Philosophy – Page 3 – William M. Briggs

Our Base Metaphors & Analogies Used In Science Have Outlived Their Usefulness: Part I

Metaphors and analogies exhaust themselves. No matter how useful they are as guides to thought, pushed too far they can loosen our grip on Reality or lead to stagnation, and…

Philosophy Statistics

How Not To Think Like A Bayesian Rationalist

Lisping Rationalists When I read people like Eliezer Yudkowsky and Scott Alexander it becomes clear to me how the French could have built a Temple of Reason during The Terror.…

Philosophy

How Failing To Butcher Your Child Became “Child Abuse”

Three females, which I believe is significant, took to the pages of the journal Pediatrics and argued that failing to have a surgeon mutilate your child (for a large fee)…

Philosophy Statistics

The Frequency Interpretation Of Probability Is False: Some Reasons Contra von Mises

What is the chance that "Donald Trump wins the 2024 Presidential election"? Impossible to say, says Richard von Mises, because the event is singular and must be embedded in an…

Fun Philosophy

A Christmas Carol Revisited — Guest Post by Richard Law

Richard Law is a retired web engineer and writer living in Switzerland. 'Tis the season for Charles Dickens' (1812-1870) deservedly popular tale of the time-travels of Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas…

Philosophy

Doom For The Doomsday Argument

Heard of the Doomsday Argument, sometimes also called the Carter Catastrophe? It claims to be able to name the date, with a certain confidence, at which mankind dies off. It…

Philosophy

What Makes A Casino Gamble Different Than Making A Decision Under Uncertainty?

We continue with our week of pleasant Thanksgiving topics. A cop in the police procedural Hell Is A City (start around 54 minutes) discerned one of the bad guys he…

Culture Philosophy

Sex With Dogs & Other Critters Back In Vogue, Thanks To Academic Peter Singer

Very long time readers will know that we warned that the creation of the notion of "sexual orientation", and the criminalizing of "discrimination" against "sexual orientations", logically implied that all…

Rudolph Harrier on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
During the COVID pandemic the Minnesota shut down directives were based on a computer model that said that tens of…
R W Pearson on On Not ReadingMarch 16, 2026
Good to hear you are an avid reader, Professor Briggs. The word processor gave us the boat anchor novel, and…
James on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
Why is a BRITISH journal (The Lancet) complaining about the US medical establishment? And given the current political establishment in…
bruce g charlton on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
As I have been saying for a couple of decades; science is dead (as a social institution) - but *medical*…
JR Ewing on Lancet Discovers Public Health Is PoliticsMarch 16, 2026
"For these crimes, our rulers paid no price. Not directly." ----------------------- It depresses me when I think about it, so…