Religious zealotry, political intolerance, and the precarious status of free-thinkers. In Aeon magazine, a strong essay worth reading again by Steven Nadler on “Why Spinoza Still Matters.” At a time when Americans seem willing to bargain away their freedoms for security, when politicians talk of banning people of a certain faith from our shores, and […]
Why Spinoza still matters Read More »
Reprising this classic from the Department of Collegial Zingers: here is W. K. Clifford on an intellectual acquaintance: “He is writing a book on metaphysics, and is really cut out for it; the clearness with which he thinks he understands things and his total inability to express what little he knows will make his fortune
W. K. Clifford on philosophical writing style Read More »
In his open letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615), Galileo offered a defense of science against the prevailing heavy hand of religious orthodoxy: “But I do not feel obliged to believe that that same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended to forgo their use and by some other
Galileo’s modern compromise: Letting science work *with* religion Read More »
All from the twenty-first century: * Sorcerers stealing or shrinking men’s penises in Congo. * Black magic murders in Brazil. * Witches beaten and humiliated in in southern India. * God punishes Haiti for its witchcraft and other immoralities. * Though progress in Ghana: a call “for the immediate abolition of witches camps and witchcraft
What’s new in witchcraft Read More »
Refreshing this story from Francis Kane, professor of philosophy and former colleague of Professor George Walsh at Salisbury State University, in a eulogy delivered November 21, 2001. The phone rang one Friday afternoon (I’ll never forget): “Fran, I’m going to be fired!” “George, you’re not going to be fired.” “Yes, I am! Something horrible has
Professor Walsh gives an “A” to a Jain monk Read More »
Cómo domesticar al terrorismo islámico: lecciones del pasado extremista cristiano Por Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D. Derrotar a un enemigo, como al politizado Islam, implica una batalla en varios frentes: policial, militar, diplomático, cultural y filosófico. Traducido al Español por María Marty. Para encontrar este y más artículos en español: https://www.stephenhicks.org/espanol/. Original article in English.
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Los cuatro errores del papa Francisco sobre el liberalismo El papa Francisco nos ha dado varios indicios de su posición acerca del liberalismo, pero su negatividad es cada vez más evidente. En su mensaje a la Sesión Plenaria de la Pontificia Academia de Ciencias Sociales, las críticas fueron directas y, a veces, crudas. Si bien el Pontífice tuvo algunos
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How different are Stephen Hicks’s and Jordan Peterson’s views on the origins of the Enlightenment? Was Christianity essential or a hindrance?
“A difference with Jordan Peterson on Enlightenment foundations” [Five-minute excerpt] Read More »