Philosophy - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 11)

A Tippling Philosopher

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Philosophy

A collection of 266 posts

Philosophy 101 (philpapers induced) #4: Analytic-synthetic distinction

So 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 were. I offered to do a series on them, so here it

Libertarian Free Will Defeats the Kalam Cosmological Argument

I was posting on Randal Rauser's blog recently and made a throw away comment about the Kalam Cosmological Argument (KCA) and libertarian free will. It is an argument which have meant to spell out for some time and so I guess this is as good a time as any.

Public domain photo from Unsplash. Taken by Sofia Sforza.

Factfile: Hypatia of Alexandria

Due to the fact that wiki has some great starter articles, and I don't necessarily have the time to write some of my own, but feel that there are some people who deserve greater notoriety. As a result, once in a while, I will randomly copy over an interesting wiki article and perhaps promote discuss

Awesome Philosophical 3 Minute Bites!

I came across these on my journey through You Tube today. I love them. They are great little chunks of fun, covering all the philosophical greats, including some very early Greek ones.

counter-apologetics

My new counter-apologetics segment available on podcast

So a recent Skepticule podcast has become available. In episode 42 I give a segment on doxastic voluntarism, something Andy Schueler has written on here. This is the idea that we cannot just 'choose' to believe something, but that there is an automatic, non-conscious threshold which the evidence

Philosophy 101 - Plato Factfile

In doing the philpapers inspired Philosophy 101 series (found here and here, so far), 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

Counter Apologist

Counter-apologetics on the meaning of life by ... Counter Apologist

The new kid on the counter-apologetic blogging block, the aptly named Counter Apologist, is continuing to produce some great videos. They are really good because they are clean, clear and concise; easy to digest and a good introduction to interesting topics. Here, I/ will embed this particular offer

Philosophy 101 - Socrates Factfile

I've been thinking. In doing the philpapers inspired Philosophy 101 series (found here and here, so far), 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 phi

Philosophy 101 (philpapers induced) #2 - Abstract objects: Platonism or nominalism

So 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 – Philosophy 10

(Philosophical) Zombies - The Movie - hilarious!

This is a hilarious post from Less Wrong. Zombies, the Movie (philosophical zombies, of course). For those who are not familiar with philosophical zombies, here is wiki's definition:

First footage of a thought being formed is caught on camera

So you might well have caught this on various science websites, but the thoughts of a fish, a zebrafish, have been caught on camera. As Gizmodo report: A team of Japanese researchers has achieved something incredible: they've captured, for the first time ever, a movie which shows how thoughts fo

Biggest ever survey of philosophers results

So the philpapers survey of philosophers is somewhere I often go to see what the general trend is for modern philosophers. Not so much as an argumentum ad populum - quite a number of the results are evenly split - but to get an idea of which positions are deemed most tenable by those in the know. It

A smorgasbord of philosophical arguments against Twitter

This is a very amusing philosophical take on the phenomenon of twitter, by James Anderson. on his blog Analogical ThoughtsThe Virtual Home of James N. Anderson. Check it out. SEMI-SERIOUS WARM-UP ARGUMENT (1) Twittering requires communication in 140 characters or less. (2) Almost nothing of substance can be adequately communicated

Fogelin - In Defense of Hume on Miracles

Fogelin - In Defense of Hume on Miracles

This is an interesting book review as found in a Hume Society release. I really want to read this book - a defence of Hume on his work on miracles. Hume often gets criticised for his work in this area. Fogelin, by all accounts, takes a different approach in his defence. And it is a short book, whic

On meaning and purpose without God

So there has been some debate on my meaning of life essay with JohnM, a YEC. He seems to think the only real purpose is an ultimate purpose, and getting through to him that this is not the case, and that ultimate purposes have no more value than subjective, instrumentalist

Natural oughts? Is there such a thing as natural?

I was wondering today, as I lay there with one of my twins in my arms, as to whether oughts can be derived from a natural pre-programmed’ behaviour. For example, if an evolved characteristic, such as aggressiveness in males (I am generalising here, of course) or to want to eat meat, or, if it could