Archive for Philosophy

What the Higgs boson shows about rationality

Jul 04, 2012 1 Comment by

A new particle has been discovered, almost certainly the Higgs boson first predicted 48 years ago. If so, then at last the final prediction of the Standard Model has been confirmed. To be sure, there are many questions still to answer, such as how real physics deviates from the Standard Model at very high energies, [...]

Articles, Biology, Neurology, and Medicine, Logic, Mathematics, News, Philosophy, Physics and Cosmology, Religions and other Belief Systems, Sciences, World Read more

A Business in Charity Clothing

Jun 21, 2012 1 Comment by

It has been frequently remarked that churches show strong similarities to businesses. The evolution of such schemes is obvious: the church is set up so that people can gain better lines of communication to the core of their religion, but the church must be built and renovated, and its many services maintained, so it must [...]

Articles, Christianity, Philosophy, Religions and other Belief Systems, Statements and Analysis Read more

Pascal’s Wager

May 05, 2012 Comments Off by

So I’ll start by noting that this won’t be a comprehensive argument against Pascal’s Wager, but I intend to discuss two of my favourite points discrediting it. My motivation on this occasion is from watching too many videos of very stupid people, which is a pass-time I’m sure many of you do too. If you’re new [...]

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If only religious apologists understood statistics…

Apr 06, 2012 Comments Off by

The last time I uploaded many articles in quick succession, I had just returned from on the all-inclusive holiday with my parents in Spain during which I authored said articles. My return to writing for this site after a long recess also involves authorship during such a holiday. This is what is often called a [...]

Articles, Biology, Neurology, and Medicine, Logic, Mathematics, Philosophy, Religions and other Belief Systems, Sciences, Statements and Analysis Read more

How To Design The Perfect Religion

Jan 16, 2012 1 Comment

The idea of designing a religion is a fascinating one, due partly to the selection of motivations for doing so. One could hope to design a religion that would become widely popular and financially benefit its inventor. One could design a religion for the purposes of making a point: to tear apart the fabrication once [...]

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Why Doesn’t Personal Experience Count As Evidence?

Jan 10, 2012 Comments Off

I dislike categorising people into only two groups, but the conclusions I will draw in this article I find to be independent of this particular distinction, hence let us consider the assuredly religious and the decidedly non-religious. Of the many traits that separate the two groups, one which appears to be crucial, and which arises [...]

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More Ambiguity On Belief

Dec 23, 2011 1 Comment

A while ago, there was an article on this website called The Dangers Of The Word Belief. In the article, it was noted that the word “belief” is inconveniently ambiguous because in common speech it ascribes to a different meaning to in religious debate. But there is another obstacle which much be traversed to deal [...]

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Free Will in Quantum Mechanics

Dec 19, 2011 Comments Off

The natural laws as they were understood more than one hundred years ago were significantly different to how we know them today. The classical laws of motion described by Newton were, at the time, the ultimate guide to the future of the universe. In Newton’s universe, everything was determinable; if you knew the precise position and [...]

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Science Is Not The New Religion

Dec 19, 2011 Comments Off

There have been two significant potential discoveries in the world of physics in recent months. Firstly that neutrinos, a type of subatomic particle, seem to have been observed travelling faster than the speed of light, the universal speed limit. And secondly that the Higg’s Boson, another subatomic particle, which is responsible for the mass property [...]

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