Deep Dive

A collection of 1068 posts

cancel culture

Is "Cancel Culture" Butchering the Centre?

Cancel culture is the talk of the town. What is it, for those uninitiated? The act of canceling, also referred to as cancel culture (a variant on the term "callout culture"), describes a form of boycott in which an individual (usually a celebrity) who has acted or spoken

heaven

Quote of the Day on the Morality of Those Seeking Heaven

I will be expanding on this, but this point from a regular astute commenter is exactly one that I have touched upon here: Heaven & Hell Stop You From Genuinely Morally Evaluating But if you can't be bothered to read that, read (((J_Enigma32)))'s recent comment:

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

atheism

Playing Truant: The Relevancy of God

It's not so much that God is playing truant, it's that she never really turned up in the first place. And, although her classmates keep telling us they saw her walking into school, it turns out they were mistaken. Or covering for her. In fact, she&

Trump

Toppling Confederate Statues: Some Facts and Context

Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children. Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our Founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.... [T]hey

equality

The Best, Most Informative Debate I Have Seen

Statues. What's all the noise about? What to do? I absolutely loved this debate. Yes, it was civil, good-natured, well run and all the things we expect of debates (but don't always get) but it was also really interesting. I enjoyed listening to both sides. Though

equality

"We" Won Two World Wars and One World Cup!

We won World War I! We won World War II! We won the World Cup! We transported and sold over 3 million African people into slavery! Oh, hang on, no. That's not... No... We engineered the death of 4 million Indians in the man-made Bengal Famine! Oh, no,

meaning

Meaning of Life: Telic vs Atelic Activities

I wrote a piece yesterday looking at happiness, the meaning of life, and the inherent desire in humans to do more meaningful activities in order to find drive and momentum in life. The idea as that atheism presents a challenge to humans in the fact that there is no ultimate

meaning

Nihilism, Meaning, God &...World of Tanks...?

Bear with me. I think this makes sense. I occasionally, in this lockdown world, play a game called World of Tanks. For those of you who don't know this game (and probably don't care), it is usually a fifteen on fifteen team game where you have

humanism

Global persecution of humanists continues to worsen, new report reveals

This is from Humanists UK: A new report published today by Humanists International has revealed worsening persecution of the non-religious in many parts of the globe. The report, which takes a detailed look at eight countries, finds ‘clear and growing evidence of the targeting of humanist and atheist activists on

alt-right

Twexit to Parler: The Right-Wing Are Fleeing Twitter

Recently, hateful right-wing political uberfuhrer Katie Hopkins was banned from Twitter. She had previously said all manner of things, from comparing immigrants to cockroaches to claiming dementia sufferers should not block hospital beds. Sussex Police even reported her tweets after 5 (BAME) Londoners drowned at Camber Sands and she mocked

atheism

Atheism: Proportion of Northern Ireland "Nones" at Record High

Northern Ireland is synonymous with religious divide and sectarian belief and conflict. Now, unsurprisingly given similar trends over both the rest of the UK and other similar countries, those who profess to no religion have grown to record numbers: The proportion of people in Northern Ireland who identify as ‘non-religious’

Consciousness

On the Argument from Reason: Rationality

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

conceptual nominalism

Statues, The Sorites Paradox & Slippery Slopes

It's my favourite philosophical thought experiment. There is a reason that I find the Sorites Paradox compelling, insightful and very important: it is everywhere and has ramifications right across the board. I'll get onto it later. In my opinion, it goes hand in hand with conceptual

determinism

From The West Wing to Devs

I came to The West Wing twenty years too late. I say too late, but the show doesn't age. Yes, it's set in the late 90s and early 00s, with all that entails. But as a political drama, displaying the machinations of the White House and

bible

Using Common Sense to Not See God

Bob Seidensticker, of Cross Examined here at Patheos, contributed a chapter to the recent book Not Seeing God: Atheism in the 21st Century. In his piece, he joins a few of us in the first section who look to philosophically dismantle the notion of God. The book is set into

COVID crisis

Responding to Wilcox #5: When Is a Human a Human Being?

This is the fifth piece in series debating Clinton Wilcox at the Life Training Institute (a pro-life organisation) with the following chronology: JP: Abortion: The Human/Human Being Distinction CW: About the Alleged Human/Human Being Distinction CW: About the Alleged Human/Human Being Distinction, Part 2 JP: Pro-Life Debate:

Deep Dive

Quote of the Day on Personal Identity over Time

This came from Antrotheist in response to skl, over on this thread. Skl started with: Your argument that “identity” changes constantly over time not only doesn’t make sense to me, it strikes me as ridiculous. It’s as ridiculous as saying the person listed on your birth certificate is

atheism

Study: Turkish Students Increasingly Resistant to Religion

In other news: The president has trebled the number of religious İmam Hatip high schools in the country, steadily increased funding for Turkey’s religious affairs directorate and increased the powers of local muktars, or community leaders, who are usually pious men. Yet a study by Sakarya university and the

COVID crisis

Responding to Wilcox #4: Eggs & Chickens, Acorns & Oaks, Embryos & Humans

This is the fourth piece in series debating Clinton Wilcox at the Life Training Institute (a pro-life organisation) with the following chronology: JP: Abortion: The Human/Human Being Distinction CW: About the Alleged Human/Human Being Distinction CW: About the Alleged Human/Human Being Distinction, Part 2 JP: Pro-Life Debate:

COVID crisis

Responding to Wilcox #3: Human, Humans, Human Beings, the Sorites Paradox & Identity

Today, again, I am continuing my rebuttals of Clinton Wilcox over at Life Training Institute, a pro-life organisation, after he tackled a post I wrote concerning human/human being distinction. My original piece was here, his two pieces here and here, and so far my two rejoinders here and here.

abstracts

Responding to Wilcox #2: "An Embryo Is an Innocent Human Being"

To continue the rejoinder to Clinton Wilcox over at the Life Training Institute, who took issue with one of my posts looking at the pro-life/pro-choice debate concerning abortion. I responded to the initial part of his first piece here. Today, I will look at his comments with regard to

COVID crisis

Personhood vs Bodily Autonomy - the Central Arguments of Pro-Life Advocacy

Anthrotheist made a strong point on another thread concerning what the central argument should be in the abortion debate: The abortion debate isn't about personhood or whether or not a nonviable fetus is a human being. That angle is purely a red herring introduced by the pro-life movement

COVID crisis

Pro-Life Debate: Answering Criticisms on the Human/Human Being Distinction

Some time ago, I wrote a few pieces on the definitions of human and human being as pertaining to the pro-life/pro-choice/abortion debate: * Abortion: The Human/Human Being Distinction In my piece, I was taking to task a set of comments from a Mark Bradshaw here, an avowedly pro-life

Naturalism

What Is Naturalism?, and Other Criticisms

The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. - Carl Sagan, Cosmos Jayman, a Thomist who takes his time to argue his case here (and for which I am grateful, because he is a lot more thoughtful and constructive than others) has recently written a