Posted inPhilosophy
Hume on Miracles
It's Memorial Day, and it is not an abuse of the word "miracle" to suggest that it applies to the volunteering of the soldier who gives his life so that…
Posted inCulture Statistics
What Makes Music Bad? A New Scale: Part I, the Definition
It might have been coming out of the air space between her ear buds and flesh, or it might have been seeping through the holes in the woman's head. Either…
Posted inCulture Philosophy
Martin Gardner, Philosophical Scrivener, RIP
All regular readers will surely know Martin Gardner, writer, philosopher, mathematician, magician, exposer of flim flam. He died Saturday night; according to long-time friend and magician James Randi, peacefully. For…
Posted inCulture
Intelligent Design is Mostly Harmlessness: Reply to Eugenie Scott
Eugenie C. Scott Executive Director National Center for Science Education Dear Ms Scott, Thank you for your recent letter informing me of the efforts of your fine organization to discourage…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Are Men Smarter Than Women?
The Question No. That is to say, Yes. But not really. Actually, what we have here is an badly phrased question: just what do we mean when we ask "Are…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Confidence Intervals, Logic, Induction
Induction "Because all the many flames observed before have been hot is a good reason to believe this flame will be hot" is an example of an inductive argument, and…
Posted inPhilosophy Statistics
Randomness is a Matter of Information
How many pads of paper do I have on my desk right now? How many books are on my shelves this minute? You don't know the answer to any of…
Posted inPhilosophy
What Do Philosophers Believe? Survey: Part I
What are the answers to The Big Questions? A survey was taken to discover what professional philosophers thought. We'll have fun going through the questions and answers. The results are,…