John Jeremiah Sullivan’s piece on America’s ancient cave art has prompted some thinking — always the sign of good writing. If you haven’t read it yet, you should. Here are some of the things that have me cogitating:
Simek the Scientist v. Reilly the Symbolist
This is not a lawsuit — it is the tension Sullivan establishes [...]
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In the beginning, I had some hope for the Huffington Post’s relatively new section devoted to religion. Here was a forum, I thought, where difficult questions could be asked and possible answers ventured. Not once, however, have I read a post which asks a tough question, which might include any of the following:
What is “religion”?
Why [...]
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In a recent New Scientist editorial, the authors state it is time to accept that atheism — not religion, is odd and that future research should focus on explaining unbelief:
Ironically, sociologists, psychologists, economists and, particularly, cognitive anthropologists have become so skilled at explaining why humans seem to have such a widespread bias towards theistic beliefs [...]
Over at The Point, Raymond Geuss ruminates on the possibility of “A World Without Why?” After lamenting that his job as a philosophy professor is mostly about equipping students with the tools they need to engage in sophistry and serve the system, he gets to the nub of the issue:
A world utterly without “why” can [...]
