tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90733122012-02-08T02:25:15.489-08:00from the dregs of culture and thoughtK.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.comBlogger721100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-52982868668310959422011-10-07T23:58:00.000-07:002011-10-08T19:13:38.143-07:00

I have spent quite a lot of time, likely an inordinate amount of time, thinking about knowledge and skepticism, and, at the end of the day, knowledge always wins in my mind. As it does in the minds of most other sane human beings, even philosopher-human-beings. But what is interesting to me is that the spoils of this victory aren't actually reaped because of some imperforate argument from reason

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-44121459829622006132011-09-18T01:27:00.001-07:002012-02-08T02:25:15.506-08:00

Did you know that things happen in a person’s brain while he is having a religious (or mystical) experience? Did you know that many smart people think that, since things happen in a person’s brain while he is having a religious experience, his experience is nothing more than a brain phenomenon with no external source or cause or referent? Did you know that things happen in a person’s brain while

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-24593603313352155482010-01-03T21:50:00.001-08:002010-01-03T21:50:45.056-08:00

Many of my students seem to think that the existence of goodness is somehow dependent on the existence of evil. They have vague intuitions, that is, that the existence of evil is somehow necessary for the existence of good. Call this the “Metaphysical Necessity View” (MNV). Students often employ this sentiment, or something akin to it, in their attempts to defend God against the charge that the

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-75460856944940714562009-10-04T03:14:00.000-07:002009-10-05T16:57:49.643-07:00

There's this philosophical debate about whether you need to know you know to say you know. The problem is solved by noticing two ways we use the word know: on the one hand, we say we know when we mean "yeah, trust me, you should believe it too," on the other, when we say we know, we mean "yeah, I'm in touch with reality." So, do you need to know that you know to mean the latter? No. Do you need

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-33413578737835196702009-09-07T13:00:00.001-07:002009-09-07T13:01:37.060-07:00

Bobby Earle is a big fan of Twitter. He gives three reasons why:1. A couple weeks ago, Tim Nosenzo helped me out big time by responding to something I posted on twitter. I had been looking for a very hard to find lens for about 6 weeks. Because of my twitter updates on the matter, Tim kept his eye open for the lens and emailed me when he found one. Long story short, I got the lens!!2. Another

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-78790422342583641292009-08-20T18:50:00.001-07:002009-08-20T18:50:38.026-07:00

Another well-written and devastating review of Dawkins' The God Delusion.Sample nugget:As far as theology goes, Dawkins has an enormous amount in common with Ian Paisley and American TV evangelists. Both parties agree pretty much on what religion is; it’s just that Dawkins rejects it while Oral Roberts and his unctuous tribe grow fat on it.

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-84132997585816542522009-07-19T23:54:00.000-07:002009-07-21T22:22:27.118-07:00

Perhaps nothing is more provocative of philosophical reflection than looking up at night. This upward gaze issues in all sorts of experiences, but one I think is constant: the sensation of radical finitude. We feel very small, very “located” in something vast. Beyond this felt smallness, thoughts and experiences are diverse. The diversity of thought and experience that is of particular

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-43184669969664740862009-07-12T00:47:00.000-07:002009-07-12T01:01:00.763-07:00

Why not another nugget from Berry? "Moral ignorance," he says, is "self-induced" and comes with the "excuse" of "objectivity."One of the purposes of objectivity, in practice, is to avoid coming to a moral conclusion. Objectivity, considered a mark of great learning and the highest enlightenment, loves to identify itself by such pronouncements as the following: "You may be right, but on the other

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-16294750991932118792009-07-04T14:42:00.000-07:002009-07-04T14:43:47.176-07:00

All of the following is drawn from Wendell Berry's essay "The Joy of Sales Resistance," which serves as the preface to his book Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community.Berry describes the "political package" of Tolerance and Multiculturalism like this:Quit talking bad about women, homosexuals, and preferred social minorities, and you can say anything you want about people who haven't been to college

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-5958317985619636562009-06-13T00:53:00.000-07:002009-06-13T01:13:29.806-07:00

O WORLD invisible, we view thee, O world intangible, we touch thee, O world unknowable, we know thee, Inapprehensible, we clutch thee! Does the fish soar to find the ocean,

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-28938529352196543142009-05-26T16:10:00.001-07:002009-05-26T16:12:14.879-07:00

"...Do not let me hearOf the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.The only wisdom we can hope to acquireIs the wisdom of humility: humility is endless." T.S.ELIOT

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-61141566898764503602009-05-26T15:45:00.000-07:002009-05-26T15:58:14.197-07:00

J. G. Hamann, in his Metacritique on the Purism of Reason, critiques Kant's "old, cold prejudice" for mathematical certainty:It is on the verge of being understood that if mathematics is able to lay claim to the privilege of nobility because of its universal and necessary reliability, then even human reason itself would not be the match of the infallible and unerring instinct of insects. [my

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-73566159851649991442009-04-20T22:33:00.000-07:002009-04-20T23:06:25.168-07:00

They constantly try to escapeFrom the darkness outside and withinBy dreaming of systems so perfect that no onewill need to be good.T.S.Elliotmore soon

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-31321718049578510402009-04-10T13:45:00.000-07:002009-04-16T22:29:59.057-07:00

I always tell people: "I hate college." And I really do. I hate it. But I'm a college teacher. So how does that work? Well, I should be clearer: I hate the contemporary academy. I love, however, the classical idea of the university, and I need a job--and I possess the naive hope that, in my own little way, I just might be able to combat the things I hate about the contemporary academy and

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-8193490507032588462009-04-08T01:31:00.001-07:002009-04-08T14:05:41.658-07:00

A few nights ago (04.04.09) at Biola University, I witnessed an important debate between a philosopher, William Lane Craig, and a journalist, Christopher Hitchens, over the question, Does God Exist? What follows are some poorly organized thoughts about this landmark event.And it truly was, I think, a landmark event. Not only was it conducted in front of the 4,000 or so people present; live video

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-50884357480880523802009-02-06T18:54:00.001-08:002009-02-06T18:54:19.846-08:00

Eleonore Stump's essay "The Mirror of Evil" in God and the Philosophers (ed. Thomas Morris) is centered around the truth contained in Psalm 131: 1-2.O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high;I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-70218612004640576932009-02-05T01:55:00.000-08:002009-02-05T01:57:54.064-08:00

"... do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matt 6:34)

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-36604596874853546742009-02-02T01:12:00.001-08:002009-02-02T01:13:26.736-08:00

What does it mean to be modern? It means, at least partially, to endorse the following from Bertrand Russell. In fact, I think that the degree to which one agrees with this passage is roughly the degree to which one is a modern.The free intellect will see as God might see, without a here and now, without hopes and fears, without the trammels of customary beliefs and traditional prejudices, calmly

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-72046882090002004692009-01-04T20:33:00.000-08:002009-04-18T15:42:52.757-07:00

This blog is about practice, not theology. (However, as I read Alexander Schmemann's For the Life of the World, I am becoming convinced that the two are ultimately inseparable.) My inspiration for this post is the following:A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it … Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-58250939486659992392008-09-15T12:32:00.000-07:002008-09-15T12:33:03.694-07:00

"Of how much more value is a man than a sheep!" (Matt. 12:12)

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-62916021615243706862008-08-04T21:29:00.000-07:002008-08-04T21:30:29.285-07:00

For all those who should be interested--everybody, that is--Alvin Plantinga has whittled down his Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism (EAAN) and published it as "Evolution vs. Naturalism" in Books & Culture. Click and read.

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-33171927740076153462008-07-29T01:24:00.001-07:002008-07-31T11:10:18.524-07:00

The following I learned from Paper University. Go check it out.Paper comes from trees. Yes, but not just any trees. It comes from trees that have been planted and grown specifically to harvest paper. Most, if not all, of those trees would not be there, if they had not been planted for paper. Moreover, these crops are a renewable resource; trees that are cut down are replaced by new ones. So, (1)

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-50068121011495598532008-07-23T22:35:00.001-07:002008-07-23T22:35:36.980-07:00

A friend of mine (who has a nice, virile voice) recently asked me to sum up "modern philosophy" for him. Something like an avalanche of heterogeneous mind boulders came tumbling down upon me when I first began pondering what a summary of modern philosophy should include. Next, I was overcome by the impulse to run for cover and pretend that such a question was never asked of me. But slowly the

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-866825062838488392008-07-20T01:28:00.001-07:002008-07-20T11:36:46.288-07:00

Donkeys fumbling about in elephant's clothing tend to look a bit clumsy (not to mention flabby).It has come to my attention that there is a movement afoot called "Republicans for Obama." The name of this group strikes me as a misnomer. For it seems to me that to be identified with a particular political party requires, first and foremost, that one embrace a particular political vision. If you are

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-29815096301327072382008-07-16T14:04:00.001-07:002008-07-17T18:45:33.935-07:00

A few weeks ago, my wife and I had a summer blockbuster binge: two movies, one weekend. Afterward, as we sat with our friends feeling bloated not only with popcorn but with explosions and chase scenes, we digested the message of each movie. We were surprised and delighted to find a common thread between R-rated "Wanted" and G-rated "Wall-E." The first depicts a sluggish accountant, too paralyzed

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-86933326604269220452008-07-15T20:59:00.001-07:002008-07-15T20:59:46.413-07:00

I hate it.

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-13001048210963722442008-07-15T09:06:00.000-07:002008-07-20T11:24:59.270-07:00

(The following is adapted from a message I sent to a friend)My wife, a dear friend, my son, and I were eating at Chick-fil-A, when we happened to run into a schoolmate of mine who joined for dinner at our table. Conversation turned to what we were reading, now that semester was well over, and she mentioned Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community by Wendell Berry. The wife and I bought two copies

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-4106007732831569762008-06-24T23:02:00.001-07:002008-06-25T09:00:48.101-07:00

Punk rockers (or, perhaps better, protest rockers) always need something against which to fight: the “establishment,” social prejudices and inequalities, war, puritanical parents, whatever, something. Punk, in other words, is a parasite. It thrives when its host thrives. It dies (or flies) when its host dies. So, for example, when government officials declare war, many punks discover a renewed

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-17986581721882088142008-06-06T15:27:00.000-07:002008-06-24T23:07:29.584-07:00

I have long sensed that there is something special about myth, something that separates it out from all other forms of literature. I have also long sensed that there is something special about C.S. Lewis, something that makes him more than an excellent apologist. It is shameful that both myth and Lewis are rarely taken seriously these days. (I find Lewis-bashing particularly revolting when it is

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-79649411381669928592008-06-02T15:18:00.000-07:002008-07-15T10:45:54.931-07:00

Earnest, Happy, Joyful, Strong, Wonderful, Complete, Splendid, Glorious, Triumphant, Magnificent, Whole.====================Change, Progress, Consumption.(i.e., things look bad)

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-35272018070872515612008-05-14T00:02:00.000-07:002008-07-15T10:50:30.820-07:00

I took the brand name off my toothpaste today. It disgusts me that toothpaste is branded. As I did so, I recalled an old essay I read, rationalizing branding. The essay suggested that branding was a helpful tool, a service to the consumer, helping the consumer decide what to buy. After all, there are so many options. At the time, I bought that. Perhaps it was that I was still reeling from

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-5689812174048189702008-05-02T21:40:00.000-07:002008-05-02T23:01:53.405-07:00

(1) Clever - Cleverness, for those most on the cutting edge of pomo humor, is the height of all "virtues". Clearly, by my presumption to know this, I implicate that I am part of or at least aware of that cutting edge. This might be pretentious of me. Oh well, that's another hallmark of the pomo self: acting, performing, pretending. Just observe what natural actors all those high school kids on

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-65940225290572036052008-03-03T23:01:00.000-08:002008-03-06T14:08:57.555-08:00

Immanuel Kant argues in his Critique of Pure Reason1 that theistic arguments boil down to three: the Ontological Argument (OA), the Cosmological Argument (CA), and the Physico-Theological Argument (PTA). CA, he claims, relies on OA, and PTA relies on both CA and (by extension) OA. OA fails because “being is obviously not a real predicate” (A598/B626). And therefore CA and PTA—deprived of OA—are

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-11357373958680390002008-02-20T23:50:00.000-08:002008-02-21T00:03:59.728-08:00

"Spontaneous me," sang Whitman, and, in his innocence, let loose the hordes of uninspired scribblers who would one day confuse spontaneity with genius. -E.B. White, The Elements of Style, p.73

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-827281042033771412008-02-13T01:16:00.001-08:002008-02-13T01:17:28.481-08:00

The Golden Rule is perhaps the most familiar tool in our normative evaluation toolbox. We use it to help us see past our selfishness; it keeps us honest. It may come as a surprise then that the Golden Rule for self-evaluation is also the Golden rule for evaluating others, for keeping others honest. Here's how: you look at what someone else is doing and ask, "are they doing unto others as they

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-54854016921322400042008-01-17T02:05:00.000-08:002008-01-17T23:09:22.160-08:00

I haven’t read much Thomas Hobbes, but I don’t think that matters for the purposes of this brief note. Hobbes famously argued that human beings “in the condition of mere nature”—that is, in the absence of government—would be driven solely by self-interest, would be the inventors of good and evil, would exist in a savage and dangerous environment, would (in short) live in a state of perpetual

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-75676758097963603422007-12-11T03:15:00.001-08:002007-12-11T03:22:05.953-08:00

from Tozer's Knowledge of the Holy:"If all this sounds strange to modern ears, it is only because we have for a full half century taken God for granted. The glory of God has not been revealed to this generation of men. The God of contemporary Christianity is only slightly superior to the gods of Greece and Rome, if indeed He is not actually inferior to them in that He is weak and helpless while

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-48620330657785576772007-11-29T00:58:00.001-08:002007-11-29T01:24:14.617-08:00

We consumers want Personal Service; consumer experiences that exceed our expectations! We're sick of talking to machines and interacting with automata, we want flesh and blood humans! But that our desire is less a desire for cosmopolitan community and more a consuming lust for competent slaves is exposed whenever we treat the person behind the service like a disposable cog.From dictionary.com:

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-53101887103424744352007-11-25T20:59:00.000-08:002007-11-25T21:01:33.407-08:00

Millard Erickson notes the following, while reflecting on the role of theology and philosophy in Christian Theology (2nd. Ed.)"It is possible to make the study of God.... excessively speculative; [where] the speculative conclusion itself, instead of a closer relationship with him, becomes the end. This should not be so."Amen.

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-21524144428333599912007-11-05T13:56:00.000-08:002008-02-13T01:25:46.549-08:00

This post-script brought to you live from the past (Chesterton, in Orthodoxy):"The great and grave changes in our political civilization all belonged to the early nineteenth century, not to the later. They belonged to the black and white epoch when men believed fixedly... and not unfrequently in Revolution. And whatever each man believed in he hammered at steadily, without scepticism: and there

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-34915400407063765782007-11-01T04:26:00.000-07:002007-11-01T04:28:58.307-07:00

because i'm sick of commentary, and i like to draw...

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-66601047328540660522007-10-29T02:07:00.000-07:002007-10-29T02:17:51.280-07:00

is especially a problem when you believe that daily there is "required reading for all serious people." Seriously, there really isn't. The stories are mostly the same, arguments rehashed with new characters who's names have been changed to hide the monotony of content. everything speeding past in slow motion. new stories, repeated in hundreds of places with only the smallest variations.

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-4630587794841108452007-07-28T11:48:00.000-07:002007-07-28T11:53:28.393-07:00

--teaser begin--I started this paper with modest aims: to use Frankfurt-style counterexamples to illumine how Christ, as fully God and fully man, could be incapable of sin yet morally praiseworthy. However, as I hashed out my argument I stumbled upon what I hope to be a two-part solution to numerous vexed philosophical, theological, and philosophical-theological problems. In particular, there

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-90566711739424342772007-07-17T15:03:00.000-07:002008-02-25T16:04:04.230-08:00

So I just (to steal a phrase from Ken Meyers), "enjoyed a conversation" with my good friend and old flat-mate at university, Joe Manzari. I'll relay the contents of that conversation at a later date. What was interesting about the conversation though, a sort of object lesson about the content of the conversation, and what has been interesting about my recent experience, is that when I left I

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-83353691245305618612007-07-16T15:18:00.000-07:002007-07-17T15:43:34.022-07:00

Thinking about my wayward wants, I am reminded that, I've always felt guilty that I don't perfectly obey Christ's charge, that "if you love me, you will obey my commandments." I have always felt that I must love Jesus, and so His commandments I must obey. But maybe, Jesus is making two points here. I wonder if I wasn't stuck reading only the "affirm the antecedent" direction (the if->then

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-3397943133602174432007-07-16T01:20:00.000-07:002008-02-13T01:39:10.056-08:00

Perhaps our lack of preaching on sin, that we seldom hear a Gospel preached which countenances it, leads to this queer fact: we keep trying to earn our salvation and get our sh*t together, when really-- we can't.Let me put some legs on this. Part of the problem I think, and this isn't original, is that we have a shitty theology of action and human activity (and by we, I mean, the evangelical

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-16178925090713803722007-07-05T16:34:00.002-07:002007-07-05T17:01:08.811-07:00

In expectation of increased production, and as a means of procrastination, behold. The Akeo Verm.

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-37012474002322054952007-05-28T00:31:00.000-07:002007-05-28T00:37:02.361-07:00

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. His parents called him Eustace Clarence and his schoolmasters called him Scrubb. I can't tell you how his friends spoke to him, for he had none. He didn't call his father and mother "Father" and "Mother," but Harold and Alberta. They were very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegetarians, non-smokers and

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-5651749300879329822007-05-19T14:18:00.000-07:002007-05-19T14:51:04.484-07:00

IF I believe that the world is round, e.g., when I imagine what the world looks like, I see a pale blue dot, AND the world is in fact round, do I have knowledge?

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-40414691761366039072007-05-06T17:51:00.000-07:002007-07-05T23:14:37.576-07:00

N.T. Wright provides a nice summary statement of what the Christian religion is all about: "Christianity is all about the belief that the living God, in fulfillment of his promises and as the climax of the story of Israel, has accomplished all this—the finding, the saving, the giving of new life—in Jesus. He has done it. With Jesus, God’s rescue operation has been put into effect once and for

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-63065688421931511662007-04-20T17:26:00.000-07:002007-05-06T18:31:29.246-07:00

On the one hand, it seems a rather absurd thing to pray for something already past. Surely to pray for a British victory in the American Revolutionary War (not sure why you'd pray for that) or for Abraham Lincoln's safety from Booth's bullet or for Socrates to be found innocent or for the moral fortitude not to have said that hurtful thing to that girl back in 8th grade, etc., is just plain

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-35572951907264373922007-03-30T16:42:00.000-07:002007-04-04T14:13:41.023-07:00

Throughout Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov there recurs the saying that if God and everlasting life are just illusory, “then everything is permitted.” By my lights, this claim concerns two things: (i) the ground of morality and (ii) moral motivation. Here I shall be concerned only with (i)--a subsequent post shall address (ii). Regarding the grounds for objective morality, it is the

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1170786250817128452007-02-06T10:22:00.000-08:002007-02-06T10:32:59.286-08:00

It seems fair to assume that global warming is happening. I'm not out to deny that; I'm not even out to deny that climate change is (at least) partially man-made. What I'm concerned with is Al Gore's radical doomsday sayings. Consider his claim that there could be a 20-foot increase in the sea level and pretty much the deluge of the world's coastal cities. The recent UN report on global warming

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1168412876747721992007-01-09T19:49:00.000-08:002007-01-14T06:14:46.773-08:00

Dorothy Sayers:“It is common knowledge among school-teachers that a high percentage of examination failures results from ‘not reading the question.’ The candidate presumably applies his eyes to the paper, but his answer shows that he is incapable of discovering by that process what the question is. This means that he is not only slovenly-minded but, in all except the most superficial sense,

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1162744460260800382006-11-05T08:15:00.000-08:002006-11-05T17:11:43.996-08:00

In the realm of pop atheism (at least), it is customary to regard belief in God as on the same epistemic plane as belief that Santa Claus exists or that there are faeries in your garden. This equation—however rhetorically sexy it may be—is a massive philosophical mistake. Atheist Michael Scriven provides a clear example of how this reasoning is supposed to go (quoted in Peter van Inwagen’s “

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1143072243679374982006-03-22T16:01:00.000-08:002006-09-24T02:20:18.490-07:00

In my eyes, the Jesus fish (Ichthus) that is fixed on the back of so many automobiles is the noblest artifact of an ignoble and superficial bumper-sticker religion. My preference is that no one put one of those things on his/her car (it seems a little cheap), but I know that many well-intentioned folks do so. I'm not writing to knock them. What I'm writing to knock is two derivatives of that

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1142482826458609002006-03-15T20:18:00.000-08:002006-03-15T20:20:26.460-08:00

Here's what Ken Myers (the host of the Mars Hill Audio Journal) has to say about the West's allegiance to human freedom: Unfortunately, western culture is increasingly likely to support the paradoxical contention that human freedom is so precious that every person should be free to define human nature however they want to. Of course, unless human nature has some fixed meaning, the assertion of

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1139902623201356112006-02-13T23:36:00.000-08:002006-02-13T23:51:33.520-08:00

Knowledge just is and only is true belief, and nothing else. Put differently, one knows iff one believes that p and p is true.Call such a view a "correspondence theory of knowledge," and call it "attractive"note also: a correspondence theory of knowledge makes satisfying sense of the value of coherence, since, if my beliefs contradict, given that reality is itself coherent, all my beliefs cannot

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1139902210837061492006-02-13T22:57:00.000-08:002006-02-13T23:34:22.666-08:00

Ever been driving 80 on the freeway, spot a cop, and come to a screeching 65? Puttering along at 65, the world seems to slow. Know that feeling? The awkward easiness of driving as you should?I had that feeling today, but not while driving. I was skimming some political ponderings over McCain's chances of courting successfully the ideologically (as opposed to pragmatically) conservative voters

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1139336930625602492006-02-07T10:26:00.000-08:002006-02-07T10:29:25.630-08:00

Reading Proverbs, stumbled across this verse, made me think of Pat Robertson."He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished" Proverbs 17:5This isn't to say I haven't gloated over disaster, but rather that we should all stop. da gloriam Deo.

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1132326087310278252005-11-18T06:43:00.000-08:002006-03-16T08:15:34.163-08:00

one argument against ID as legitimate science i frequently encounter is as folows:(1) if complexity requires a designerand,(2) the designer is itself complexthen,Q: who designed the designer?first, are we supposed to take Q to be a rebuttal to ID, or a question that needs answering prior to accepting ID, or something else even? What sort of challenge is Q to ID?second, if person who is

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1131081865150342672005-11-03T20:48:00.000-08:002005-11-04T09:59:29.426-08:00

excuse this rough post, i need to get it out of my system. it begins with a reflection. when sholdering the burden of proof for some claim, need one always proffer reasons? i think clearly the answer is no, or perhaps more accurately put, not exactly. that is, sometime, the only reason one can proffer for some claim is, "i just see that it is so." this is the case of 2+2=4.i am interested in what

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1130133764101944912005-10-23T23:02:00.000-07:002005-10-23T23:02:44.286-07:00

The elderly are by and large not appreciated in our culture, and I think that is a tragedy. Sure, people still believe they’re “cute” (and other nice, albeit quaint, things), but we don’t really think that they have much to offer that is of any substantive value. After all, most old people don’t know much about what’s current technologically and otherwise; they’re slow and dangerous behind the

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1130132870029671352005-10-23T22:46:00.000-07:002005-10-23T22:47:50.033-07:00

A: because they have to bite so many bullets. Here are some particularly tough bullets the naturalist (atheist) is obliged to chew on: (1) The breath-takingly finely-tuned physical constants that are necessary for the existence carbon-based life forms arose purely by chance.(2) The cosmic vomit that is our universe somehow managed (without the intervention of any intelligent being)

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1130132637791755372005-10-23T22:41:00.000-07:002005-10-23T22:45:07.556-07:00

Recently, it has struck me that individualism just might kill us all. I think we need other people. For a lot of us, trust is viewed as a weakness instead of a virtue. We were designed to live in community with others, and when we separate ourselves from everyone--in some vain attempt to be "autonomous"--we just end up cowering from the world and hiding from ourselves. Fyodor Dostoevsky puts the

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1129163478668316722005-10-12T17:30:00.000-07:002005-10-12T17:31:18.680-07:00

the philosophy of reaction (PR) There are certain critics (philosophical and otherwise) whose entire ideological framework seems derived from a reaction against some set(s) of beliefs. Oftentimes, this reaction is against religion, usually Christianity, but it need not be. Take Sally, for example. She has grown up in the church and found it

G. Millernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1128881387487371532005-10-09T10:50:00.000-07:002005-10-31T08:16:35.250-08:00

reasons why miers nomination could be simply amazing: 1) by avoiding a fight w/ dems (over judicial philosophy) from day one it saves political capital for mid-term elections (per major mike) 2) by choosing an "unknown," bush turned time and effort expended by dems (on preemptive dirt-digging and propaganda against luttig, owens, brown and other "A-list" judges) into waste. 3) bush may have

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1128849800256510452005-10-09T02:21:00.000-07:002005-10-11T07:37:09.186-07:00

i'd like to welcome two new co-owners of this blog. all hyperbole aside, it is an honor, privilege, and joy for me to be contributing to the same blog as they are.now skulldragging (which needs new name) is run by three minds.

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1128068512481014402005-09-30T01:19:00.000-07:002005-10-15T14:46:48.276-07:00

unfortunately, a busy schedule has kept me from blogging, but here is a smattering of upcomming post titles:"using the sharp end of a wedge as a chair""materialism in a classical vacum""charity as both virtue and weapon""then who designed the...""accomodating special needs students parents""is like the hands hating the heart""full of grace and truth""lose-lose for materialist ethics""a shrewd and

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1116147173888390652005-05-15T01:52:00.000-07:002005-09-30T01:15:14.723-07:00

j.m. bernstein in his article on adorno in the routledge encyclopedia of philosophy makes this penetrating remark:"Traditional Marxism focuses on the question of injustice, while ignoring the problem of nihilism; conversely, existentialists such as Nietzsche and Heidegger aim to overcome nihilism while they remain insensitive to the claims of justice."immediately, francis schaeffer's sagacious

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1103618030746622552004-12-21T01:28:00.000-08:002004-12-21T00:33:50.746-08:00

it's a ponzi scheme (n. an investment swindle in which high profits are promised from fictitious sources and early investors are paid off with funds raised from later ones.)

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9073312.post-1099957002225402442004-11-08T15:34:00.000-08:002005-10-09T02:24:04.000-07:00

in recent days i've heard frustrated beffudlement over "what went 'wrong' at the polls?" and "what was wrong with the democratic strategy?"first, nothing went wrong at the polls: people voted, their votes were counted. nothing went wrong with the DNC machine, it's well greased as ever. rather, people are catching on, there's something wrong with the DNC itself. the reason people demand four more

K.Wanghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17944224621189135308noreply@blogger.com0