Christians used to worry that Christmas was too comercial. That's the moral found in old popular culture stories such as "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
But today's self-annointed "culture warriors" have inverted the issue. Bill O'Reilly is upset that Wal-Mart employees say "Happy Holidays!" Commerce is not Christian enough!
The Prius Paradox
By conserving, hybrid owners are reducing the demand for gasoline. Economics dictates that a decrease in demand will create a decrease in price. The resulting cheap fuel encourages more people to buy large vehicles.
Perhaps the most environmentally active thing to do is to buy a large gas hog, which will increase the demand, cause an increase in price, and force more people to buy hybrid vehicles.
Perhaps the most environmentally active thing to do is to buy a large gas hog, which will increase the demand, cause an increase in price, and force more people to buy hybrid vehicles.
Not Stark Enough
Rodney Stark, sociologist from the University of Washington, uses an economic model to analyze religious choices. He is against the idea that religion is irrational, and works to show the reasons why people choose to be religious. One thesis is that the more expensive the religious organization, the more valuable is it perceived to be. So, a church that demands a lot from its members (two years of missionary work, no sex before marriage, no drugs or alcohol, 10% of your income, etc.) will be perceived to be more valuable than a laid back church that demands little from its members.
But Stark fails to follow through on this thesis. Churches can also demand that you sacrifice your rational thinking and your ability to think for yourself. People willingly give up their own rational autonomy and give their lives over to someone else. This greatest sacrifice reveals the purposeful irrationality of religions.
But Stark fails to follow through on this thesis. Churches can also demand that you sacrifice your rational thinking and your ability to think for yourself. People willingly give up their own rational autonomy and give their lives over to someone else. This greatest sacrifice reveals the purposeful irrationality of religions.
In Zeus We Trust
U.S. currency states "In God We Trust," but it does not specify which god. It does not say "Jesus," or "Yahveh," or any other particular god. However, most U.S. currency display classical pagan temples. Most major government buildings and monuments are built in this classical style. So, to what god do we owe our trust? Zeus!
Zeus is an aristocratic tribal warrior god. Zeus is not the creator god -- he is actually in the third generation of divine powers (following Hesiod's Theogony). Creation involves manual labor and getting your hands dirty. Zeus rules the heavens by force -- taking what others have created and threatening violence if opposed. Book 8 of Homer's Illiad opens with Zeus threatening violence and torture to any god who dares oppose him.
Certainly Zeus describes the character of U.S. foreign policy better than the Gospels.
Zeus is an aristocratic tribal warrior god. Zeus is not the creator god -- he is actually in the third generation of divine powers (following Hesiod's Theogony). Creation involves manual labor and getting your hands dirty. Zeus rules the heavens by force -- taking what others have created and threatening violence if opposed. Book 8 of Homer's Illiad opens with Zeus threatening violence and torture to any god who dares oppose him.
Certainly Zeus describes the character of U.S. foreign policy better than the Gospels.
Dualism and Artificial Intelligence
Dualism is the view that humans are two types of things: physical bodies and non-physical minds. Developers trying to create Artificial Intelligence deny dualism because a non-physical mind (like a soul) would be impossible to create in a physical computer system. Many books in philosophy of mind begin with a chapter rejecting Descartes' version of dualism.
However, the very fact that they are trying to create a mind within a computer actually reveals that they are dualists. By trying to create a mind within a computer, they are claiming that mind is independent of the human body. That is dualism. I have read authors who dismiss the necessity of the "wetware" of brains without realizing that this rejection commits them to dualism.
The only way consistently to avoid dualism is to accept that what we know as a mind has only been possible within the physical body of a human being.
Perhaps computers can or will create some kind of mind, but it will be very different from a human mind. A computer lives in a world free of hunger and the need to reproduce -- independent of the evolutionary forces that created the human mind. It will be interesting to watch the development of robot insects if the developers figure out how to harness evolutionary pressures.
However, the very fact that they are trying to create a mind within a computer actually reveals that they are dualists. By trying to create a mind within a computer, they are claiming that mind is independent of the human body. That is dualism. I have read authors who dismiss the necessity of the "wetware" of brains without realizing that this rejection commits them to dualism.
The only way consistently to avoid dualism is to accept that what we know as a mind has only been possible within the physical body of a human being.
Perhaps computers can or will create some kind of mind, but it will be very different from a human mind. A computer lives in a world free of hunger and the need to reproduce -- independent of the evolutionary forces that created the human mind. It will be interesting to watch the development of robot insects if the developers figure out how to harness evolutionary pressures.
Eat Chocolate Everyday
A friend once told me that he had thought about suicide. I told him not to kill himself because then you can’t eat any more chocolate.
He immediately replied that in the next life you may get to experience the best tasting chocolate you’ve ever had for all eternity. I told him that, yes, that might be what the next life is like. But I have no evidence for it. I know that there is chocolate right here in this world, however. And I know that when I die I can no longer enjoy this chocolate in this world.
For many people, the thought of a wonderful afterlife gives their life meaning. Whether it is the promise of seventy virgins, or playing the harp for eternity, or Robin Williams learning that Cuba Gooding, Jr. is his son, the pleasantness of the next world gives this world meaning. Take away that promise of a wonderful afterlife and people find this world to be scary and meaningless.
I work the opposite way. The thought of a wonderful afterlife does not move me at all. The primary reason is that I have no evidence for it. I’ve never seen it, and everyone who has died has been unable to tell us anything about it. And I don’t believe everything I read. Certainly part of being an educated person is to be critical about what you read. And I’m not impressed by the fact that so many other people believe it. Many people think that Adam Sandler is funny, so I don’t trust what many people think.
Instead of focusing on some dreamland perfection, I would rather focus on this world. The primary reason is that I have loads of evidence that this world is here. You have loads of evidence too! It just seems rational to me to focus on the world that exists.
So, what’s in this world? It is true that there are a lot of awful things in this world. It is the awful things that so often turn people to focus on the next world. It is, as Nietzsche tells us, a form of escapism. The reason why there are no atheists in foxholes is because no one wants to be in a foxhole. This doesn’t tell us anything about the next world, it just tells us to avoid foxholes.
There are also lots of things in this world that should be good but ending up being bad. Spouses run off with people they meet on the internet, children die, cars wreck, diseases cripple, teeth rot, bowels clog, toes stub, eyes go blind, ears go deaf, and you need a root canal. Your favorite stereo equipment is stolen. Your favorite car blows a head gasket. Your computer crashed. Your health insurance doesn’t cover that. Lots of things will go wrong in your life and they will continue to do so until you die. This world has a lot of awful things in it.
But it also has chocolate. It is true that there are many other pleasurable things in this world. But most of those things are unreliable. Sex is very pleasurable, but unreliable. Alcohol is very pleasurable, but it has way too many awful characteristics. I picked chocolate because it is very reliable and very primal. For me, eating chocolate really releases some basic essential pleasure. It is reliably wonderful.
And so I eat chocolate everyday. By eating chocolate everyday I am affirming that there is something in this world which I know is wonderful. By knowing that there is this one thing that is wonderful, I can then go on and see all of the other things that are wonderful, for there are many wonderful things in this world.
He immediately replied that in the next life you may get to experience the best tasting chocolate you’ve ever had for all eternity. I told him that, yes, that might be what the next life is like. But I have no evidence for it. I know that there is chocolate right here in this world, however. And I know that when I die I can no longer enjoy this chocolate in this world.
For many people, the thought of a wonderful afterlife gives their life meaning. Whether it is the promise of seventy virgins, or playing the harp for eternity, or Robin Williams learning that Cuba Gooding, Jr. is his son, the pleasantness of the next world gives this world meaning. Take away that promise of a wonderful afterlife and people find this world to be scary and meaningless.
I work the opposite way. The thought of a wonderful afterlife does not move me at all. The primary reason is that I have no evidence for it. I’ve never seen it, and everyone who has died has been unable to tell us anything about it. And I don’t believe everything I read. Certainly part of being an educated person is to be critical about what you read. And I’m not impressed by the fact that so many other people believe it. Many people think that Adam Sandler is funny, so I don’t trust what many people think.
Instead of focusing on some dreamland perfection, I would rather focus on this world. The primary reason is that I have loads of evidence that this world is here. You have loads of evidence too! It just seems rational to me to focus on the world that exists.
So, what’s in this world? It is true that there are a lot of awful things in this world. It is the awful things that so often turn people to focus on the next world. It is, as Nietzsche tells us, a form of escapism. The reason why there are no atheists in foxholes is because no one wants to be in a foxhole. This doesn’t tell us anything about the next world, it just tells us to avoid foxholes.
There are also lots of things in this world that should be good but ending up being bad. Spouses run off with people they meet on the internet, children die, cars wreck, diseases cripple, teeth rot, bowels clog, toes stub, eyes go blind, ears go deaf, and you need a root canal. Your favorite stereo equipment is stolen. Your favorite car blows a head gasket. Your computer crashed. Your health insurance doesn’t cover that. Lots of things will go wrong in your life and they will continue to do so until you die. This world has a lot of awful things in it.
But it also has chocolate. It is true that there are many other pleasurable things in this world. But most of those things are unreliable. Sex is very pleasurable, but unreliable. Alcohol is very pleasurable, but it has way too many awful characteristics. I picked chocolate because it is very reliable and very primal. For me, eating chocolate really releases some basic essential pleasure. It is reliably wonderful.
And so I eat chocolate everyday. By eating chocolate everyday I am affirming that there is something in this world which I know is wonderful. By knowing that there is this one thing that is wonderful, I can then go on and see all of the other things that are wonderful, for there are many wonderful things in this world.
A Bushie Irony
One of the stated reasons for invading Iraq was to create a secular, liberal democracy that would be a model for the Middle East. The Bushies wanted Iraqis to respect each other's religious differences (liberalism) and create a non-theocractic government (secularism).
The irony is that the same Bushies don't want a secular, liberal democracy in the U.S. They insist upon the phrase "under God" in the pledge of allegiance, they want copies of The Ten Commandments displayed in public places, they want to ban homosexuality, and so on, and so on.
Pursuing a strategy that they clearly don't want makes them look like a giant dog chasing its own tail.
The irony is that the same Bushies don't want a secular, liberal democracy in the U.S. They insist upon the phrase "under God" in the pledge of allegiance, they want copies of The Ten Commandments displayed in public places, they want to ban homosexuality, and so on, and so on.
Pursuing a strategy that they clearly don't want makes them look like a giant dog chasing its own tail.
Creative Misreading
A common theological trick is to quote one line of scripture and then expound upon its “true meaning” for an hour until the audience no longer can remember the original words. In this way the text can be co-opted to suit any purpose. No one seems to question this embarrassing method of finding scriptural truth. On the contrary, this method of creative misreading is frequently used by fundamentalists who claim (without any apparent irony) that there is only one correct, literal reading of scripture.
The Real Reason for the Season
Christmas was born of Northern Europeans trying to survive the long cold winter with parties, alcohol, and lots of lights. The lights keep you from going crazy when the sun shines only for about a quarter of the day. The parties and alcohol lead to babies who will be born at the end of summer when the harvest is ripe. Survival and Reproduction are the evolutionary reason for the season.
Germs and Birth Control
Most religious traditions date back prior to the germ theory of infection, which is just over a hundred years old. Our religiously derived ethical beliefs predate the standards of cleanliness and sanitation we take for granted. The belief that families must generate as many babies as possible makes sense given the high mortality rate of just a few centuries ago; but now we are creating more people than this planet can sustain. Nature’s birth control is starvation.
Our Little Sliver of Atmosphere
I am very concerned about global warming. Each day I become more aware of the fact that we live in a small sliver of atmosphere in a universe that is otherwise completely inhospitable to humans. Each day I see us burn as much fossil fuels into that small sliver of atmosphere as we can possible burn. People invent new and better ways to burn even more fossil fuels, and each day people buy more and more stuff that will burn these fossil fuels. Economies grow by burning more fossil fuels than were burned last year.
Scientists do not know what exactly will happen. Critics pounce on this fact as if it proves that nothing terrible will happen. It doesn’t. It only proves that scientists are rational, and rationality requires some modesty concerning predicting the future, especially with a phenomenon as complex as the global atmospheric conditions.
Humans are burning as many fossil fuels as possible and releasing the waste into this little sliver of atmosphere. We are polluting what makes human life possible.
Scientists do not know what exactly will happen. Critics pounce on this fact as if it proves that nothing terrible will happen. It doesn’t. It only proves that scientists are rational, and rationality requires some modesty concerning predicting the future, especially with a phenomenon as complex as the global atmospheric conditions.
Humans are burning as many fossil fuels as possible and releasing the waste into this little sliver of atmosphere. We are polluting what makes human life possible.
Rationalism, Materialism, Environmentalism
Studying philosophy is an attempt to be rational about life. Many people use magical thinking to solve the question of how to live. Magical thinking halts inquiry, whereas rational thinking requires it. Peirce wrote that the first principle of logic is “Do not block the way of inquiry.” That is the motto of the rational.
I believe that rationality leads to materialism – the belief that the physical world is everything there is to the world. The alternative is the belief in the supernatural – the belief that there is something beyond this mere physical world. Most believers in the supernatural (from Plato on) have also believed that this heavenly beyond world is also better and more valuable than this polluted and fallen mess. This allows them to pollute and pillage this world and feel confident that a better world exists in the skies. By contrast, the rational person must realize that this planet Earth is our only possible home in a hostile universe. Rationality leads to materialism, which leads to environmentalism.
I believe that rationality leads to materialism – the belief that the physical world is everything there is to the world. The alternative is the belief in the supernatural – the belief that there is something beyond this mere physical world. Most believers in the supernatural (from Plato on) have also believed that this heavenly beyond world is also better and more valuable than this polluted and fallen mess. This allows them to pollute and pillage this world and feel confident that a better world exists in the skies. By contrast, the rational person must realize that this planet Earth is our only possible home in a hostile universe. Rationality leads to materialism, which leads to environmentalism.
Why I study philosophy
At a recent job interview I gave a terrible response to the question “What is Philosophy?” There are multiple correct answers to that question, and I gave only one. In retrospect a better response would be more volumous, which reflects the various types, ways and methods of doing philosophy.
But what they all have in common is someone doing philosophy. All the different categories and movements are at bottom really individual people doing this stuff – writing the books, giving the lectures, thinking the thoughts. The reason why there are so many multiple right answers to the question “What is philosophy?” is that there are so many multiple people pursuing philosophy in their own idiosyncratic ways.
I study philosophy because I followed Aristotle’s advice that thinking about thinking is the highest form of life. To study philosophy, The Philosopher writes, is the best life.
But what they all have in common is someone doing philosophy. All the different categories and movements are at bottom really individual people doing this stuff – writing the books, giving the lectures, thinking the thoughts. The reason why there are so many multiple right answers to the question “What is philosophy?” is that there are so many multiple people pursuing philosophy in their own idiosyncratic ways.
I study philosophy because I followed Aristotle’s advice that thinking about thinking is the highest form of life. To study philosophy, The Philosopher writes, is the best life.
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