Philosophy – Page 103 – William M. Briggs

Bioethicist Calls Unborn “Innocent Aggressors”

Introduction This was originally written very badly and in the wrong spirit. I beg the reader's forgiveness. It is now better but still imperfect. Charles C. Camosy1 is a bioethicist---Yours…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

That IQ And Atheism Study

A lovely, but not at all unexpected conceit, held firmly by a certain sort of atheist, is that he has based his non-belief on his superior intelligence. He quotes, "A…

Culture Philosophy

Belloc On The Limited Intelligence Of Scientists

From Hilaire Belloc's Richelieu, J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia & Londen, 1929, p. 23, in the context of disproving the social theory of historical events, i.e. the one which claims individuals…

Book review Philosophy

Our Brains Are Not Us: Review of Brainwashed

My nomination for Worst Use of Inference in a Scientific Paper (2009) is "The neural correlates of religious and nonreligious belief" by brain scientist cum philosopher Sam Harris and colleagues.…

Philosophy

We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, Researchers

Blockbuster science headline of last week was "Neuroscientists plant false memories in the brain." The whetted some intellects---if intellects can be whetted---and caused others to tizzy. Philip Dick turned out…

Philosophy

C.S. Lewis On The Validity of Reasoning

From Miracles (Touchstone edition, 1996, pp 23-24; original 1947): All possible knowledge, then, depends on the validity of reasoning. If the feeling of certainty which we express by words like…

Philosophy Statistics

More On True Models And Predictive Inference

Not all models are false. So much we have discussed before. To say a model is false is to show that one of the premises which comprise the model is…

Philosophy Statistics

There Is No Such Thing As Unconditional Probability: Update

I am awarding a Briggs Internet Prize---the coveted BIP---for anybody who can demonstrate even one instance of a probability which is unconditional on any evidence whatsoever. The prize will not…

Brian (bulaoren) on The Dysgenics Of IVFNovember 12, 2025
...Addendum, this time more utilitarian than Kevorkian (HMmm... both Armenian?) An oncologist I know suspects a very real connection between…
Uncle Mike on In Which An Atheist Becomes Sputteringly Angry Over Theist’s ArgumentNovember 12, 2025
Brother Cary, look harder. Everything you see reveals God. The complexity of your eye reveals God. The act of seeing,…
McChuck on In Which An Atheist Becomes Sputteringly Angry Over Theist’s ArgumentNovember 12, 2025
CDC: You have been given an opportunity. You have vociferously declined it. You have made your choice, which is the…
Brian (bulaoren) on The Dysgenics Of IVFNovember 12, 2025
Back in the 1990s, progressives had a hero named Dr. Jack Kevorkian (aka " Dr. Death") Good old Jack might…
JRob on The Dysgenics Of IVFNovember 12, 2025
Other writers also have pointed out that IVF occurs when all the average sperm have an equal chance at conception,…