SomeMusings.com

As you may or may not know, I am in the middle of a philosophy throw-down with the capable Ryan H on the proper relationship between faith and reason. He sent me the following email several Sundays ago, and I’ve finally gotten around to creating a response, which I am uploading to youtube as we speak I type.

I’ll post my response tomorrow. Today, it’s all about Ryan and the paper he’s written.

Geek out,

-Daniel M

“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.” –John Paul II, Fides Et Ratio

My purpose is to show that the relationship between faith and reason are often misunderstood and therefore underappreciated, abused, and misused. Many people equate faith with some belief in the supernatural, and while this can definitely be considered an act of faith this does not constitute its entirety. It would be akin to saying that reason was only used in addition. While math requires an act of reason this is not the only activity that uses reason. Addition is an expression of reason just as a belief in God is an expression of faith but that doesn’t mean we should reduce either term to just those expressions. Yet this is the danger we face, equivocating reason with science and faith with religion as if acts of faith are never validly used in science and acts of reason are never validly used in religion. [Read more →]

My local state university is having a post secret-esque display in the union.

I don’t think that I can take it seriously, but I do think that I can still participate. Here’s my submission.

 I may or may not be a bad person, but they won’t find out unless you tell them.

This past week I took a break from feeding the trolls and lived my life according to one simple flowchart.Back to the old hat shortly.

The iron is growing lukewarm, so I should probably strike again.

As promised, I’m going to continue marching toward atheism. This post starts the next leg of the journey: disproving the commonly accepted arguments for god’s existence. I’ll chew through these in the same order that wikipedia presents them.

First up is the Cosmological Argument. The first one will probably be the hardest to do since it takes place in that nether world of complete and total mystery. First we’ll look at the theory, then at the logical problems, and then I’ll make a general statement about reasoning.

As I said last week, my goal is to give those that want to live without faith the courage to do so. As such, my goal in this post isn’t to show that believing in god is wrong. I simply want to show that the Cosmological Argument doesn’t require belief in god. The disproof will come later. Right now I’m just disproving the alleged proofs.

This will probably get a little heavy, so I’ll see if I can scatter in some SMBC comics.

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I have always been drawn to those that reject me.

I am the hips of Elvis, the hair of the Beatles, and absolutely everything about the Golden Compass. Fear me.

Polls are beginning to close down across the nation. I’m slightly worried.

I’m neither deluded enough to waste my time voting nor desperate enough to waste my emotions hoping for a particular side to win, but, right now CNN is reporting that McCain has a 3 percent edge in the popular vote. This probably means nothing, but, what if?

What if the prediction models end up being wrong? What if McCain-Palin-Diebold pulls off an upset? It’s at least possible, if not plausible.

This could only end in rioting. If McCain ends up the winner, I am going to lock myself in an abandoned house with a a shotgun and a week’s worth of pop-tarts. Hopefully, I’ll outlast the Obama Zombies.

Or, should that be the Obambies?

Either way, I’m slightly worried.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this picture to my facebook, and a rather intellectual discussion ensued. I was very busy at the time, so I said that I’d make a post on it later.

Well, later isn’t right now, but now is that time’s later, so I guess I’d better keep to my word.

There is a logical case, which I think to be a sound one, that can show that the existence of god (a god, many gods, any god) is not only unprovable and improbable, but outright impossible. I think that there’s a lot of value in sharing that with you. I believe that no person should have to be subjected to the fear, guilt, or shame involved in the culty, mental gymnastics of the false virtue of “faith” — belief in things without reason. Rejecting religion is to be liberated from the subjugation of other people’s whims masquerading as iron laws, bare assertion fallacies masquerading as morality, and lies that masquerade as truth.

I think that there’s a lot of value in sharing that with you. You know, if you’re into that sort of thing.

But, before we get there, I’d like to take the time to preemptively address the potential snags that can derail the trains of thought before they reach their conclusion. Starting with. . .

If someone is a real Christian then even if their beliefs are completely wrong at least that person will strive to be more selfless, and more willing to help those in need, as well as many more positive things.. you can’t argue that being selfless and willing to help someone in need are bad qualities in a person.

First of all: don’t tell me what I can’t do. Second of all:

What kind of debate are we having again?

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My friends and I have been having some tough conversations lately. How much can we expect from people? What standards can we hold them up to?

More specifically, are businessmen that accept corporate welfare immoral?

And, more controversially, are Christians worthy of respect?

I don’t know. By themselves, I think these questions are rather nonsensical. One of the most important philosophical questions to ask is

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I wish that I were experiencing this whole congressional bailout dealio through a history book so that I wouldn’t have to be connected to the consequences. There’s so much about it that is just delightfully ironic. It’s like biting into a cold ice-cream atop a warm brownie that tastes almost, but not entirely, like packing peanuts.

An interesting sensation, if you’re detached from the consequences.

For one, take that the plan will be completely and totally ineffective. Then, for a plot twist, throw in that fact about the intervention will, in fact, make the economy worse. For comedy, listen to how retarded the defenders of the bailout sound. For suspense, add in the bit about the Section 8’s Constitutional issues, and you’ve got yourself a damn good show.

And then, for a challenge, try to tell me how we’re not in a state of nature.

This is political theatre at its finest. Can this circus be for anything but entertainment? Too bad that the ticket costs 700 billion dollars. I feel like that number isn’t real to people, so I’m gonna write it out for gits and shiggles.

700000000000

My absolute favorite detail is how the administration arrived at that number. According to a Treasury Spokeswoman, the figure is “not based on any particular data point. … We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

I mean, really, how do you arrive at something like that? What was it like inside the fed?

“Okay, the next field asks us for how much money our bill will cost.”

“Put down ’six.’”

“No, I think that we need to use something big.”

“Huh. . . Put down ’seven hundred bajoogles.’”

“No, I think we need to use something that’s a number.”

“Huh. . . Put down ‘700 billion dollars.’”

“Genius!”

Those bastards. Those comedic bastards.

As regular somemusers might know, I’m an econ undergrad. One of my finance professors said it will probably take as much as 2 trillion dollars to do what Paulson wants to do. That is, it will cost

2000000000000

Remember, our economy produces about 13.8 trillion dollars worth of goods and services a year. This means that the bailout, which, will make things worse could be paid for by stealing absolutely everything that absolutely every American produces from January 1st to about February 20th.

It’s a damn good show. Too bad it’s a tragedy.

This is a speech that I wrote/delivered for a speech/debate tourney last weekend. I have a lot of work left to do on it, but the work remaining is mostly going to be about taking out facts and adding in more jokes and sex, so read it now before it becomes more bastardized.

I like my data like I like my music — raw. The audience probably would have liked it with more fluff. The judges probably would have liked it more if I wouldn’t have so bluntly called bullshit on everything that they believe in.

Enough Ado. On with the crazy.

I am sorry, but I am not going to be polite during this speech. I am going to directly challenge one of the fundamental philosophical ideas upon which this country was built – the concept of Democracy. Simply put, more Americans believe in Democracy than believe in God. Do not get too comfortable, because I am going to question the legitimacy of the former. [Read more →]