It’s impossible to live like this–impossible, impossible, impossible! That’s what the great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy wrote in his article of 1882 On the Occasion of the Moscow Census…but those words easily sum up all he wrote in the last thirty years of his life. This includes his attack on art, the church, the state…
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What you must know about Peter Singer is he’s simply and uncompromisingly working out the implications of living in a truly secular society. To say is an atheist is a gross understatement. Often accused of sensationalism, this Australian philosopher advocates some strong, provocative lines of thought. Yet, he’s dead serious. What you must know is that…
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In the Buddhist version of the , a young man approaches Buddha with a dilemma…. Part of a series on truth. Dozens of hermits and wandering scholars are making contradictory claims about reality. Some claim everything is infinite. Others claim all is finite. Then some claim just certain artifacts are infinite while other artifacts are…
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Guest post by Rob Powell. Part of a series on truth. Bertrand Russell was a genius. He had a , was a pioneer in several fields and employed a sharp mind–and even sharper wit. For all his achievements though he may be best remembered in internet culture today for his teapot analogy… It goes a little something like…
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Let’s pretend Time magazine published an issue called The Number One Atheist of All Time. Who’s picture do you think would be on the cover? Christoper Hitchens? Dan Barker? Richard Dawkins? Sam Harris? Maybe Thomas Huxley, Charles Darwin or David Hume… Or 9th century A. D. religious critic … Or even 5th century Athenian philosopher Socrates who was,…
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In which we try not to argue over our differences about the truth on truth. What is truth? And does anybody have a lock on it? The preacher? The scientist? The scholar? The engineer? The psychologist? The shaman? Furthermore, can you trust them? Not easy questions to answer. There are so many competing claims…
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Guest post byRob Powell. Part of a series on truth. Science is awesome. It provides us with , , and is the most predictable way to study and . But other than a seven letter word, what exactly is science? And more importantly, why for the last 300 years have some people thought it to be the ? Defining…
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There are no facts–just interpretations.” Friedrich Nietzsche Part of a series on truth. A bit of eccentric logic. Especially since Nietzsche is presenting it as a fact… The very thing he himself admits doesn’t exist. What are we to do with that? More importantly, what are we to do when people say, “Well, that’s just your interpretation?”…
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Guest post by Rob Powell. Part of a series on truth. In continuing our discussion about truth and absolutism let’s move to how that idea intersects with the wide diversity of faiths represented in our world, specifically in the concept called “pluralism.” We’ve all heard the allegory of the blind men feeling different parts of an elephant. Each man describes…
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**Guest post by Rob Powell. Part of a series on truth.** True or False: Sean Connery was the best James Bond ever? Of course the answer is true… And as long as I keep this statement limited to my experience and preference it remains valid. But, as soon as I try to put my preferences into a…
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