — dogs, cats, horses. We know they can think, and they are often very good at solving problems, but it’s pretty obvious... Continue reading ...
A banking parable
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Friday, November 4, 2011,
In :
Politics
A parable Lo! And it came to pass that a certain man was prevailed upon by his wife to have built a new kitchen extension unto his home. Loud were her weeping and wailings. Deep were her sighs. Many were the nights that she was just too tired, and extensive, even unto the splitting headaches. Until it became clear to the man that easement of his life would be facilitated merely by the building of a new kitchen extension. Now in those lands lived a builder and on the white sides of his van were ... Continue reading ...
Intelligent Design? Not If You're Over 50
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Thursday, November 3, 2011,
In :
Humour
A great article from John Blumenthal at the Huffington Post : Thanks to Michele Bachmann, the tired concept of Intelligent Design has once again become a topic of conversation among Creationists, most of whom, ironically, often sound like Neanderthals. In case you don't know, this boneheaded theory claims that the human body is simply too remarkable to have come into being through millions of years of haphazard evolution, and that some super-intelligent deity must have been the engineering wi... Continue reading ...
We're gonna live forever!
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Thursday, November 3, 2011,
In :
Science
Erasing the Signs of Aging in Human Cells Is Now a RealityScienceDaily (Nov. 3, 2011) — Scientists have recently succeeded in rejuvenating cells from elderly donors (aged over 100). These old cells were reprogrammed in vitro to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and to rejuvenated and human embryonic stem cells (hESC): cells of all types can again be differentiated after this genuine "rejuvenation" therapy. The results represent significant progress for research into iPSC cells and a fur... Continue reading ...
Aah, those good, alturistic people.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Thursday, November 3, 2011,
In :
Humour
Millican used my (!) argument against the KCA in his debate against Craig.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Tuesday, November 1, 2011,
In :
Philosophy
This, from the review by Wintery Knight, shows the refutation to the KCA that I have been banging on about for a year or so is being used against Craig in debate. Finally. Well done Peter Millican. "1. There is no evidence that whatever begins to exist requires a cause. All the evidence we have of things beginning to exist are when something is created from rearrangements of other things that already existed.The closest analog we have to something coming into being from nothing is quantum part... Continue reading ...
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