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Afternoon Inquisition 9/24
Today I’d like to try a philosophical question and see how it goes: Is compassion a virtue? The answer might seem obvious at first, but a little reflection exposes some possible flaws. Many philosophers have been skeptical about compassion, as evidenced by this article. Some of the criticisms include: Compassion is an emotion. Can an emotion be a virtue? Is it true that…
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Don’tJudge a Book by its Cover (aka. Afternoon Inquisition 9.17)Skepticism is all about examining conventional wisdom, so let’s crack this one open. Your looks are comprised of two components: heredity and choice. You may not be able to do much about your height or facial features, but you sure as heck choose how to present yourself. Your clothing, eyewear, piercings, tattoos, haircut, make-up, etc. – all of these are…
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Afternoon Inquisition 9.10
Today’s Afternoon Inquisition was suggested by Skepchick Commenter JRice. When did you first realize you were a skeptic?
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Afternoon Inquisition 9.3
So…I was discussing religion and morality with a friend of mine the other day and the conversation came down to this question: Which came first: religion or morality? The original conversation was about whether morality would exist without religion. And that is actually the real question, so feel free to speak on that. Determining which came first doesn’t answer that…
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Afternoon Inquisition 8.27
Fact: Intelligent Design is harmful because it teaches religious theories as science, which discourages critical thinking. Fact: Religious people fight for Intelligent Design because they believe evolution is at odds with their beliefs (aka creationism). Fact: Religious people are not likely to abandon their beliefs and accept evolution en masse. Fact: Stephen Jay Gould proposed that science and religion are…
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Weekly Wrap-up 8.23
It’s a week of new features and here’s the newest: The Weekly Wrap-up. TWW is a one-stop-shop for the week’s posts, including brief descriptions and links. So, if work is crazy, your internet goes down, or you get distracted by life and fear you’ve missed something important – TWW is here for you. No need to scroll through pages of…
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Bisexual Species
I totally stole that title from the article that inspired this post. I just can’t wait to see how many unintentional hits we get from the buzz words in this entry. We’ve all heard/read about homosexuality in animals, which seems to support the claim that homosexuality is natural, despite the obvious lack of synergy in the reproductive department. But the…
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A Motley Memo
I haven’t posted in two months. I took a big trip to Spain last month, went to TAM last week, and have been trying to finish school while working more than full-time. Oh yeah, and every once in awhile I do something fun. But if you don’t remember me, that’s ok, because I’m about to go through a sort of…
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