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In a New York Times profile, Alvin Plantinga, a generation’s most prominent Christian philosopher, says a lot of highly disputable things about the supposed rationality of theism and the supposed irrationality of naturalism and atheism. He does this in the process of summarizing some of the theses of his new book on science and religion, [...]
Archive for the ‘Evolution’ Category
No, Professor Plantinga, Non-theism IS A Scientific Implication of Evolution
December 13th, 2011 
Daniel Fincke Thinking According To Scale
November 21st, 2011 Daniel Fincke PZ and Crommunist offer nice denunciations of the significance of a graphic which has been going around the internet which concludes that the chance of any given individual alive today ever existing was 1 in 102,685,000. Below the fold is the graphic, key snippets of their remarks and the lesson to draw for how we should consider [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Biology, Biology, Ethics, Ethics, Evolution, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Metaethics, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Naturalistic Fallacy, Naturalistic Fallacy, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Probability, Psychology, Psychology, PZ Myers, PZ Myers, Science, Science, Sociobiology, Sociobiology 
Tags: Crommunist Manifesto, Grind the universe down to its finest powder, Hierarchical Reductionism, PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins, Richard Dawkins on Reductionism, Terry Pratchett, The Blind Watchmaker 
3 Comments »“Not Everything In Life Is Logical”
October 24th, 2011 Daniel Fincke When we rationalists, naturalists, and other assorted atheists insist that no one should form beliefs that disregard logic and evidence, the defenders of faith often tell us that “Not everything in life is logical”, or use some variant of this phrase. What might they mean by this? Where is their confusion exactly and how best [...]
Posted in Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Astronomy, Astronomy, Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Biology, Biology, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Evidence, Evidence, Evolution, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Physics, Physics, Rationalism, Religion, Religion and Science, Science, Science, Secularism, Technology, Technology Tags: "Not Everything In Life Is Logical", Logic, Naturalism 17 Comments »Homosexuality As Naturally Good Part 1: Laying Out Objections To Ethical Naturalism, Some On Behalf Of Gays
October 13th, 2011 Daniel Fincke I intend to lay out the case for the ethical goodness of homosexuality for homosexual people in a way that is consistent with my funadmentally naturalistic ethical theory. Many philosophers, natural scientists, social scientists, and laypeople alike are averse about trying to base ethical judgments on appeals to nature. And there are a number of [...]
Posted in Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Evolution, Evolution, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Gay Rights, Homosexuality, Homosexuality, LGBTQAA, Love, Love, Metaethics, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Teleology, Teleology Tags: Ethical Naturalism, Naturalistic Fallacy, Objections to Ethical Naturalism 8 Comments »The Objective Value of Ordered Complexity
September 13th, 2011 Daniel Fincke I argue that the word goodness should be interpreted to mean, in the most fundamental sense of the word, “effectiveness”. I also argue that since effectiveness is a factual issue, goodness is a factual issue. These controversial positions of mine raise a lot of thought provoking questions and challenges from readers. I am using this [...]
Offer Nominations for 3 Quarks Daily’s Prize for Best Blog Writing in Philosophy
September 4th, 2011 Daniel Fincke For the third straight year, 3 Quarks Daily will award a prize for blog writing in philosophy. Nominate what you think is the best philosophy blog post from the last year by 11:59pm EST on Monday night (September 5). Below the fold are both the full details of the contest and a very good video interview [...]
Posted in Biology, Biology, Ethics, Evolution, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Psychology Tags: Cognitive Science, Neuromorality, Neurophilosophy, Patricia Churchland No Comments »On Evolution
August 9th, 2011 Daniel Fincke by Eric Steinhart A process atheist is someone who agrees that every question that used to be answered by appealing to God can be better answered by appealing to some form of evolution. So you might wonder about the meaning of the term evolution. Since the term evolution is abstract, it’s definition will be abstract: [...]
Contra-Steinhart: Why We Should Not Identify As "Evolutionists"
July 31st, 2011 Daniel Fincke While I agree with Eric Steinhart’s claims that atheists need to take metaphysics seriously and while I would be open to considering evolutionary models for answering metaphysical, ethical, and cosmological questions if they are promising, below I am going to briefly surmise several serious reservations I have to Eric’s suggestions that we ditch the term [...]
Posted in Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Biology, Biology, Cosmology, Cosmology, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Disambiguating Faith, Disambiguating Faith, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Evidence, Evidence, Evolution, Evolution, Faith, Faith, Featured, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Religion, Religion, Religion and Science, Science, Secularism 5 Comments »Tyson On How We Can Tell Nature Was Not Designed For Us
March 19th, 2011 Daniel Fincke A really nice rundown from Neil deGrasse Tyson: Your Thoughts?
Defending The Apparent Truth Of Evolution's Mindlessness
February 21st, 2011 Daniel Fincke Last Christmas Eve, I argued that the belief that God “guided evolution” was not a rationally respectable way to reconcile science with faith but rather it was essentially an effective denial of the theory of natural selection, in its scientifically explanatory sense. Part of the revolutionary character of the discovery of evolution by natural selection [...]
Posted in Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Biology, Biology, Creationism, Creationism, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Evidence, Evidence, Evolution, Evolution, Featured, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, God, God, Historical Philosophy, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy Of Religion, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Science, Political Secularism, Political Secularism, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religion, Religion and Science, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Science, Secularism Tags: Alvin Plantinga, Eugenie Scott, Huston Smith, Jerry Coyne, National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT), National Center for Science Education (NCSE) 4 Comments »Recap Of Darwin Day At Camels With Hammers 2011
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke In case you missed any of the material I gathered together for today, here’s the full rundown of posts: How Belief In “Theistic Evolution” Is Nearly As Much A Denial Of Science As Creationism Qualia Soup Lays Out The Basics Of Evolution Darwin’s Birthdaily Hilarity: Creationism Darwin’s Birthdaily Hilarity: People Are Not Animals! (and evolution [...]
Posted in Atheist Videos, Atheist Videos, Evolution, Evolution, Featured, Videos Tags: Charles Darwin 1 Comment »7 Reasons Not To Celebrate Darwin Day
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke I have been chastened. Next year: no Darwin Day posts. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Atheist Videos, Atheist Videos, Biology, Biology, Evolution, Evolution, Videos Tags: Charles Darwin No Comments »Kansas vs. Darwin
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke From today through March 12, you can screen Kansas vs. Darwin. Description of the film: Even before they took place, the 2005 Kansas school board hearings on evolution were recognized as a pivotal battle in America’s ongoing war over teaching evolution in the public schools. Organized by believers in Intelligent Design and convened by creationists, [...]
Listen Here To An Audio Book Of Darwin's "Beagle Diary"
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke BBC Radio 4 ran readings of Beagle’s Diary as its Book of the Week in December 2006. Here are all five episodes: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, and Episode 5. A description of the book from The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online: The Beagle Diary is read by Jo Stone-Fewings. Each episode is introduced by historian [...]
Pearl Jam vs. Social Darwinism
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke A really well made music video for their otherwise mediocre song “Evolution”: Your Thoughts?
Posted in Evolution, Evolution, Music, Music, Music Videos, Music Videos, Political Satire, Political Satire, Videos Tags: Animated Shorts, Animation, Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam's "Evolution" 1 Comment »Rebutting "Irreducible Complexity" Claims
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke A couple of months ago I profiled a spectacular video in which Qualia Soup succinctly, clearly, and precisely debunked the creationist argument that within organisms there are designs which are so irreducibly complex that they could not have evolved but must have been intelligently designed. In reply to that video came criticisms from creationists and [...]
Posted in Biology, Biology, Creationism, Creationism, Evolution, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, Science, Science Tags: Irreducible Complexity 1 Comment »Islamic Apologist, Shabir Ally, Argues Quran And Evolution Are Consistent
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Of course I disagree, but I’m sure glad he thinks so and hope more Muslims do too. Your Thoughts?
Dennett: Darwin Had The Single Greatest Idea Anyone Ever Had
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke This is a terrific video in which Dennett and Dawkins get further into the weeds discussing the dynamics of evolution, responsibility, how you can make living things out of dead stuff and conscious ones out of unconscious ones, the wonder of natural processes, the idea that we have souls—but they’re made of neurons, and many [...]
Posted in Atheist Videos, Atheist Videos, Biology, Biology, Daniel Dennett, Daniel Dennett, Evolution, Evolution, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Mind, Science, Science, Videos Tags: Charles Darwin, Complexity, Daniel Dennett, Meaning, Purpose, Richard Dawkins, Teleology 2 Comments »You're A Good Man, Charlie Darwin
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke via Caliph of Zephyrs Your Thoughts?
Posted in Comic Strips, Comic Strips, Evolution, Evolution, Parody, Parody Tags: Charles Darwin 1 Comment »Human Evolution Made Easy
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Darwin’s “little heresy”: Thanks to Meko. Your Thoughts?
Missing Links?
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Are there any such things? Is there any legitimate reason to talk about “missing links” when it is a term beloved by creationists and used to spread misunderstanding about evolution? Greg Laden has an interesting, very long, post all about whether or how we should use this term. Your Thoughts?
Best Use Of Evolution In A Beer Commercial Ever.
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke Thanks to Tony for the heads up. Your Thoughts?
Richard Dawkins: Waking Up In The Universe—Growing Up In The Universe
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke A great video: Your Thoughts?
Posted in Atheist Videos, Atheist Videos, Biology, Biology, Evolution, Evolution, Science 4 Comments »"Evolution Is A Blind Watchmaker"
February 12th, 2011 Daniel Fincke A simulation addressing Paley’s watch argument by demonstrating that if the components watches are made of had the same basic properties that the components of organic beings have, then they could have evolved just as well: Thanks to Eric for the find. Your Thoughts?
Posted in Creationism, Creationism, Evolution, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, Science, Videos Tags: "Clocks", Coldplay, Irreducible Complexity, William Paley 2 Comments »
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