Epistemology - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 5)

Easter Doubt: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 3)

As mentioned in my two previous posts, it is that time of year again where the Resurrection of Jesus requires a thorough going over. Here is continues. There are three aspects to the debunking of the Resurrection: 1) The Gospels are not reliable sources of information; they are poor quality

Biblical Exegesis

Easter Doubt: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 2)

As mentioned in my previous post, someone in Malawi is about to have a debate on national TV with a Christian about the Resurrection accounts and I have been asked to help provide some ideas for the debate, so here goes. There are three aspects to the debunking of the

Biblical Exegesis

Easter Doubt: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection

It's that time again, so I am going to re-run my extensive series on the Resurrection and Easter. Sorry if you've read it before, but there's nothing like a good reminder: Christmas is over, time to get on to Easter. A Few years back,

By Joreth (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Descartes

Philosophy 101 (philpapers induced) #10: Knowledge: Empiricism or Rationalism

Having posted the Philpapers survey results, the biggest ever survey of philosophers conducted in 2009, several readers were not aware of it (the reason for re-communicating it) and were unsure as to what some of the questions meant. I offered to do a series on them, so here it is

agnosticism

February Ingersoll: On Belief

Yes, it's March. Well done clever clogs. But I have been a bit busy to notice, and I forgot February's Ingersoll (and January's, for that matter). My friend Julian Haydon has created a website dedicated to the great agnostic, Robert G. Ingersoll. The site

Bart Everson - Flickr - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Epistemology

Defending Methodological Naturalism

Some time ago, I was having a debate with a fellow Tippling Philosopher (from the casual pub group I helped set up) and rushed out this response. He was arguing that science might not have the answer, that a supernatural explanation should not be ruled out. He stated: Then, there

Epistemology

Poisoning Minds - Home-Schooling vs Out There

These comments are ten-a-penny out on the worldwide interwebs. However, something struck me as so blatantly obvious about this comment (from a Breitbart thread...) that I had to post it: This is a superb example of a sort of invincible ignorance. At the very least, there is no self-reflective critical

Epistemology

Quote of the Day: Capt Stormfield on Dealing with Religious Trolls

Frequent commenter See Noevo seems, on most topics at the moment, to be trolling the threads and provoking debates on evolution. He is hugely failing in an almost comic-tragic way to pull any punches, and has shown himself to be a rank amateur who proclaims Danth's Law with

Epistemology

Demon Possession...

Just a short one here to nick a line from a facebook meme...: Isn't it ironic that the ones who believe in demon possession seem to be the only ones who get demon possessed? I like that, and it reminds me very much of how people who have

Epistemology

Jehovah Witnesses and Cold Feet. No Minds Changed, I Doubt.

The last time the Jehovah's Witnesses came to visit, at my last house, I was in the shower. I heard the doorbell ring and a few muffled words to my partner, Helen, and I knew straight away who was at the door. I have never moved so quickly,

Epistemology

Absence of Evidence Is Often Evidence of Absence

I get annoyed at apologists and theists who trot "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" out as if it is some kind of unbreakable law. Nonsense. Not only is it the basis of a gazillion court cases, as well as carefully constructed scientific experiments, it is

atheists

On theists believing ridiculous, unscientific things, and Terror Management Theory

Over at another post of mine, when I originally posted it some time back, we had been discussing whether religion can and should be destroyed. During that conversation, the idea came up that Christians, in all probability, hold more ridiculous beliefs that are unscientific in nature; and also arose the

Epistemology

Fake News Entrepreneur Exposed by NPR

This is a truly fascinating article. I didn't realise how much of a problem this phenomenon of fake news has been until it hit the news over the last few weeks. This article is a real eye-opener: We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here'

belief

Bonkers Epistemology: "I think Trump is great" and "I don't like Obama"

I was having a conversation the other day with some family members and I was struck quite forcefully by how so many normal people have an utterly and explicitly biased epistemological methodology. It's very disheartening, but in this post-fact reality (and one, perhaps, that we have always lived

bias

Quote of the Day: Michael Candelario on the Post-Fact Electorate

This one comes from facebook. Couldn't agree more: In the US, there are large swaths of voters (some examples seen here in this thread) to whom facts have become biased. Because their deeply held views have been shown to be false, the mere fact of presenting facts for

Donald Trump

Trump Surrogates: Evading Answers and Evidence

This is amazing to watch. There is so much you can take from this short panel segment, I could write for hours on it. I'll let them speak for themselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=303&v=WDKBBA_nwqc

Epistemology

Being an Expert = More Likely to Have False Memories

This is some interesting research that seems to indicate some bias involved in recounting events if the facts are in the realm of expertise held by the recounter. In a press release from UCD: Experts that are knowledgeable about certain subjects are twice as likely to have ‘false memories’ about

Epistemology

On Being More Skeptical of Claims

I had a phone call with a member of my family last night who made a claim about the EU civil servants in the EU getting paid too much. The claim was something like "Do you know that X EU civil servants get paid more than our Prime Minister,

Biblical Exegesis

The Exodus Revisited: Taking a Commenter to Task

I posted some notes I made on the ridiculousness of the Exodus account the other day. It has been met with pretty universal agreement by fellow skeptics, unsurprisingly, on the threads here and on facebook. So it was interesting when I received the following comment: Because you are self-described philosopher,

agnosticism

Atheism IS a Belief, Rather Than a Lack Thereof. Just Not a Belief System.

I am of the school of thought that atheism is a belief. It is either a positive belief in a negative statement or a negative belief in a positive statement, which essentially amount to the same thing. I believe that God does not exist. or I do not believe that

agnosticism

Agnostics are just atheists without balls. Discuss.

“Agnostics are just atheists without balls.” ― Stephen Colbert, I Am America Discuss. For the record, I am an agnostic atheist who works and lives everyday as if there is no god, is pretty sure there is no god, but cannot (as with almost everything) be utterly sure that there is

abstracts

The Philosophy 101 Factfile - Plato

In doing the philpapers inspired Philosophy 101 series (most recent one found here), touching on the questions asked in the largest ever survey of philosophers, I thought I would give some nice, basic factfiles explaining what some of the key philosophers have brought to the philosophical table. We hear so

Epistemology

This Is Brilliant: Maybe the Zombie Apocalypse Isn't Unreasonable!

Easter

Easter Round-Up: Everything You Need To Skeptically Know About The Resurrection

Being that time of year, let me remind you of some things that I have written on the Resurrection (and death and burial) of Jesus: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 2) On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 3) On the Skepticism

crucifixion

Jesus' Crucifixion and Burial Practices

Some time back, I had a massive debate on my facebook page with someone from the Unbelievable forum, which I have since left (tiring of the time-wasting silliness of some of the posters) about the Roman/Jewish burial practices after crucifixion with regard to Jesus' death. Here is my