Ontological Arguments

Ontological Arguments for the existence of God are an odd grouping. Not much holds them together except for their most common rebuttal: that they attempt to define a God into existence. This is not my favourite rebuttal to the arguments, although it is true: ontological arguments for God try to sneak the idea of existing…

The Ontological Argument for God – and why it’s nonsense

There is an argument for God called the ‘Ontological argument’ and it received an ambivalent welcome whenever it is trotted out, which seems increasingly rarely. It isn’t at all compelling, and yet that appears to be irrational because it’s rare to see someone actually attack the premises or the structure. However, that, today, is what…

Climate change is real, the “realists” are wrong and we can solve this problem (if we try)

Approximately 64% of Americans do not think climate change is a threat to their way of life. That 64% will be made up of climate change deniers as well as people who call themselves climate change “realists”. This is a hugely concerning problem; democracy demands that people are aware of the problem before action can…

A Growing Religiosity Among Atheists?

Shadow to Light has published another of its pieces on the view that the author, Michael, believes that ‘New Atheism’ is hypocritical. To do this, Michael has to imply certain premises. As they’re implied, I can’t be certain, but here is what I think the premises are: New Atheism is necessarily anti-religious, New Atheism presents…

Are Dogs Rational Actors?

However, I told my friend I was going to devise an experiment to test the claim that dogs are rational actors. The experiment is this: over the next week I will place post-meal plates, bowls and saucepans on the floor as an offer to my labrador and then take them away randomly. Each item has different amounts of food on them.

Is it More Rational to Believe in God?

The BBC's The Big Questions continues to captivates, today with the question of whether it is more rational to believe in God. There has been some allusion to what it means to be rational; the philosopher Julian Baggini refers to science and naturalism. But a strong definition is never given. I'd like to do that (and…

Science is Ruthless

A friend of mine is a much more outspoken sceptic than I am. He spends his day around people with beliefs so unbelievable that I simply don't believe it is worth the energy debunking them: homeopathy, moon farming, healing crystals, psychic counselling... trust me, the list goes on. Said friend will always explain to these…

Jesus’ Resurrection: best explanation of the evidence

It is irrational to belief that Jesus rose from the dead. I made that argument a while ago, using mostly the Bible and Dr Bart Ehrman as sources. My argument was that we have laughably unreliable, inconsistent, outdated oral tales supposedly based on second-hand eye-witness accounts that Jesus’ tomb was found empty three days after…

Random Rationality.

A blogging buddy, Fourat Janabi, has written two books now. And you need to read them both! They are called Random Rationality (R2) and Science, Statistics and Scepticism (S3). If I'd had my way the second book would have been called Dutiful Diligence (D2 - giving the name R2D2 - but I should have voiced…