Philosophy – Page 114 – William M. Briggs

The Dismal Removing Freedoms Saves Money Argument

Here is an example of an argument which you will hear with increasing frequency. A month or so ago on the Fox News Special Report panel the participants were discussing…

Culture Philosophy

A Christmas Play In One Act

This post originally ran two years ago. Then current events inspired the post; events haven't changed much since then. Scene: Night Court, Manhattan; a date in the near future. Players:…

Philosophy Statistics

In Defense Of Peter Kreeft: A Response To Brafford

Peter Kreeft, a philosopher whose surname does not sound like it is spelled, placed in Touchstone the article "Clashing Symbols: The Loss of Aristotelian Logic & the Social, Moral, &…

Philosophy Statistics

The Data Is The Data, Not The Model: With Climatology Time Series Example

How not to plot The following plot was sent to me yesterday for comment. I cannot disclose the sender, nor the nature of the data, but neither of these are…

Fun Philosophy

Transhumanists Gather In San Francisco

My first thought when I read the title of today's post (from Bioedge) was that it was some kind of warning. Look out! It's the transhumanists! And then I figured…

Fun Philosophy

Sam Harris & William Lane Craig Duke It Out

The debate question was: Are the foundations of moral values natural or supernatural? Winner? By acclamation Harris, but then the deck was stacked against Lane because the event was held…

Philosophy Statistics

What Does The Regression Equation Mean? Causality? Something Else?

Saw this tweet this fine morning: https://twitter.com/MarkThoma/status/276542962622668800 and downloaded the paper at the landing site, co-authored by Judea Pearl, he of Causality fame (a recommended book). Pearl and a co-author…

Philosophy

Two Oregon Academics Attempt Logic Lesson, Fail Miserably

Bertrand Russell said: "People are zealous for a cause when they are not quite positive that it is true." I think this false and even scurrilous. The zealous are nothing…

Ralph Mertesdorf on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 14, 2025
Bad science is only a symptom of the stupidity (much of it willful) of the masses. Treat symptoms not causes.…
Zundfolge on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 14, 2025
Social constructionism. Almost as obviously BS as man caused, catastrophic climate change.
NLR on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 14, 2025
The idea that physics can replace philosophy. This is an old one. For instance, Laplace said "Newton was the greatest…
Mark on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 14, 2025
Reading and history. Neither a science yet both fields (as taught in schools) introduce evidence to justify their conclusions. Meanwhile…
Keith Buercklin on Reader Opinion Requested: What Science Do You Find Sketchy, Exaggerated Or Wrong?July 14, 2025
Televised sports include commercials for sports betting which show the "probability" that some athlete will score a touchdown, kick a…