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

Is it Too Risky to Debate Morality’s Foundations in the Public Square?

February 28, 2011 By 4 Comments

Jean Kazez argues that the public square is not the place for atheists to be arguing that science and religion are incompatible. I strongly reject her position on this point because not only do I believe that ordinary people are quite capable of handling a vigorous, no-holds-barred debate about religion but because I believe the [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Duty, Duty, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Politics, Politics, Religion, Religious Extremism, Religious Extremism, Right Wing Politics, Right Wing Politics, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Secularism, Skepticism, Skepticism Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

How An Omniscient Being Would Fulfill The Desire To Be Known Completely

February 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Jean-Paul Sartre reasoned that the loss of belief in God causes an existential feeling of abandonment.  He was referring to our losing the potential for divine guidance but Jon Adams’s feeling of abandonment is a new one to me.  He wishes he could still believe there was someone up there who knew him completely: Atheist [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Christopher Hitchens, Christopher Hitchens, God, God Tagged With: , , , , , , Leave a Comment

I Am Interviewed About My Personal (Atheistic) Religiosity/Spirituality

February 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Through Facebook, I was recently contacted by an old friend from high school (who was actually the first girl to go on a date with me).  She is working on her Master’s in nursing and has an assignment which involves interviewing people about their views on religion and spirituality, for the purpose of thinking about approaches [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Indie Music, Indie Music, Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Love, Love, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Music, Music, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Personal, Philosophy, Religion, Religion, Secularism Tagged With: , , , , , Leave a Comment

On Defending True Spirituality And Taking The Word Back From Spiritually Bankrupt Fundamentalism

January 6, 2011 By 5 Comments

So Chris Mooney’s article in Playboy about the spirituality of scientists has sparked some interesting debate in the atheist blogosphere. His new post on the subject explicitly interprets his aims and themes in the piece as essentially saying what I interpreted them to be—to defend the idea that you can have completely sufficient spirituality without [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Fundamentalism, Fundamentalism, Morality, Morality, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Rationalism, Religion, Religion, Religion and Science, Religious Moderates, Religious Moderates, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Secularism, Spinoza, Spinoza Tagged With: , , 5 Comments

Why I Think Theistic Religion’s Psychological Grip Can Be Weakened Or Broken

July 10, 2010 By 15 Comments

In a recent comments section, Gregory Wahl argued to me that religion is so deeply rooted in psychological needs, specifically the longing for immortality, that there is an inherent limitation to the ability of all my philosophical arguments to dissuade the faithful.  As this line of reasoning goes, they do not believe for intellectual reasons [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Christianity, Christianity, Cultural Secularism, Cultural Secularism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Philosophy Of Religion, Psychology, Psychology, Religion, Religion, Religious Secularism, Religious Secularism, Secularism, Social Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Sciences, Sociology, Sociology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , 15 Comments

On The Meaning Of Meaning

August 21, 2009 By 1 Comment

In reply to some remarks I made about the recognition of genuine meaning without reference to religion, George replied with this challenge: Dan, Now you have got me thinking…. I’m not entirely clear about your point of meaning in everyday events. My logic tells me that a completely statistically probable event happens and I impart [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Creationism, Ethics, Faith, Featured, Intellectual Vices, Intellectual Virtues, Nietzsche, Philosophy, Psychology, Why I Am Not A Christian Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment