Fantastic, insightful, and intuitively correct stuff about why we bother to use innuendos and other forms of indirect language where the literal meaning of what we are saying is undisguisedly clear: Thanks to Shane. Your Thoughts?
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METAETHICS
Goodness Is A Factual Matter (Goodness=Effectiveness) Grounding Objective Value Independent Of Human Interests And Moralities Effectiveness Is The Primary Goal In Itself, Not Merely A Means Non-Reductionistic Analysis Of Values Into Facts On The Intrinsic Connection Between Being And Goodness Deriving An Atheistic, Naturalistic, Realist Account Of Morality On Good And Evil For Non-Existent PeopleTELEOLOGICAL / CONSEQUENTIALIST ETHICS
How Our Morality Realizes Our Humanity Maximal Self-Realization In Self-Obliteration: The Existential Paradox of Heroic Self-Sacrifice My Perfectionistic, Egoistic AND Universalistic, Indirect Consequentialism (And Contrasts With Other Kinds) On Teleology and Intellectual Virtues and Vices (5)VIRTUES
Rightful Pride: Identification With One’s Own Admirable Powers And Effects The Harmony Of Humility And Pride Conceptual Problems For The Ideal of Unconditional Love How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways Call It Volitional Love Rather Than Unconditional LovePLEASURE, PAIN
What Is Happiness And Why Is It Good? Pleasure And Pain As Intrinsic Instrumental Goods What Does It Mean For Pleasure And Pain To Be “Intrinsically Instrumental” Goods? Subjective Valuing And Objective Values My Perspectivist, Teleological Account Of The Relative Values Of Pleasure And PainGOOD WITHOUT GOD
On The Incoherence Of Divine Command Theory And Why Even If God DID Make Things Good And Bad, Faith-Based Religions Would Still Be Irrelevant The Separability Of Metaethics From Questions Of Theism Are Sex and Morality Merely “Evolutionary Tricks”? For God or Morality? On Those Who’d Hold Morality Hostage For Faith Being Personally Moral Is Not Enough, Atheists Need A Coherent Metaethics Can You Have A Heart Without Having “The Heart of God”?MORAL PLURALISM
Towards A “Non-Moral” Standard Of Ethical Evaluation Further Towards A “Non-Moral” Standard Of Ethical Evaluation Moral vs. Non-Moral ValuesMORAL MUTABILITY
Mutable Morality, Not Subjective Morality. Moral Pluralism, Not Moral Relativism. How Morality Can Change Through Objective Processes And In Objectively Defensible WaysMORAL INTUITIONISM
Against Moral Intuitionism Rejecting And Reconciling Moral Intuitionist Ideas With My Naturalist Account Of GoodnessSUBJECTIVISM
I Am A Moral Naturalist, Not A SubjectivistRELIGION WITHIN REASON
Against Accommodationism: Religion Has NO Rightful Claim To An Unencroachable “Magisteria” Of Its Own True Religion? How Jon Stewart Dropped The Ball On The Faith And Science Quesiton (But How Religion Can Be Redeemed Nonetheless) Why I Think Theistic Religion’s Psychological Grip Can Be Weakened Or BrokenTowards Atheistic Religions (Or Away From Them, Depending On How You Define “Religions”)MEANING AND "SPIRITUALITY" WITHIN REASON
On Defending True Spirituality And Taking The Word Back From Spiritually Bankrupt Fundamentalism I Am Interviewed About My Personal (Atheistic) Religiosity/Spirituality Is It A Waste Of Time For Atheists To Care About Spirituality? On The Meaning Of Meaning Character As Fate And Environment As Variability Not “I’ll Pray For You” But “I Love You”APOSTASY
Apostasy As A Religious Act (Or “Why A Camel Hammers The Idols Of Faith”) Sex And Apostasy Defending Apostates’ Intellects Against A Dismissive Christian ApologistSYMPATHY FOR THE RELIGIOUS
Can You Really Love Religious People If You Hate Their Religion? What Can An Atheist Love In People’s Religiosity? The Complicated Relationship Of An Apostate To His Religious Friends And His Reilgious PastCIVILITY BTWN ATHEISTS AND THEISTS
Is Debate Between Believers And Non-Believers Inevitably Futile? The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth—But With No Name Calling When (And How) Should We Bother To Push The Issues? On Meeting People Where They Are TOP Q: “How Is It Fair To Question Other People’s Identity-Forming Beliefs While Demanding Respect For One’s Own Belief-Formed Identities?” Top 10 Tips For Reaching Out To Atheists Does Faith Make You An Idiot? What’s Wrong With Prejudice And Is It Prejudicial To Dislike Someone Over His Bad Thinking? PZ Myers Shouldn’t Sound Like Sarah PalinROMAN CATHOLICS
The Pope’s Weaselly Excuses For Church Child Abuse In The ’70sAPPLIED ETHICS
Ricky Gervais, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, And Ethical Dilemmas In Comedy Legalism Over Life: Nun Supports Life-Saving Abortion And Gets Excommunicated Moral Actions, Moral Sentiments, Moral Motives, and Moral Justifications: More On The Nun Excommunicated For Approving A Life-Saving AbortionPROBLEM OF EVIL
On God As The Source Of Being But Not Of Evil Why Worship Someone With Mysterious Motives?ATHEIST SOLIDARITY
The “A” Word Who Cares About Atheists? You Might Be An Atheist Even If You Hate The New Atheists My Atheistic Reply To Rabbi Adam Jacobs’s Open Letter To The Atheist Community Are Atheists An Oppressed Minority?THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
The Religious Conservative’s False Choice: “Big Brother” Or “Heavenly Father” Thoughts On The Ethics Of Private Vs. Publicly-Mediated Generostiy How Christian Beliefs And Values Are No More Creditable With America’s Founding Than Islamic OnesREASONS FOR ATHEISM
No, I’m Not An Atheist By Faith, Here Are My Arguments. Beyond Agnosticism: More Details About How I Know Various Kinds Of Gods Do Not Exist, Based On Scientific And Philosophical Reasons The Cosmological Argument, The Composition Fallacy, And More Reasons Not To Believe In God Do New Atheists Unjustifiably Shirk Their Burden For Evidence?ERIC STEINHART ON METAPHYSICS
6 Basic Kinds Of Answer To The Question “Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?” The Positive Content of Atheism Why Materialism is Unscientific The Simulation Hypothesis The Secret Agreement between Atheists and TheistsAGNOSTICISM, ATHEISM, & THEISM
Disambiguating Faith: How A Lack Of Belief In God May Differ From Various Kinds Of Beliefs That Gods Do Not Exist Distinguishing The Atheist Agnostic, The Theist Gnostic, The Atheist Gnostic, and The Theist Agnostic Agnostics Or Apistics? Disambiguating Faith: The Evidence-Impervious Agnostic Theists Atheists Have Affirmative Positions On The Status Of Evidence And On The Standards Of BeliefFAITH AS LEAP
Disambiguating Faith: Faith Which Exploits Infinitesimal Probabilities As Openings For Strong AffirmationsJUSTIFIED BELIEF VS. FAITH BELIEF
Disambiguating Faith: Not All Beliefs Held Without Certainty Are Faith Beliefs Disambiguating Faith: Defending My Definition Of Faith As “Belief Or Trust Beyond Rational Warrant”FAITH AS CHOICE
Disambiguating Faith: Implicit Faith Disambiguating Faith: Why Faith Is Unethical (Or "In Defense Of The Ethical Obligation To Always Proportion Belief To Evidence") How Faith Is Not Like Other (Revisable) Reflexive Assumptions (6)TRUST VS. FAITH
Disambiguating Faith: Trustworthiness, Loyalty, And Honesty Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Loyally Trusting Those Insufficiently Proven To Be TrustworthyFAITH AS TRADITIONALISM
Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Tradition Disambiguating Faith: Blind Faith: How Faith Traditions Turn Trust Without Warrant Into A Test Of Loyalty Disambiguating Faith: The Threatening Abomination Of The FaithlessUNCERTAIN BELIEFS
Rational Beliefs, Rational Actions, And When It Is Rational To Act On What You Don’t Think Is True Disambiguating Faith: Faith As GuessingBETTER THAN FAITH
Disambiguating Faith: Are True Gut Feelings And Epiphanies Beliefs Justified By Faith? Disambiguating Faith: Faith Is Neither Brainstorming, Hypothesizing, Nor Simply Reasoning Counter-Intuitively Disambiguating Faith: Faith In The Sub-, Pre-, Or Un-consciousFAITH AS RATIONALIZATION
Disambiguating Faith: Faith As A Form Of Rationalization Unique To Religion Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Deliberate Commitment To Rationalization Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Subjectivity Which Claims ObjectivityDOUBT VS. FAITH
Disambiguating Faith: Faith Is Preconditioned By Doubt, But Precludes Serious Doubting Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Tradition’s Advocate And Enforcer, Opposed To Merely Provisional Forms Of Trust Disambiguating Faith By Soul Searching With Clergy GuyCHILDREN'S REASONING
Disambiguating Faith: Faith As Corruption Of Children’s Intellectual JudgmentATHEISM DIFFERS FROM FAITH
Evangelical Atheism? Is Reason My “God” In Whom I Have “Faith?” Is Reason My "God" 2: On Authority, Uncertainty, and Inexplicability Is Reason My "God" 3: What It Means To Be A Rational Being Is Reason My God 4: On Reason As An Authority Answering Accusations Against Atheists: The Charge We Naively Blame All War On Religion Atheist Groupthink?DEISM VS. THEISM
On The Possible God Of Philosophy And Cosmology Vs. The Personal, Historical God Of FaithPOLITICAL VALUES
Some Suspicions About The Superiority Of Liberal Moral Values Philosophical Ethics: Hobbes On The Source Of Authority Philosophical Ethics: Rawls’s Maximin Principle Some More Thoughts On Rawls’s Maximin Principle And Fairness Philosophical Ethics: Can We Uphold A Moral Law And A Principle That We Should Break It? How Christian Beliefs And Values Are No More Creditable With America’s Founding Than Islamic OnesEPISTEMOLOGY
Clarifying The Relationships Between Dogmatism, Skepticism, And Properly Proportioned Belief Evolution and Epistemology If Faith Isn’t Publicly Justifiable, How Can It Provide Justification At All?METAETHICISTS
Philosophical Ethics: On G.E. Moore’s Notion Of Good As An Indefinable Non-Natural Property Philosophical Ethics: From G.E. Moore’s Non-Naturalism To C.L. Stevenson’s Emotivism Philosophical Ethics: A.J. Ayer And The Emotivism Of A Positivist Philosophical Ethics: J.L. Mackie’s Error Theory And Jonathan Harrison’s Critique Thereof Philosophical Ethics: R.M. Hare On Moral Consistency As A Form Of Logical Consistency Philosophical Ethics: Bruce Russell On Theories About What Makes An Action Rational Or Not Philosophical Ethics: Does Calling Someone Evil Explain Anything About Them?KANT
Philosophical Ethics: Kant, The Good Will, And Rational Actions Philosophical Ethics: "But Why MUST I?" Kant’s Ironic Formulation Of Liberty As Duty Philosophical Ethics: A Possible Kantian Formula For Determining The Permissibility Of Self-DefenseMOTIVES
Philosophical Ethics: Whether It’s Worth It To Be Just With No Incentives Or With DisincentivesETHICS OF HOMOSEXUALITY
An Argument For Gay Marriage And Against Traditionalism Judge This: No Gay Kissing On Modern Family? Happy National Coming Out Day 2009! Unreal Discrimination?GAYS AND CHRISTIANITY
Bishop of Church of England Doesn’t “Share Same Faith” As Those Who Accept Homosexuality A Follow Up Post On Gays And Christianity Confronting Conservative Christians With The Consequences Of Their Homophobia Gays and Christianity 3: If God Exists and Is Good, He Cannot Oppose Gay Love Contortions Of Catholic Philosophy: Eve Tushnet Argues Gay Sex Is Not OK But Sex Changes AreDISCRIMINATION
Sexism And Sensitivity On Gary Bauer’s Claims That American Muslims Get Better Treatment Than American ChristiansRELIGION'S VICES
Is God Needed For Us To Care About Starving Kids A World Away? Religion As A Morally and Politically Ambivalent Force Answering Accusations Against Atheists: The Charge That Atheists Have Faith TooSCIENCE VS. FAITH
How Belief In “Theistic Evolution” Is Nearly As Much A Denial Of Science As Creationism Defending The Apparent Truth Of Evolution’s Mindlessness The (Jesuit) Father Of The Big Bang Theory In What Sense Religious Scientists Shouldn't Exist What’s Wrong With Religious Scientists? More Thoughts On Scientists In The Public Square When Should A Scientist’s Faith Disqualify Him From Scientific Institutional Authority? On Unjustifiably Leveraging One’s Credibility Against Faith and In Defense of Naturalism and Induction (7)MODERATE RELIGION
Will The Real Atheists Please Stop Kneeling The Value Of Religious Moderates And The Danger Of Isolating Religious And Political Fundamentalists What’s In A Name? On Redefining Belief In God Rather Than Rejecting It Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellecuals 1 Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellectuals 2 Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellectuals 3 Objections to Religious Moderates and Intellectuals 4ANTAGONISTIC ATHEISM
On The Alleged Intolerance Of The New Atheists Towards “Faitheists” In Defense Of Mocking And Embarrassing Religion My Thoughts On Blasphemy Day On The Uses And Abuses Of Religion In Art: The Lines Between Expression, Tolerance, Respect, Fear, and Torture Why Atheists Should Not Give Up Challenging Theism And TheistsBAD BIBLE
Why Progressive Interpretations Of The Old Testament Still Do Not Justify Its God Morally How Genesis Is Not Only Literally False, But Metaphorically False True And False In Adam And Eve The Christian Logic Of Power, Pride, Humility, Free Will, Original Sin, And All-Consuming Divine Narcissism You Are Not A Bible Character You Are Not A Biblical Character 2: Father Freeman’s Reply You Are Not A Bible Character 3: On Believing Without Proof-
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Category Archives: Philosophy of Language
RSA Animate Of Stephen Pinker, “Language As A Window Into Human Nature”
February 21, 2011 – 3:03 pmBy Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Evolutionary Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Philosophy of Language, Psychology, Psychology, Sex | Tagged Alan Fiske, Anthropology, Awkwardness, Commands, Communality Relationships, Deniability, Dominance Relationships, Dominance vs. Communality Relationships, Emperor's New Clothes, Freedom of Assembly, Friendship, How Revolutions Happen, Indirect Communication, Individual Knowledge, Innuendos, Kin Selection, Mutual Knowledge, Mutualism, Negotiation, Overt Language, Reciprocal Altruism, Reciprocal Relationships, Speech Acts, Stephen Pinker, When Harry Met Sally, Workplace Awkwardness | Comments (0)Disambiguating Faith: Not All Beliefs Held Without Certainty Are Faith Beliefs
June 30, 2010 – 12:35 pmDavid Crowther raises a crucial point of contention: What I really want to do, is get back to the question of whether atheism is necessarily a “faith position”. If we generalize the term “faith” to mean believing or relying on something without absolute proof, than I think it is true to say that every possible [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Disambiguating Faith, Disambiguating Faith, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Faith, Faith, Featured, Philosophy of Language, Religion and Science, Science, Science, Skepticism, Skepticism | Tagged Beliefs, Certainty, Skepticism | Comments (18)Philosophical Ethics: A.J. Ayer And The Emotivism Of A Positivist
September 20, 2009 – 1:36 pmIn a series of posts this semester, I am going to blog all (or almost all) the lecture topics for the two Philosophical Ethics classes I am teaching this semester. Each of these posts will primarily explicate the reading or a theme that dominated class discussion in a way that should be accessible to novices [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Arguments Against The Existence of God, Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Epistemology, Ethics, Featured, Historical Philosophy, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy | Tagged A.J. Ayer, Arguments About The Meaninglessness of God, C.L. Stevenson, Emotivism, G.E. Moore, God As Unverifiable, Good, Goodness, Logical Positivism, Meaning, Moral Disagreement, Moral Objectivity, Moral Relativism, Moral Subjectivism, Problem of Moral Disagreement, Semantics, Speech Act, Subjectivism | Comments (1)Philosophical Ethics: From G.E. Moore’s Non-Naturalism To C.L. Stevenson’s Emotivism
September 20, 2009 – 11:24 amIn a series of posts this semester, I am going to blog all (or almost all) the lecture topics for the two Philosophical Ethics classes I am teaching this semester. Each of these posts will primarily explicate the reading or a theme that dominated class discussion in a way that should be accessible to novices [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Atheistic Ethics, Contemporary Ethics, Ethics, Featured, Historical Ethics, Historical Philosophy, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy | Tagged C.L. Stevenson, David Hume, Descriptive Statements, Descriptive Statements Said Dynamically, Dynamic Statements, Emoting, Emotional Persuasion, Emotivism, Expressive Language, G.E. Moore, Moral Disagreement, Speech Acts | Comments (1)Philosophical Ethics: On G.E. Moore’s Notion Of Good As An Indefinable Non-Natural Property
September 19, 2009 – 6:54 pmIn a series of posts this semester, I am going to blog all (or almost all) the lecture topics for the two Philosophical Ethics classes I am teaching this semester. Each of these posts will primarily explicate the reading or a theme that dominated class discussion in a way that should be accessible to novices [...]
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Ethics, Featured, Historical Philosophy, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy | Tagged Color Vision, G.E. Moore, Goodness, Goodness As A Non-Natural Property, Goodness As A Simple Property, Goodness As Indefinable, Incommensurability of Intuitions, Intuitions, Intuitions of Goodness, Moral Intuitionism, Moral Intuitions, Non-Natural Properties, The Naturalistic Fallacy, The Open-Ended Question, The Problem of Disagreement | Comments (2)Stephen Pinker Makes The Case Against The "Blank Slate"
July 21, 2009 – 6:57 pmThanks to AtheisTube for the find. Your Thoughts?
By Daniel Fincke | Also posted in Biology, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Philosophy, Psychology | Tagged Anthropology, Genetics, Human Nature, Linguistics, Stephen Pinker, Twins | Comments (0)