Secular Humanism is Not a Religion
Staddon makes an oddly tendentious argument for the religious character of secular humanism.
Jerry A. Coyne
· 9 min read
philosophy
A collection of 98 posts
Why We Should Read Nietzsche
My sense is that Nietzsche is best understood as a radical individualist; one who insists passionately that our duty in life is to become what we are. But what kind of person is that?
Matt McManus
· 11 min read
The Inevitable Clash of Politicians and Bureaucrats
Western States have, over the past 150 years, created bureaucracies without which much of what we all tend to take for granted would not work—or at least during a transitional period of uncertain length, would not work as smoothly and efficiently as we are used to.
Jakob Heidbrink
· 8 min read
Has the Postmodern Revolution Come Full Circle?
This new orthodoxy arrogates to itself divine authority to make truth claims on the basis of consistency with its asserted principles, and these are held to be immune to disproof or falsification by reason or evidence.
Colin Turfus
· 7 min read
Respect, Rights, and Freedoms in an Era of Identity Activism
Standard gender pronouns are not an honorific or a mark of respect, they are simply an instrument of categorisation that emerged with the evolution of language.
Don Trubshaw
· 6 min read
Is Secular Humanism a Religion?
In terms of moral rules, secular humanism is indistinguishable from a religion.
John Staddon
· 6 min read
Postmodern Philosophy is a Debating Strategy
The Foucauldian method, invoking a hermeneutic of suspicion, works by unveiling or demystifying the relations of power that constitute claims to truth.
Galen Watts
· 7 min read
Anatomist of Racial Inequality: An Interview with Glenn Loury
Loury has taught at Brown University for over a decade, an institution where pleas for American patriotism are likely to be summarily dismissed. So why does he insist on making them?
Christian Alejandro Gonzalez
· 14 min read
On the Value of Truth
Very few of us can actually deal with too much truth, so we rarely enquire too deeply into the justifications for our beliefs.
Matt McManus
· 11 min read
Enlightenment Wars: Some Reflections on 'Enlightenment Now,' One Year Later
As Thomas Paine wrote, “To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.”
Steven Pinker
· 52 min read
In Praise of Boredom, Again
Brodsky said that when confronted by boredom we should “exact full look at the worst.” He said “When hit by boredom, go for it. Let yourself be crushed by it; submerge, hit bottom.”
Caroline ffiske
· 6 min read
The Future of Our Ancient Past
There’s nothing wrong with teaching Western Civilization or the Western classics alongside other cultural traditions. At the same time, the way Classics used to be taught is gone for good.
James Kierstead
· 6 min read
Is Religious Belief in Decline?
“Every human being worships something,” we’re told, whether it’s the movement of the planets, alien civilizations, a political cause, science, or even reason.
Matt Johnson
· 10 min read
The Frankfurt School and Postmodern Philosophy
The claim that the work of postmodern philosophers is a continuation of Marxism by other means is quite strange, both philosophically and politically.
Matt McManus
· 9 min read
Between Discipline and Chaos
No human institution can ever secure a definitive interpretation of goodness, and it is usually the ones that claim to have done so that betray their own purpose.
Patrick Lee Miller
· 11 min read