Adding philosophical depth to anything and everything
Epistemology is the philosophical study of what knowledge is and how we can come to have knowledge. It is a field of philosophy as old as philosophy itself, and epistemology underpins everything in philosophy, and not just philosophy, but everything that human beings do. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke […]
Read more
People are smart. We call ourselves Homo sapiens for a reason. People are smart enough to figure out how to go to the moon. So why do a small minority of people choose to believe we didn’t go to the moon, or stupid things like that the Earth is flat, […]
Read more
Monty Python showed us how not to have an argument. An argument is more than the automatic nay-saying of what the other person said. Beyond that, however, there is a considerable amount of subtlety and complexity in conducting an argument. First off, I should make clear that in talking about […]
Read more
One of my favorite historical stories is that of miasma theory. It is also known as the theory that bad air causes disease. The scientific word “miasma” comes from ancient Greek and means “pollution.” More common usage adopted the medieval Italian word “malaria,” meaning “bad air.” As you probably have […]
Read more
My most popular Medium article, at least for now, is “Buddhism Is Wrong.” It was inspired by my spouse who sent to me a video of a lecture from a Hollywood celebrity. The article received many great, thoughtful, and supportive comments. It also received some rude and insulting comments. The […]
Read more
I recently edited a long article on Buddhist canonical history by a junior scholar. It is an interesting study on how the early Buddhists debated the meaning of the earliest Buddhist writings and what texts should belong in the canon. Common among all of those involved in the debates was […]
Read more
Deteething an old saw. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but that the fight continues still slightly mystifies me. The classic “problem of evil” is a philosophical quandary for religious people and a weapon for anti-religious people in their attack on religion. Whether the “problem” is an actual problem […]
Read more
Do you remember Pet Rocks? You need to be older to remember them, but here’s a good history of them. The Pet Rock was the ultimate triumph of marketing over substance. The Pet Rock was a rock, just a plain rock, in a plain cardboard box labeled “Pet Rock.” I […]
Read more
It’s a simple hypothesis: I have the ability to choose freely what actions I will take. Whether that hypothesis is correct — or its opposite is correct, that our choices are determined by external forces — is impossible to prove by reason. Or is it? William James observed that generating […]
Read more
Okay, that headline is unfair because “Buddhism” is not a discrete entity but has many forms. However, that is part of my point. Read on, please. I saw a video address using a Hollywood celebrity to promote a particular school of Buddhism. “I realized all my thoughts are illusions,” said […]
Read more