How To Live Happily: Truthfully Understand Yourself and Your Constructive Potential

January 26, 2013 By 5 Comments

My thoughts on self-esteem, identity, objectification, Jean-Paul Sartre, and overcoming self-sabotaging narratives we tell ourselves.

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Ethics, Intellectual Vices, Moral Psychology, Philosophical Ethics, Virtues Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

On Dealing With Trolling, Banning, and Uncomfortable Disagreements

August 3, 2012 By 54 Comments

There have been many objections to both the wisdom of my comments policy and my general stand against the use of epithets and incivility and what I see as hasty personal attacks that derail philosophical discussions. I am writing 8 posts to address 8 major objections. I have already written my own summaries of all the objections I [...]

Filed Under: About This Blog, Applied Ethics, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 54 Comments

On Unintentionally Intimidating People

May 28, 2012 By 10 Comments

While most of us rightly want to be exceptional in some way or another, we often feel a lot of social and moral pressure not to think of ourselves as generally better than others. And, even more urgently, we feel pressure not to convey to others that we think ourselves superior and not to be [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethics, Ethics, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychology, Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Psychology, Virtues, Virtues Tagged With: , , , , , , 10 Comments

No, Not Everyone Has A Moral Right To Feel Offended By Just Any Satire or Criticism

February 15, 2012 By 56 Comments

4 Misconceptions About the Nature of Offense Here are four common sense assumptions about giving and taking offense that I think are fundamentally mistaken and which atheists need to argue against: “You have every right to be offended, but you don’t have the right to censor others just because you’re offended.” “You cannot blame people [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethics, Ethics, Free Speech, Free Speech, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Religion, Religion, Religious Satire, Religious Satire, Virtues, Virtues Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , 56 Comments

Can Utilitarians Properly Esteem The Intrinsic Value of Truth?

January 22, 2012 By 37 Comments

The Obvious Intrinsic and Instrumental Values of Truth It is prejudicial and fallacious to assume that the world is an inherently just place and that all the traits we idealize as virtues will always lead to the best possible outcomes. So if we are to be honest and realistic in assessing those traits which are [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethics, Ethics, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Metaethics, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Rationalism, Religion, Religion, Virtues, Virtues Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , 37 Comments

Criticizing Wicca: Magic is Unethical

January 7, 2012 By 16 Comments

[This is part of a series looking at atheism and Wicca.] Many Wiccans practice magic.  Skeptics, rationalists, and naturalists may all be tempted to try to use science to refute the effectiveness of magic.  Although such refutations do persuade some people, they often fail to accomplish anything: despite the best efforts of scientific debunkers, magical [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Epistemic Justification, Ethics, Evidence, Featured, Intellectual Vices, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Pseudoscience, Rationalism, Religion and Science, Wicca 16 Comments

Criticizing Wicca: Magic

January 6, 2012 By 8 Comments

[Magic is a pseudo-technology based on the pseudo-science of mysterious energy.  It’s purpose is to provide the illusion of control.  This post briefly describes how some Wiccans conceive of magic.  Many Wiccans reject the use of magic altogether, or consider it entirely independent of Wicca.  Thus the two should not be confused.  After this brief [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Featured, Intellectual Vices, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Rationalism, Wicca 8 Comments

Criticizing Wicca: Energy

December 13, 2011 By 24 Comments

This is a guest post by Eric Steinhart, Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University. On the basis of my reading of a few Wiccan texts, I said that Wiccans believe that their ultimate deity is the ultimate immanent creative power of being.  This is an old Platonic idea.  The existence of such a power [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Culture, Cutural Criticism, Epistemology, Intellectual Vices, Metaphysics, Naturalism, Paganism, Philosophy, Pseudoscience, Rationalism, Religion and Science, Wicca 24 Comments

If You Don’t Believe In Objective Values, Then Don’t Talk To Me About Objective Scientific Truth Either

November 27, 2011 By 111 Comments

I recently argued that when any of us act, we must act for reasons. When acting for reasons we must decide that the end we pursue is the best, most worthwhile, goal to pursue and that the action we take in order to achieve that goal is the most suitable one. I should also add [...]

Filed Under: Applied Ethics, Applied Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Authority, Authority, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Evidence, Evidence, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Metaethics, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Naturalistic Fallacy, Naturalistic Fallacy, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Science, Science, Science, Teleology, Teleology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 111 Comments

Why Bother Blaming People At All? Isn't That Just Judgmental?

November 25, 2011 By 33 Comments

Before moving on to addressing the question of when it is right or wrong to get offended, let me quickly address a certain attitude that arises a lot in response to my posts on morality. I sense in the tone of a lot of comments I get in general that there is a fear of [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethical Pluralism, Ethical Pluralism, Ethics, Ethics, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Intellectual Virtues, Jesus, Jesus, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Rationalism, Virtues, Virtues Tagged With: , , , , , , 33 Comments