The “Cult” of Unitarian Universalism
Since Unitarian Universalism is listed as a cult in Kingdom of the Cults, I made a video going along with this idea. This post clarifies that it is not one.
Consciousness and Evil
Read my Dissertation on your Kobo, Kindle, or Nook
My Ph.D. dissertation was on what it means for a person to be evil. In other words, what is an evil person? The main purpose behind this was to know how to avoid being evil. The whole dissertation can be read as an eBook or a PDF file.
Cataloging my Books on LibraryThing
Last updated: Thursday, June 18, 2015I haven’t been working on embedding more of my videos lately, because I have begun cataloging my books on LibraryThing.com. I recently discovered GoodReads.com and Shelfari.com, which renewed my interest in using a site that catalogs books. Since I already had a LibraryThing account, I began using that first. After … [Read more…]
The Importance of Critical Thinking in Religion
If one religion is the one true religion, all others are false. If none are true, all are false. If each has some truth, the many differences between religions still imply a good deal of error in religion. Since faith produces varying results, critical thinking is what we need to discern truth in religion.
Dilemmas
Here is text and video introducing two rules of inference involving dilemmas: contructive dilemma and destructive dilemma.
Conditionals
Here is a video I made explaining material conditionals in symbolic logic, including three rules of inference that use them: modus ponens, modus tollens, and hypothetical syllogism. There is also a short written synopsis.
Conjunctions & Disjunctions
This post, and the video inside, introduce conjunctions (and-statements) and disjunctions (or-statements) in symbolic logic, along with rules of inference that use them, namely the rules of conjunction, simplification, disjunctive syllogism, and addition.
Good Arguments
Last updated: Sunday, May 26, 2019What constitutes a good argument? This video begins a series on symbolic logic. Before getting into symbolic logic proper, this video lays the groundwork for why it is useful to know something about formal logic. To summarize, an argument consists of premises given in support of a conclusion. In a … [Read more…]
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea echoes my own understanding of evolution and elaborates on it further. Prior to reading this book, I was already thinking about how natural selection is an ordering principle that can account for order at all levels of reality, even accounting for how order can arise from chaos.