Blogs










A Phil-for-an-ill Blog
- The Toxic Legacy of Machiavelli’s The Prince 2014-04-30“…if a Prince succeeds in establishing and maintaining his authority, the means will always be judged honourable and be approved by every one.” (Chapter XVIII) Founded on the above dubious moral axiom, which may be translated as, The end justifies the means (A), in the 16th century Niccolò Machiavelli formulates the classic dissertation on how […]Philip Jonkers
- Killing Iraqi Civilians, Like a Video Game – 2007 Baghdad Civil Massacre Perpetrated by Trigger Happy US Troops (Wikileaks) 2010-04-20Short Version Long Version Related Reading: Killing Baghdad civilians and Reuters journos from the air! Neo-Cons Defend Massacre Of Iraqi Journalists, Children Attack Video Reveals Why Pentagon Wanted To “Destroy” Wikileaks In early April Wikileaks released into the public domain specific unreleased footage documenting a tragic event that could be considered as a severe incrimination […]Philip Jonkers
- Dark Knight (2008) – Excusing the Rude & Stoic Strongman Crime Fighter 2010-03-24http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/ – What is Predictive Programming? – Alan Watt – Predictive Programming; Theory and Practice – Vyzygoth Interviews Phillip and Paul Collins – Invoking the Beyond (Predictive Programming) A decent synopsis can be read on the corresponding Wikipedia page. Police State/Martial Law Scenery Let’s start with the police state scenery shown in the movie: Not […]Philip Jonkers
- Bill Gates Admits Vaccines Are Used for Human Depopulationx 2010-03-01Bill Gates Admits Vaccines Are Used for Human Depopulation In the video above are two short excerpts from a recently filmed TED presentation (Feb 2010) by none other than Bill “Microsoft” Gates. At the heart of Gates’ address lies the central Global Warming dogma, which dictates that Co2 emitted by human beings are the primary […]Philip Jonkers
- Robocop (1987) – Promoting the Militarization of Police 2010-02-11http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093870/ – What is Predictive Programming? – Alan Watt – Predictive Programming; Theory and Practice – Vyzygoth Interviews Phillip and Paul Collins – Invoking the Beyond (Predictive Programming) A decent synopsis can be read on the corresponding Wikipedia page. According to a Police magazine, “Police officers working in patrol vehicles, dressed in urban tactical gear […]Philip Jonkers
- Some questions regarding Mary K. Baxter’s “A Divine Revelation of Hell” 2010-01-14From divinerevelations.info we read: Mary Katherine Baxter was chosen by God to let the world know of the REALITY of Hell. Jesus Christ appeared to Mary Baxter on 40 consecutive nights and took Mary on a tour of Hell and Heaven. She walked, with Jesus, through the horrors of Hell and talked with many people. […]Philip Jonkers
- Commentary to the “What is Ego?” Video 2010-01-13What is Ego? (Andrew Cohen) Self-confidence can only be regarded as an attribute of the ego if the ego uses it to put other people down and tries to feel better than other people. This particular manifestation of self-confidence is called pride. On the other hand, if self-confidence is used to humbly tow other people […]Philip Jonkers
- Is it “Love vs Hate” or “Love vs Fear”? 2009-12-16In this short blog I examine the question which is a more fundamental antagonist of love: fear or hate. Hate is a strong aversive emotion connected to the subject or object of hate. The strength of hate derives from a former affection or love for that subject or object. In other words, what is hated […]Philip Jonkers
- The Downside of Talking People Down 2009-12-16There’s a risk involved in talking people down or acts of depreciation in general. If you speak negative about a certain person you’ll likely generate feelings of guilt towards that person, although the strength of these feelings depends on whether one believes that person deserves it or not. If there’s no intention of reconciliation, upon […]Philip Jonkers
- When Does Psychopathy Flourish? (Musings on Psychopathy II) 2009-12-03“Insanity – a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.” R.D. Laing What is a psychopath? Etymology: Psychopath psyche 1647, “animating spirit,” from L. psyche, from Gk. psykhe “the soul, mind, spirit, breath, life, the invisible animating principle or entity which occupies and directs the physical body” (personified as Psykhe, the lover of Eros), akin […]Philip Jonkers
Alexander Pruss's Blog
- Doxastic moral relativism 2025-05-21Reductive doxastic moral relativism is the view that an action type’s being morally wrong is nothing but an individual or society’s belief that the action type is morally wrong. But this is viciously circular, since we reduce wrongness to a belief about wrongness. Indeed, it now seems that murder is wrong provided that it is […]
- Sacraments and New Testament law 2025-05-20Christians believe that Jesus commanded us to baptize new Christians. However, there is a fundamental division in views: some Christians (such as Catholics and the Orthodox) have a sacramental view of baptism, on which baptism as such leads to an actual supernaturally-produced change in the person baptized, while others hold a symbolic view of it. […]
- Semantics of syntactically incorrect language 2025-05-14As anyone who has talked with a language-learner knows, syntactically incorrect sentences often succeed in expressing a proposition. This is true even in the case of formal languages. Formal semantics, say of the Tarski sort, has difficulties with syntactically incorrect sentences. One approach to saving the formal semantics is as follows: Given a syntactically incorrect […]
- Truth-value realisms about arithmetic 2025-05-13Arithmetical truth-value realists hold that any proposition in the language of arithmetic has a fully determined truth value. Arithmetical truth-value necessists add that this truth value is necessary rather than merely contingent. Although we know from the incompleteness theorems that there are alternate non-standard natural number structures, with different truth values (e.g., there is a […]
- Possible futures 2025-05-09Given a time t and a world w, possible or not, say that w is t-possible if and only if there is a possible world wt that matches w in all atemporal respects as well as with respect to all that happens up to and including time t. For instance, a world just like ours […]
- Unrestricted quantification and Tarskian truth 2025-05-06It is well-known—a feature and not a bug—that Tarski’s definition of truth needs to be given in a metalanguage rather than the object language. Here I want to note a feature of this that I haven’t seen before. Let’s start by considering how Tarski’s definition of truth would work for set theory. We can define […]
- Immortality of the soul and the soul's proper operation 2025-05-03This is an attempt to make an argument for the natural immortality of the soul from the premise that the soul has a proper operation that is independent of the body. The argument is going to be rather odd, because it depends on my rather eccentric four-dimensionalist version of Aristotelian metaphysics. Start with the thought […]
- Aquinas' argument for the immortality of the soul 2025-05-02Aquinas argues that because the human soul has a proper operation—abstract thought—that does not depend on the body, the soul would survive the destruction of the body. I’ve never quite understood this argument. It seems to show that there could be a point to the soul surviving the destruction of the body, but that doesn’t […]
- Snakes and finitude 2025-05-02For years I have thought the finite to be mysterious, and needs something metaphysical like divine illumination or causal finitism to pick it out. Now I am not sure. I think snakes and exact duplicates can help. And if that’s right, then the argument in my other post from today can be fixed. Here are […]
- A dialectically failing argument for truth-value realism about arithmetic 2025-05-02Truth-value realism about (first-order) arithmetic is the thesis that for any first-order logic sentence in the language of arithmetic (i.e., using the successor, addition and multiplication functions along with the name “0”), there is a definite truth value, either true or false. Now, consider the following argument for truth-value realism about arithmetic. Assume eternalism. Imagine […]
- Causation and counterfactuals 2025-05-01Suppose that an extremely reliable cannon is loaded with a rock, and pointed at a window, and the extremely reliable timer on the cannon is set for two minutes. Two minutes later, the cannon shoots out the rock causing the window to break. The Lewisian counterfactual account of causation accounts for the causation by the […]
- Temporal purism 2025-05-01Say that a fact is temporally pure about an instantaneous time t provided that it holds solely in virtue of how things are at t. (The term is due to Richard Gale, but I am not sure he would have wanted the “instantaneous” restriction.) Thus, that Alice is swallowed the fatal poison at noon is […]
- Laziness is the mother of invention 2025-05-01For about 20 years, we've been using a set of Logitech Z-2200 speakers as our TV speakers. But they have an inconvenient volume control that requires one to get up from the sofa to turn the knob. Most of the time, it's enough to adjust the volume with the TV's internal control, but sometimes the […]
- Presentism, multiverses and discrete time 2025-04-29Suppose time is in fact continuous and modeled by the real numbers. It seems odd indeed to me that the real numbers should be the only possible way for time to run. The real numbers are a very specific mathematical system. There are other systems, such as the hyperreals or the rationals or even the […]
- Darwin and Einstein against the shared-form interpretation of Aristotle 2025-04-29Assume an Aristotelian account of substantial form on which forms are found in the informed things. A classic question is whether substantial forms are shared between members of the same kind or whether each individual has their own numerically (but maybe not qualitatively) distinct form. Here’s a fun argument against the shared-form view. For evolution […]
- Inferentialism and the fictitious isolated hydrogen atom 2025-04-28This is another attempt at an argument against inferentialism about logical constants. Given a world w, let w* be a world just like w except that it has added to it an extra spatiotemporally disconnected island universe containing exactly one hydrogen atom with a precisely specified wavefunction ψ0. Suppose that in in the actual world […]
- Probabilities of regresses of chickens 2025-04-28Suppose we have a backwards-infinite sequence of asexually reproducing chickens, ..., c−3, c−2, c−1, c0 with cn having a chance pn of producing a new chicken cn + 1 (chicken c0 may or may not have succeeded; the earlier ones have succeeded). Suppose that the pn are all strictly between 0 and 1, and that the infinite product p−1p−2p−3... equals some […]
- Inferentialism and the completeness of geometry 2025-04-28The Quinean criterion for existential commitment is that we incur existential commitment precisely by affirming existentially quantified sentences. But what’s an existential quantifier? The inferentialist answer is that an existential quantifier is anything that behaves logically like an existential quantifier by obeying the rules of inference associated with quantifiers in classical logic. Here is a […]
- Some issues concerning eliminative structuralism for second-order arithmetic 2025-04-27Eliminative structuralist philosophers of mathematics insist that what mathematicians study is structures rather than specific realizations of these structures, like a privileged natural number system would be. One example of such an approach would be to take the axioms of second-order Peano Arithmetic PA2, and say an arithmetical sentence ϕ is true if and only […]
- Causal Robinson Arithmetic 2025-04-23Say that a structure N that has a distinguished element 0, a unary function S, and binary operations + and ⋅ is a causal Robinson Arithmetic (CRA) structure iff: The structure N satisfies the axioms of Robinson Arithmetic, and For any x in N, x is a partial cause of the object Sx. The Fundamental […]
Bhagwad Gita Blog
- Lord Krishna Promises His Devotees 2022-10-10Lord Krishna delivered divine teachings to Arjuna through Bhagavad Gita on the battlefield of Mahabharata war. Lord Krishna motivated His friend Arjuna to do his duty and also told him about deep relevance of devotional bhakti. 
- भगवद गीता के अनुसार पापों से कैसे छुटकारा पाएं 2022-03-19हिंदू धर्म में, पाप आमतौर पर अपने द्वारा किये गए गलत कर्मो के लिए इस्तेमाल किया जाने वाला शब्द है। पाप और कुछ नहीं बल्कि ऐसे कार्य करना है जो ईश्वर की इच्छा के विरुद्ध हों, या प्रकृति के नियमों या ईश्वर द्वारा दिए गए शास्त्रों के नियमों के विरुद्ध हों। अब हम अपने पापों से […]
- माया क्या है, आओ समझे। What is Maya, Let us Understand (In Hindi & English) 2022-03-07हिंदी में:माया : उस दिन मेरा एक मित्र दार्शनिक रूप से बात कर रहा था और मुझसे कह रहा था कि यह सारी दुनिया भ्रम है, वास्तविकता में इसका कोई अस्तित्व नहीं है। हम जो कुछ भी देख रहे हैं वह सिर्फ जादू आदि है। मैं उसे सुनता रहा। फिर मैंने उसे बस अपनी आँखें बंद […]
- God hears these Prayers, प्रार्थना जो भगवान सुनता है 2021-10-06Prayer is an act of addressing the God with devotion. Prayer can be done during the worship or can be done just silently in our mind. Through prayer we have a personal experience & an intimate connection with our loving God. If we pray to God with sincerity then He shall answer to our prayers […]
- How to Motivate Yourself in depressed situations - Bhagwad Gita Perspective 2021-10-01This article deals with how you can Motivate Yourself in depressed situations of life. When you get depressed in life then its very difficult and frustrating to cope with it. With proper guidance, you can come out of depression & eventually can come out of it. To come out of depression shall not be easy but you […]
- Complete Universe exists in God 2021-09-25In Hinduism Lord Krishna is "true" Supreme Being and creator of the universe. Lord Krishna has said it many times in His discourse of "Bhagwad Gita". Lord Krishna is the ultimate God. The entire universe exists within Him."Lord Krishna / God is omnipresent and is in every atom of this Universe". But how God is there everywhere […]
- Pray to God & God will answer your Prayer 2021-09-24All the religions of the world believe in one God. We all pray to God with different types of prayers. Prayer is basically an act of addressing the God for the purpose of worship. Prayer is a way of having a personal experience and intimate connection with our loving God, through which He listens silently […]
- Lets thank God for what we have in Life 2021-09-23Lets thank God for what we have in Life. Lets be thankful to God for, whatever, we have received in our life from Him. Let us learn to appreciate what we have in life. Listen to above musical video which thanks God in every way & its lyrics are very beautiful.You should appreciate, whatever, you […]
- Peace of Mind as per Bhagwad Gita 2021-09-22"duhkhesv anudvigna-manahsukhesu vigata-sprhahvita-raga-bhaya-krodhah sthita-dhir munir ucyate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 56) "Sri Krishna said: One who is not disturbed in mind even amidst the threefold miseries or elated when there is happiness, and who is free from attachment, fear and anger, is called a sage of steady mind."दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः।वीतरागभयक्रोधः
- Whole World exists in God 2020-08-24राम वही जो रमता सकल जहान Above Hindi line meaning is that "God is omnipresent and is in every atom of this Universe". But how God is there everywhere in the Universe?Meaning of omnipresent is that one who is present everywhere. God is one who in it's un-manifest, unseen, subtle aspect is always present all around us. This […]
- Bhagwad Gita can Change Your Life Completely 2020-05-30Reading Bhagwad Gita can Change Your Life completely. If Bhagwad Gita becomes a part & parcel of your life then it shall totally transform your life. It not only shall guide you through your life journey but shall also shape the way you live your life. If you have been reading the Bhagwad Gita, then it […]
- Quotes from Bhagwat Gita on Soul आत्मा पर भगवत गीता के उद्धरण (Quotes) 2020-05-16Here are some of the Quotes from Bhagwat Gita on Soul. Description of Soul is done beautifully by Lord Krishna in Chapter 2 of Bhagwat Gita. Here below read that illustration in detail. नीचे भागवद गीता के कुछ आत्मा पर प्रसिद्ध उद्धरण (Quotes) हैं : "na tv-evaham jatu nasam na tvam neme janadhipah na chaiva na bhavisyamah
- People who do Bad Karmas are Punished surely by the God at one time or the another 2018-09-16Sometimes we feel that those people who do Good Karmas are not rewarded & those who do Bad Karmas are not Punished by God. But it is not so. Domain of God runs for Many lives & it is not that a person is not punished by God for his bad Karmas. So here are […]
- Beautiful Mobile App for Ekadashi Vrats 2018-09-16One of the Young Creator Mr. Raghav Sharma has developed a Beautiful Mobile App for Ekadashi Vrats to be performed by Hindus all across the world. This App is very useful for the people who are interested in regular Ekadashi Fasts. The links for the said App can be found below & people interested can download […]
- Greatness of Chapter Eighteen of Bhagwat Gita 2018-04-08Here below is explained the Greatness of Chapter Eighteen of Bhagwat Gita. Read the story below to see, how all the sinful reactions are destroyed by just reading the Chapter 18 of the Bhagwat Gita. "Lord Siva said; “My dear Parvati, Now, listen to the glories of the Eighteenth Chapter of Srimad Bhagwat Gita, which […]
- कर्मणये वाधिकारस्ते मां फलेषु कदाचन - Meaning 2018-04-01"कर्मणये वाधिकारस्ते मां फलेषु कदाचन । मां कर्मफलहेतुर्भू: मांते संङगोस्त्वकर्मणि" ।। (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 47) "श्री कृष्ण भगवान ने अर्जुन से कहा: आप को अपने निर्धारित कर्तव्य का पालन करने का अधिकार है, लेकिन आप कभी कर्म फल की इच्छा से कर्म मत करो (कर्म फल देने का अधिकार सिर्फ ईश्वर को है)। […]
- Greatness of Chapter Seventeen of Bhagwat Gita 2018-04-01Here below is explained the Greatness of Chapter Seventeen of Bhagwat Gita. Read the story below to see, how all the sinful reactions are destroyed by just reading the Chapter 17 of the Bhagwat Gita. “Lord Siva said, “My dear Parvati, Now, kindly hear the nectarian glories of the Seventeenth Chapter of Srimad Bhagwat Gita. […]
- Greatness of Chapter Sixteen of Bhagwat Gita 2018-03-25Here below is explained the Greatness of Chapter Sixteen of Bhagwat Gita. Read the story below to see, how all the sinful reactions are destroyed by just reading the Chapter 16 of the Bhagwat Gita. “Lord Siva said, “My dear Parvati, I will now tell you the glories of the Sixteenth Chapter of Srimad Bhagwat […]
- Greatness of Chapter Fifteen of Bhagwat Gita 2018-03-18Here below is explained the Greatness of Chapter Fifteen of Bhagwat Gita. Read the story below to see, how all the sinful reactions are destroyed by just reading the Chapter 15 of the Bhagwat Gita. “Lord Siva said, “My dear Parvati, now I will tell you the glories of the Fifteenth Chapter of the Srimad […]
- Greatness of Chapter Fourteen of Bhagwat Gita 2018-03-11Here below is explained the Greatness of Chapter Fourteen of Bhagwat Gita. Read the story below to see, how all the sinful reactions are destroyed by just reading the Chapter 14 of the Bhagwat Gita. “Lord Siva said “Oh, Parvati kindly hear from Me the glories of the Fourteenth Chapter of the Srimad Bhagwat Gita, […]
Bleeding Heart Libertarians
- The End 2020-06-01Back in 2011, a group of academic philosophers started a blog called “Bleeding Heart Libertarians.” The idea behind that blog was simple, but also somewhat vague in terms of its... The post The End appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Matt Zwolinski
- Anti-Competition as the Incel Mentality 2020-06-01Observe: Incel: “Stacy choose Chad over me. I have the right to retaliate by killing Stacy and/or Chad.” Michael Fett, a guy on Facebook, justifying Guitar Center being looted: “Guitar... The post Anti-Competition as the Incel Mentality appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
- The AAAS Agrees with Magness and Me 2020-06-01New report on the state of the humanities: https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2020-05/hds3_the_state_of_the_humanities_in_colleges_and_universities.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0lCu4KOkSq62KnkXdaOOaQtMBkxJN6affH61kgOctQZks7GsEJqzulHow It concurs with what Phil and I say in Cracks and our other published work: 1. Adjuncts are not replacing full-time... The post The AAAS Agrees with Magness and Me appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
- An Excerpt from *When All Else Fails* 2020-05-30Here are the concluding paragraphs of When All Else Fails. Over the past eight chapters, we’ve examined a wide range of arguments which attempted to show that government agents enjoy... The post An Excerpt from *When All Else Fails* appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
- Is It Time for Private Punishment? 2020-05-29When All Else Fails is about defensive actions, not punishment. If someone had justly and rightly shot the cops who murdered George Floyd, they would be trying to stop them... The post Is It Time for Private Punishment? appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
- The Two Big News Cases and Philosophy 2020-05-27Minneapolis police officers killed George Floyd by crushing his neck with a knee while he lay prostrate, helpless, and handcuffed. This is precisely the kind of case When All Else... The post The Two Big News Cases and Philosophy appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
- How Government Leaders Violated Their Epistemic Duties During the SARS-CoV-2 Crisis 2020-05-20Written with Eric Winsberg and Chris Surprenant, forthcoming in The Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal. Abstract: In spring 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, world leaders imposed severe restrictions... The post How Government Leaders Violated Their Epistemic Duties During the SARS-CoV-2 Crisis appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
- What Is Public Choice? 2020-05-14Here’s some silliness from Henry Farrell. Why is public choice specifically unhelpful here? Rather than starting from the many definitions of public choice offered by its enemies, I’ll begin with... The post What Is Public Choice? appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
- Likeville Podcast about the Quarantine 2020-05-12Here. Eric Winsberg, Chris Surprenant, and I talk to John Faithful Hamer about the quarantine, precautionary principles, political incompetence, civil liberties, the problems with the data and models policy-makers relied... The post Likeville Podcast about the Quarantine appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
- How Did the Great Recession Affect Academic Employment? 2020-05-12Here are the total number of people employed as full-time assistant professors in the United States over the past 20 years, according to the US Department of Education. The figure... The post How Did the Great Recession Affect Academic Employment? appeared first on Bleeding Heart Libertarians.Jason Brennan
Of special interest!
The usual phlegm and philosophy
- Farid Masrour Live! 2025-04-25Join me for a discussion with Farid Masrour, professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin -Madison, as we take a deep dive into the philosophy of perception and naive realismRichard Brown
- J. Kevin O’Regan Live! 2025-03-19Join me for a discussion with J. Kevin O’Regan, ex-director of the “Laboratoire de Psychologie de la Perception” at the Université René Descartes, Paris, as we discuss his sensorimotor theory of consciousness.Richard Brown
- Peter Langland-Hassan Live! 2025-01-26Join me for a discussion with Peter Langland-Hassan, professor of philosophy at the University of Cincinnati, as we discuss themes from his book Explaining ImaginationRichard Brown
- Josh Weisberg Live! 2025-01-13Join me for a discussion with Josh Weisberg, professor of philosophy at the University of Houston, as we discuss themes from his new book ‘Explanatory Optimism and the Hard Problem of Consciousness’Richard Brown
- Consciousness Live! Season 7 2025-01-04I am excited to announce the new season of Consciousness Live! I have decided to try a somewhat different approach this time and am trying to limit these to 1 or so a month. Knowing me, things will get out of hand at some point, but that is what I am aiming for. I have […]Richard Brown
- Chomsky on Mind and Consciousness 2024-12-17 Richard Brown
- Matthias Michel Live (again!) 2024-03-28Join me for a discussion with Matthias Michel as we discuss the Perceptual Reality Monitoring theory of consciousnessRichard Brown
- Jamie Woodhouse Live! 2024-03-21Join me for a discussion with Jamie Woodhouse as we discuss all things Sentientist.Richard Brown
- Gualtiero Piccinini Live! 2024-03-05Gualtiero Piccinini joins me for a discussion of the nature and physical implementation of computation and consciousnessRichard Brown
- Steve Fleming Live (again)! 2024-02-05Steve Fleming joins me to discuss his new(-ish) book Know Thyself: The science of Self Awareness, the recent ‘IIT letter’, and a whole lot more! Steve’s blog post on IIT: https://elusiveself.wordpress.com/2023/09/09/iit-vs-gnwt-and-the-meaning-of-evidence-in-consciousness-science/Richard Brown
- Eric Schwitzgebel Live! 2024-01-30My struggle with technical issues continues! But after we work that out Eric and I have a really fun discussion about his new book The Weirdness of the World.Richard Brown
- Michael Graziano Live! 2024-01-22Join me for a discussion with Michael Graziano. Still having trouble with OBS, but slowly getting it together for a nice discussion.Richard Brown
- Rachel Denison Live! 2024-01-11Join me for a discussion with neuroscientist Rachel Denison and to see me comically flustered. For the first thirty-minutes or so of our discussion I thought we were live-streaming when we weren’t! That hasn’t happened to me since the old days of Spacetime Mind. I must be rusty!Richard Brown
- Consciousness Live! Season 6(?!?!) 2024-01-032024 is here and I am slowly coming out of my book-writing-induced coma to return to normal daylight activities. I have submitted the manuscript and we’ll see what reviewers think. In the meantime, I am slowly getting a line up for some Consciousness Live! discussions in the New Year. I started off the New Year […]Richard Brown
- What is the Role of the PFC in Consciousness? 2023-12-12I just read this very interesting paper out in Cortex taking a novel approach to assessing the role of the prefrontal cortex in consciousness. The interesting idea in the Rowe, Garrido, and Tsuchiaya paper linked to here is the idea of looking at whether there is even enough information being sent to the PFC to […]Richard Brown
- I Did It! 2023-12-10I made it through an entire semester with no teaching responsibilities at CUNY! For the first time in 20 years! Oh, and I wrote a book! I started as a graduate student at the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as an adjunct instructor of philosophy at Brooklyn College, in the Fall of 2003. I came […]Richard Brown
- Terminal Burnout Unlocked 2023-06-18Things have just been off the charts hectic around here, and I’m not just talking about Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom! I have always taught a lot but since 2015 it has become overwhelming. I did a little number crunching on the train and found that before 2015 I was teaching about 10 classes per […]Richard Brown
- Consciousness as Representing One’s Mind: Rethinking the Higher-Order Thought Theory of Consciousness 2022-06-06Word on the street is that I am allegedly writing a book on consciousness…woah betide us, this is certainly the final indicator that we are in the most absurd of simulations! At any rate,I don’t have a contract or anything but there is ‘some interest’ in my completing a draft from a press, which is […]Richard Brown
- 2021 in Review 2021-12-22Like most people (I assume) I can’t believe that 2021 is almost over. This year has really flown by and I am feeling very burnt out. I feel like I am getting less and less done and yet at the same time being more and more overwhelmed by what I do manage to get done. […]Richard Brown
- Mark Solms Live! 2021-09-18Join me for a discussion with Mark Solms, Chair of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital (Departments of Psychology and Neurology), as we discuss themes from his work and his recent book the Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness Mark’s book: The Hidden Spring Mark’s wikipedia pageRichard Brown
Tom Gilson
- How Your Church Can Thrive in This Strange New World We Live In 2024-10-10You may have seen the signs, or maybe you have one installed at your own church for people to see as they exit: “You are now... The post How Your Church Can Thrive in This Strange New World We Live In appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- An Open Letter with Eight Hard Questions for Progressive Christian Apologist Randal Rauser 2023-04-20Dear Mr. Rauser, You and I have been trading videos, articles, and tweets over the past several weeks. The latest round, other than tweets I’ve sent,... The post An Open Letter with Eight Hard Questions for Progressive Christian Apologist Randal Rauser appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Follow-up on My Exchange with Randal Rauser 2023-02-27Last week I got involved in what I would have hoped to be a dialogue with Randal Rauser regarding a handful of tweets he’d put up... The post Follow-up on My Exchange with Randal Rauser appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- How Not to Do Apologetics: Dark Example from the ‘Tentative Apologist’ Randal Rauser 2023-02-23A video from the self-styled “Tentative Apologist” Randal Rauser has roused me to wake up this website again. I think he thinks he’s defending progressive Christianity.... The post How Not to Do Apologetics: Dark Example from the ‘Tentative Apologist’ Randal Rauser appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- The Very Alien Question of Marriage (from The Stream’s Pastors’ Corner) 2022-03-25(Also published at The Stream.) What is marriage? What is it for? Why does marriage matter? Ten years ago, those were the hottest questions on the... The post The Very Alien Question of Marriage (from The Stream’s Pastors’ Corner) appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Find Your Authentic Self, or Find an Authentic View of God? 2022-02-08Everyone’s in a rush to find their “authentic self.” We’re going about it the wrong way, though. We find our true selves by giving up false... The post Find Your Authentic Self, or Find an Authentic View of God? appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Pastors’ Equipping Series: Sample Sermon on Christian Exclusivism vs. Pluralism — Christmas Themed! 2021-12-14Christians aren’t supposed to say we have the one truth, right? So goes the opinion around our culture, anyway. We’re supposed to be “humble” about our... The post Pastors’ Equipping Series: Sample Sermon on Christian Exclusivism vs. Pluralism — Christmas Themed! appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Pastors’ Equipping Series: Sample Sermon on the Faith-Science Challenge (Special Focus on the Virgin Birth) 2021-11-05Faith vs. Science: It feels like David approaching Goliath, with no sling and no stones. Or at least, that’s the way a lot of people want... The post Pastors’ Equipping Series: Sample Sermon on the Faith-Science Challenge (Special Focus on the Virgin Birth) appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Alisa Childers: ‘Reading Through Your Book Was … Exciting’ 2021-10-07Alisa Childers, gifted speaker, former ZOEgirl singer, and author of the outstanding book Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity, graciously invited... The post Alisa Childers: ‘Reading Through Your Book Was … Exciting’ appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Pastors’ Equipping Series: A Sample Sermon on Critical Race Theory 2021-09-30Updated: See the summary explainer article at The Stream! Critical race theory: Could you preach on it in church? Teach it in a small group? How... The post Pastors’ Equipping Series: A Sample Sermon on Critical Race Theory appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- So You Think Critical Race Theory Is a Useful Analytical Tool? 2021-09-13I was with my new friend Howard that afternoon, and he was pumping me with questions about some of my projects so he could do some... The post So You Think Critical Race Theory Is a Useful Analytical Tool? appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- At Last! Moving Forward Into the Heat to Light Pastors’ Equipping Series! 2021-08-30The time has come, at last, tell some of the story, and then very soon to launch the new church-equipping initiative that I’ve been building toward... The post At Last! Moving Forward Into the Heat to Light Pastors’ Equipping Series! appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Cincinnati Apologetics Conference with Alisa Childers September 10-11! 2021-08-11I’ll be speaking as well. Kudos to Tim Waugh, pastor of Faith Community United Methodist Church, who wants to be a light for the truth of... The post Cincinnati Apologetics Conference with Alisa Childers September 10-11! appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Creative Common-Sense Apologetics — Video Here! 2021-07-21They say you can’t use the Bible to prove the Bible; it’s circular reasoning. Yes. Except… there are exceptions. Valid ones, not fallacious. The Bible actually... The post Creative Common-Sense Apologetics — Video Here! appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Update on Pastor Equipping Ministry: ‘Heat to Light: Guiding Your People Through Cultural Conflict to Spiritual Transformation’ 2021-07-01It’s coming together in ways I never expected, and that’s a good thing. If you’ve been following me here on the blog or the podcast, you... The post Update on Pastor Equipping Ministry: ‘Heat to Light: Guiding Your People Through Cultural Conflict to Spiritual Transformation’ appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Apologists and Pastors Connecting for Ministry: Stories of How You Can Do It 2021-06-26(Hear more of the story at the Thinking Christian podcast.) Apologists need to connect with pastors, and vice versa. We need each other. Pastors need the... The post Apologists and Pastors Connecting for Ministry: Stories of How You Can Do It appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- RELEASED TODAY ON KINDLE! Too Good to be False: How Jesus’ Incomparable Character Reveals His Reality 2021-06-17It came a day or two earlier than I expected, so I’m scrambling to catch up — but I’m very excited to announce the release at... The post RELEASED TODAY ON KINDLE! Too Good to be False: How Jesus’ Incomparable Character Reveals His Reality appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Apologists and Pastors, Here’s How We Can Finally Work Together (And We’d Better Get To It!) 2021-06-13I met a pastor from my home town at a conference a couple years ago, actually a pastors’ pastor, who ministered to dozens of others in... The post Apologists and Pastors, Here’s How We Can Finally Work Together (And We’d Better Get To It!) appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- Pastor, Your Job Is About Cross-Cultural Missions Now. Could You Use Some Help? 2021-06-01The world has changed, and the pastor's job description must, too. It's cross-cultural missions and ministry now wherever you may be. The post Pastor, Your Job Is About Cross-Cultural Missions Now. Could You Use Some Help? appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
- A Conversation with Gay/Progressive Leader Brandan Robertson 2021-05-10I had a most interesting conversation on Thursday with Brandan Robertson, who’s a leading spokesman for gay and progressive Christianity, on everything from the character of... The post A Conversation with Gay/Progressive Leader Brandan Robertson appeared first on Tom Gilson.Tom Gilson
Thoughts, Arguments and Rants
- Value and News in Evidential Decision Theory 2018-05-11A discussion of what desirabilities in Jeffrey's theory of decision ultimately mean. Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Absolute Value 2018-05-11An objection to the version of Desire as Belief that Stephen Daskall defended in "Absolute Value as Belief". Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Over Time, Citations Get More Uneven 2017-05-18In an earlier post, I compared the distribution of citations within _Journal of Philosophy_, 1976 and _Philosophical Studies_, 2009. And I noted that although the two ended up in similar places, they got there in different ways. _Journal of Philosophy_ … Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Citations are Getting More Evenly Distributed 2017-05-12I claimed yesterday that citations within journals are getting more egalitarian. To verify this, I pulled the citation data for two prominent years: The Journal of Philosophy, 1976 and Philosophical Studies, 2009. I couldn’t find an easy way to get … Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Two More Graphs 2017-05-11Just as a follow up to the previous post, here are the graphs for six more journals. First their citations in the other 31. Then their citations in the whole of Web of Science Arts and Humanities. (Note that this … Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Changes in Who is Cited 2017-05-11The dataset of citations I’m looking at starts in 1976. And I can break down not just which journals are cited, but which years of those journals are cited. (And which years they are cited in, but I’m setting aside … Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Citation Graphs, One Journal at a Time 2017-05-10The big graphs I posted earlier have so much information, that much of it gets lost in the mess of lines. So I’ve broken down the data to create a graph just involving each journal’s interactions with the other 31. … Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Citation Graphs and Methodology 2017-05-04Last week I posted some graphs showing how often various journals cite other journals. Here is one of those graphs, just to remind you what they looked like. I didn’t say particularly clearly how I got the data, or even … Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Citations of History Journals 2017-04-27Yesterday I posted some data about how often journals cite other journals. And one of the things that jumped out was how rarely generalist journals cite various specialist journals. I suggested an inference from that: generalist journals are not as … Continue reading →brianweatherson
- Citation Patterns Across Journals 2017-04-26I’ve been interested for a while in the different things that get attention in different philosophy journals. Part of what got me interested in this was looking at the ways that different well known articles get cited, or not, in … Continue reading →brianweatherson