The Archbishop of Canterbury's 'Breathtaking Hypocrisy'

Justin Welby has compared the BBC's approach to abuse to that of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches: I haven't seen the same integrity over the BBC's failures over Savile as I've seen in the Roman Catholic Church, in the Church of England, in other public institutions over abuse. This is a remarkable statement. Certainly, the BBC...

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EASAC statement on Homeopathy

Here, dated September 2017: http://www.easac.eu/fileadmin/PDF_s/reports_statements/EASAC_Homepathy_statement_web_final.pdf EASAC – the European Academies' Science Advisory Council – is formed by the national science academies of the EU Member States to enable them to collaborate with each other in giving advice to European policy-makers....

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Hume on Induction Revision Notes

I produced a number of revision documents for my degree course, and maybe someone will find them useful. This is for A222 Exploring Philosophy, Book 4, Knowledge by Cristina Chimisso. I printed these revision notes on card as an aide-memoire to the issues I needed to touch on in an exam question on the subject; most exam questions...

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It's 'Elf and Safety Gone Mad!

Well, contra the cliché, this is what health and safety gone mad really looks like: A trapped resident tries to get help as the fire engulfs the Grenfell Tower block.(c) Universal News and Sport (Europe) It can lead to disadvantaged men, women and children being burnt alive in their own homes. It appears undeniable now that the...

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The Asymmetry of Pain and Pleasure

Jeffery Jay Lowder at the Secular Outpost blogged an excellent piece last year detailing 25 lines of evidence against theism. I think all of them bear consideration, and, if I remember correctly, one or two more lines of evidence against theism popped up in the comments. I would like to add another modest line to this list, or maybe just...

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Functionalism Revision Notes

I produced a number of revision documents for my degree course, and maybe someone will find them useful. This is for A222 Exploring Philosophy, Book 5, Mind by Derek Matravers. I printed these revision notes on card as an aide-memoire to the issues I needed to touch on in an exam question on the subject; most exam questions require...

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Darwin on the Development of the Human Mind

By Unknown - Karl Pearson (1914-30) The life, letters and labours of Francis Galton, IIIa, Cambridge: University press, p. 341 OCLC: 873074079., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36632165 This is a wonderful summary by Charles Darwin at the end of Chapter IV of the Descent of Man, after he has compared the...

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Arguments for a Designer Revision Notes

I produced a number of revision documents for my degree course, and maybe someone will find them useful. This is for A222 Exploring Philosophy, Book 2, The Philosophy of Religion, by Timothy Chappell. I printed these revision notes on card as an aide-memoire to the issues I needed to touch on in an exam question on the subject; most...

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Would an Immortal Life be a Meaningless Life?

The Chaplain in The Meaning of Life Bernard Williams (1929-2003) famously discusses this question in his essay ‘The Makropulos case: reflections on the tedium of immortality’. I shall defend one particular premise in Williams’s argument that an immortal life would be meaningless against Donald Bruckner’s objections, to highlight...

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Theresa May Sings the Benefits of Economic Union

Some ironic quotes from Theresa May's speech to the Scottish Tory party: One of the driving forces behind the Union’s creation was the remorseless logic that greater economic strength and security come from being united. Not the transient and shifting benefits of international alliance, but the fundamental strength of being one people....

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Immaterial Soul Revision Notes

I produced a number of revision documents for my degree course, and maybe someone will find them useful. This is for A222 Exploring Philosophy, Book 1, The Self, by Nigel Warburton. I printed these revision notes on card as an aide-memoire to the issues I needed to touch on in an exam question on the subject; most exam questions require an exposition of the ground to be covered before any actual philosophy can be done (ie,...

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