evolution

A collection of 138 posts

belief

'I want to believe what you believe, Daddy'

Being a secular, atheist parent, and also a philosopher, I take my parenting seriously in how my children's beliefs develop. The idea for me is that it is important to teach my children the methods and not the conclusion. I don't want to teach my children

evolution

Will new scientific evidence shake up theories about evolution?

For skeptics and the scientifically-minded, there is nothing at all controversial about evolution. And by the term "evolution," what is generally understood is "evolution by natural selection." Evolution by natural selection is the main evolutionary process by which we explain the diversity of all living organisms.

evolution

Is 'survival of the fittest' a tautology?

I was recently posting about my book series Survival of the Fittest, with the first book, Metamorphosis [UK], detailing a global pandemic that changes its human victims into viral victims who are competing with established humanity for survival. The second book Adaptation lays out the groundwork for a divergence in

evolution

Survival of the Fittest: Tautologous and Unfalsifiable?

Yesterday, I ran a piece on the idea that you often hear from creationists that "survival of the fittest" (SoF) is a tautology that carries no meaning. I hopefully dealt with this in some way in that previous post. However, I would like to take the opportunity to

Charles Darwin

Darwin Day: Can Capitalism Be Domesticated?

This is a guest post from Dr Joe Berger, science educator who wrote the book Science and Spirituality: An Introduction for Students, Secular People & the Generally Curious [UK]. Please grab a copy to help out. Since it was Darwin's birthday this last Friday, Joe thought he would

Dana Horton

The Quantum Physics Dilemma

Here's another offering from Dana Horton. Let's get quantum, and the Einsteinian "mind of God". The Quantum Physics Dilemma Or How Can I Get Doreen in Accounting to Get Off My Back (5 minute read) Quantum physics was one of our requirements in ministerial

DNA

Did God Give You Kidney Stones?

I would like to introduce you to Matthew Sabatine who will contribute a few pieces that can also be found on his own blog - details below. Over to him: DNA is often given supernatural attributes and its uniqueness is often hard to separate from God as an origin. I

evolution

Guest Post: Word of the Day

This post is from regular commenter Martin Zeichner - thanks muchly, and don't forget you can submit guest post requests to me through the contact details above. Today, he muses about words, particularly "social", and in this context, all of the influences on us humans: Anyone

evolution

"Why Science and Atheism Don't Mix". Really?

Aah, John Lennox. So long since I've considered you. I remember attending a talk you gave in Southampton years ago on your faith (I can't remember the subject exactly, but it may have had connections to you being a mathematician). Lennox has written recently in the

conceptual nominalism

Dekonstructing the Kalam: CosmicSkeptic, William Lane Craig & Conceptual Nominalism

In my first video in this series on the Kalam as pertaining to leading light of internet atheism, CosmicSkeptic, I looked at running a commentary that hoped to highlight the need for clarity in many of the points that Alex O'Connor made in a vide debunking his former

evolution

Meaning of life: Humans and other animals

I was looking out of the window today and watching two Cabbage White butterflies fluttering about in the jolting aerial dance that they go through in their almost random-looking ritual of sex selection. Of course, it is not random, but tried and tested over generations, embedded by the machinations of

Alvin Plantinga

On the Argument from Reason: Evolution, Emergence & the Fallacy of Division

As I stated in order to introduce the Argument from Reason in my first post in this series (concerning doxastic voluntarism): CS Lewis fashioned the Argument from Reason and it has since been taken on by Christian philosophers and apologists such as Alvin Plantinga (in the form of the Evolutionary

Creationism

Origin of Us: Human Anatomy and Evolution

I recently posted a talk by Prof Alice Roberts. Here is another one, but now we are well in her sphere of expertise. There were actually a number of nuggets I got out of this talk; it's well worth a watch. Here, she talks about human evolution and

Consciousness

"Consciousness Cannot Have Evolved"

Bernard Kastrup, at iai, recently wrote an article setting out that consciousness, as far as strict materialists are concerned, cannot have evolved: The overwhelmingly validated theory of evolution tells us that the functions performed by our organs arose from associated increases in survival fitness. For instance, the bile produced by

Charles Darwin

Darwin's Apostles

Humanist Press have recently published Darwin's Apostles: The Men Who Fought to Have Evolution Accepted, Their Times, and How the Battle Continues, by David Orenstein and Abby Hafer. The description of the book is as follows: This is the story of Darwin, his life, times, and some of

evolution

Storks, Evolution and the Problem of Evil

This tweet came from The Non-Alchemist and is worth dwelling on: If the all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfectly good God of Xtianity exists, she seems to have either guided/allowed evolution to go down this path *or* this suffering is the result of two humans eating a fruit. Forgive us for

determinism

Free Will: Have We Outgrown It or Is It Still a Useful Illusion?

I was having a conversation on Facebook about this so I thought I'd bring it here, setting the scene in this first post. Let's assume that libertarian free will is not true. I have written a lot on this over the past 10 years such that

evolution

Natural Law Theory, Morality and Rational Beings

Natural Law Theory (NLT) is an ethical theory derived from the thinking of people such as Thomas Aquinas that attempts to establish that humans, for example, have an ideal form or essence that dictates how they should act. The form of a particular species of bird is that it has

death

Evolution, the Soul and Divisibility

Evolution depends on the notion of divisibility. What this means is that any organism is made up of organelles and parts that are themselves divisible into other parts. The human eye didn't evolve from nothing into human eye form in one step, it was a case of a

evolution

A Dialogue on Morality: Response to Guy Walker (Pt 3)

As regular readers will know, I am engaged in a debate concerning morality and whether, as humans, we are exceptional in comparison to the animal world or whether morality can be fully explained in the context of biological and natural evolution, without invoking some other mysterious unknown such as God

evolution

A Dialogue: Response to “Making Moral Claims Without Doing the Groundwork” by J. Pearce

As you will know if you have been reading this blog over the last week, I am presently involved in a dialogue/debate with Guy Walker over human morality and from where it has come. I've so far written two pieces in response to a comment he made

evolution

Making Moral Claims: Evolution and Other Animals

“Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.” - attributed to Oscar Wilde Discuss... Five centuries later, we remain embroiled in debates about the role of religion in society. As in Bosch's days, the central theme is morality. Can we envision a world

evolution

The Evolution of Morality and Theistic Evolutionists

"It wasn't God who introduced us to morality; rather, it was the other way around. God was put into place to help us live the way we felt we ought to." - Frans de Waal In my previous article, I wrote about how morality (or at

evolution

Morality as Evolved; What about God?

I am first going to furnish you with an excerpt from Robert Sapolsky's Behave [UK here] before discussing the content within a theological context. Of course, what Sapolsky has to say is nothing new or groundbreaking, but it serves s a good introduction to the topic. AGAIN WITH

evolution

Interview with Rob J Stroud on Freud, Jung, Peterson, God and Psychotherapy

This is a very important video for me because Rob J Stroud is one of my best friends in life and it was his influence that got me involved in philosophy. He was the founder member of The Tippling Philosophers (from whence my blog name derives) way back when at