Justin Brierley on Moral Knowledge & the Problem of Evil
“But why exactly do we believe that human life should be valued?” Justin Brierley asks (p. 52). Nowhere in his quest for an answer does he ever resort to asking experts in moral psychology or sociology what science has found the answer to this question...How I’d Answer the 2020 PhilPapers Survey
After reviewing the new 2020 PhilPapers Survey, I can say none of my views have changed; while philosophy as a field has slowly crept more toward my views than not (see my previous article, The New 2020 PhilPapers Survey, which also covers my thoughts on some of the...Three Common Tactics of Cranks, Liars, and Trolls
You might have noticed a shift over the past few years in how I address apologists, propagandists, kooks, and various disinformation scoundrels, toward laying out not just that they are wrong (their facts are bogus; their logic is hosed), but the underlying...Transracialism Is Either a Fraud or a Delusion in Precisely All the Ways Transgenderism Is Not
Dawkins is spewing irrational, uninformed bigotry-fuel on Twitter again. I don’t think deliberately; he’s just a clueless fool. But the effect is the same. He even unknowingly chose the tired old bigot’s tactic of Just Asking Questions, in precisely...The Korean “Comfort Women” Dust-Up and the Function of Peer Review in History
It’s not common that major, respected academic journals exhibit a catastrophic failure in their peer review process. But it happens. Everything from creationist dribble to just about anything in any field has “slipped past” peer review protocols in...Actually, Fryer Proved Systemic Racism in American Policing
People denying racism is a systemic problem in American policing repeatedly cite as “proof” a study published by Roland Fryer, which they particularly love citing because Fryer is black. The thing is though, Fryer’s study proved systemic racism in...Disarming the Motte and Bailey in Cultural Discourse
In aid and honor of my one-month online Critical Thinking Course that starts this weekend (Register Now!), I want to introduce you to a rhetorical (or indeed psychological) tactic that is found everywhere but you probably didn’t know someone had a name for it. I...There Are No Muslim “No Go” Zones
There is no such thing as a “No Go Zone” in any Western country. And this is a conspiracy theory that needs to stop in the so-called Skeptic Community. Skeptics are supposed to know better than to fall for specious abuses of evidence and fallacious...Yep. Criminalizing Pot Might Be a Subconscious Plot to Punish Liberals & Minorities.
Adam Ruins Everything is a fantastic YouTube series. Short videos, usually pretty much spot on, that destroy cultural assumptions by…well, just demonstrating they are only cultural assumptions—and indeed, often created for sinister or stupid reasons, and...You Might Be an Islamophobe If…
Here are some things I learned when I posted on Facebook an article about the rising abuse of innocent Muslims in America for no valid reason but an irrational fear of Islam. Trigger warning: a fuckton of awful racist shit follows (or equivalent). First, The Set-Up I...Atheist Dudebros Don’t Know What Cultural Appropriation Is
Jerry Coyne. Peter Boghossian. Richard Dawkins. Various others. I call them the Dudebros because they act like white privilege is awesome, pontificate infallibly like the Pope, and don’t understand any of the things they complain about. They are the Archie...Catching Up 1: The BLM Protest
I’ve been too busy to blog about all the things I wanted to this month. From the Black Lives Matter protest to the Ophelia Benson departure to a weird John Loftus flameout currently going on. So here I’m quickly trying to catch up. First on deck: the BLM...Black Lives Matter = Humanism at Work
Brayton and Gaudette produced a really excellent video smartly summarizing the statistical facts about racism in America and why humanists should care about this and make even more effort to do something about it. Check it out on YouTube. And if you like that,...Old Timey Radio Presents: The Amazing Whitey Spidey!
Narrator’s voice to be heard as in the style of an old timey radio narrator… LYRICAL CHORUS: O-l-d T-i-m-e-y R-a-d-i-o!!! NARRATOR: We bring you back to the amazing adventures of The Amazing Whitey Spidey Man! The scene opens when another Dick Driver, a...Some Good Stuff on Social Justice Responsibility
Thank you, David Wong and Miri Mogilevsky! A girlfriend tipped me off to David Wong’s really amusing and spot-on 101 on why social justice (particularly regarding structural racism and sexism) is not about white guilt but about fixing what our ancestors broke....Get Dr. Carrier’s Latest!
About the Author
Richard Carrier is the author of many books and numerous articles online and in print. His avid readers span the world from Hong Kong to Poland. With a Ph.D. in ancient history from Columbia University, he specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism and humanism, and the origins of Christianity and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome, with particular expertise in ancient philosophy, science and technology. He is also a noted defender of scientific and moral realism, Bayesian reasoning, and historical methods.
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