Why Federalism: The Conclusion

The final piece in my series on supranational federalism for the Streit Council is now out. There’s no paywall. You can read it here: https://www.streitcouncil.org/post/why-federalism-the-conclusion

Why Federalism: On Citizenship

I’ve written the fourth in a series of six posts that will be coming out with the Streit Council, on the problem of economic integration without political union. There’s no paywall. You can read it here: https://www.streitcouncil.org/post/why-federalism-on-citizenship

Why Richard Dawkins Fails to Appreciate Plato

The other day, Richard Dawkins had a go at Plato:

Surprised by common reverence for Plato. Alexandrians like Eratosthenes made superb progress. But what did Plato say that was actually right? And didn’t he mislead generations of theologians & philosophers into thinking you could find truth by making stuff up in an armchair?

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) December 16, 2019

It’s not the first time. Dawkins has a thing for picking on Plato. He said this back in March:

Philosophy is “a series of footnotes to Plato” (Whitehead)

Plato “thought of vision as due not to light entering but rather to particles shooting out of the eyes” (R Gregory, Eye & Brain)

Why didn’t he settle it with a simple experiment? Because experiments aren’t philosophy?

— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) March 6, 2019

Continue reading “Why Richard Dawkins Fails to Appreciate Plato” →

Nye vs. Ham: The Broken Evolution/Creation Debate

Yesterday, on encouragement from my little brother, who is an aspirant aeronautical engineer and a huge Bill Nye fan, I watched the debate between Bill Nye (of Bill Nye the Science Guy) and Ken Ham, who is president of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. I also ran across this piece on Buzzfeed, in which Ham supporters ask lots of questions that, based on what I’m reading on my Facebook, don’t seem especially reasonable to Nye’s guys. Instead of contributing to the internet flame war, I’d like to try to use what philosophical skills I have to highlight what precisely the difference is between the two positions, because the gulf is incredibly vast, more vast than I believe most of the participants on either side of this debate commonly understand.

Continue reading “Nye vs. Ham: The Broken Evolution/Creation Debate” →

The Peculiar Similarity of Subjectivists and Solipsists

A thought occurred to me this morning that I think well worth sharing about subjectivism and solipsism, and how these two ideas are much more similar to one another than perhaps they appear. I want to share it.

Continue reading “The Peculiar Similarity of Subjectivists and Solipsists” →