Life Without a Net
soul
Why Life After Death is Absurd.
One of my greatest joys as a blogger is when I encounter an argument that is so good — so refined and elegant — that I have nothing to add. I’ve found one at Scientific American. Sean Carroll, of the California Institute of Technology, has explained why it is philosophically inconsistent to remain agnostic about … Continue reading
Spirits
At some point in our evolutionary history, pre-humans made an important leap in cognitive ability. We moved from first order contemplation to second order. That is, we went from thinking to thinking about thinking. Before this leap, we were not very much different than most of the animals we’re familiar with — dogs, cats, … Continue reading
Morality is in the Brain
It may seem trite to say, but morality is in our brains. A recent experiment at MIT has shown rather conclusively that a certain area of the brain is instrumental in making moral judgments. When electrical stimulation was used to disrupt the functioning of this region, subjects had significant difficulty determining the moral value of … Continue reading
Everyone Craves the Afterlife, Right?
We humans have a couple of misconceptions about souls and the afterlife. Many Christians are fond of citing a “universal yearning” or some such intellectual “gap” that all humans feel. Basically, they either directly claim or insinuate that everybody “senses” the reality of the afterlife. This is yet another lie that has been told so … Continue reading
The Soul — A simple error
At some point in our evolutionary history, pre-humans made an important leap in cognitive ability. We moved from first order contemplation to second order. That is, we went from thinking to thinking about thinking. Before this leap, we were not very much different than most of the animals we’re familiar with — dogs, cats, … Continue reading
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