Defining Naturalism: The Definitive Account

7 February 2025

Years ago I wrote on how ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’ should be defined based on how those words are actually used in practice. And I developed from that a more useful ontology of naturalism and the supernatural, and a more apt scientific...

A Quick Brief on Identity Theory

17 January 2025

Just for utility’s sake, I will organize some of my past comments here on identity theory. By that here I mean one’s ontological model of “identity” (not sociocultural identity): that which makes one thing different from another, or unique...

Why A Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism Is Probably True

27 August 2021

I have written a few times on my worldview as a whole—my “philosophy of life.” To be viable I believe any worldview must consist of a complete, consilient, coherent, evidence-based account of the six foundations of knowledge: epistemology (which...

How My Philosophy Would Solve the Unsolved Problems

30 October 2020

Tooling around looking for lists of “unsolved problems” in philosophy I must admit the best list that’s most easily found online is Wikipedia’s. I realized for general benefit I should write up how my worldview addresses these. I’ve...

Shaun Skills: How to Learn from Exemplary Cases

30 August 2020

Shaun is a YouTube critic who composes a lot of excellent videos critiquing various other YouTube content, from social commentators to entertainment media. He does a good job of summarizing, fact-checking, logic-vetting, and illustrating his finds in the video medium....

Murray’s Primer on Atheism

27 May 2020

I’ll shortly announce the addition of my popular class on Christian and Islamic counter-apologetics to my monthly online course offerings. Which means it’s time to discuss the few issues I do have with my preferred course text for that: Malcolm Murray’s...

Disarming the Motte and Bailey in Cultural Discourse

30 August 2019

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...

Did No One Know Blue in Ancient Rome?

22 April 2015

So, apparently “No One Could See the Color Blue Until Modern Times.” I have it on the high authority of the Princeton Archae…er, I mean, the science section of the Business Insider. So its totes true. Hm. This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen...

The Gettier Problem

5 December 2013

Among my many forms of cobbled-together self-employment I provide specialized tutoring to graduate students in ancient history and philosophy around the world. Which is rewarding in lots of ways. One of which is when my student ends up correcting an error of mine....