Ken Perrott • Dec 11, 2012 •
Controversy around Rebecca Watson’s recent talk on pop-psychology and media presentation of evolutionary psychology is probably having a least one positive side effect (see Sceptical arrogance and evolutionary psychology and Sceptical humility and peer review in science). There’s now more discussion on … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Nov 15, 2012 •
I have commented on the problem of religious indoctrination at secular New Zealand schools before (see What really happens in religious instruction classes? and Cynical evangelisation of children.) That’s bad enough but a friend recently described such indoctrination occurring at a day care … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Nov 06, 2012 •
The workshop I described in Moving Naturalism Forward took place – with a few amendments. A half day was lost because of the super storm Sandy. And medical issues led to Patricia Churchland, Lisa Randall, and Hilary Bok cancelling at the … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Sep 26, 2012 •
Maarten Boudry is a philosopher I will certainly read more of. His review of Alvin Plantinga‘s book, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism, get’s right to the point – and clearly. Boudry responds to Plantinga’s argument that … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Sep 20, 2012 •
I like this idea from Jerry Coyne (see OMG: Jesus was married!) Here’s the problem. This old scrap of papyrus refers to Jesus – Unfortunately bits are missing and the conversation is cut off at an intriguing point. Apparently it … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Jul 02, 2012 •
Jerry Coyne at Why Evolution is True highly recommends this video (see Dawkins on Al Jazeera). I watched it over lunch and can second his recommendation. It’s an Al Jazeera talk back show – The Stream – where Richard Dawkins is … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Jun 20, 2012 •
If you haven’t heard of Deepak Chopra you may not appreciate this – the Random Deepak Chopra Quote Generator. It enables you to manufacture a “quote” – generated from a list of word in Deepak’s Twitter stream. Like his normal … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Jun 14, 2012 •
The latest Gallup poll on American’s beliefs about creationism and evolution has predictably raised some comments among bloggers. As expected, there have not been any big changes – most still support either creationism (46%) or a god-guided form of evolution … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Feb 02, 2012 •
Some of the philosophically inclined readers have probably followed the recent internet discussion of “free will.” I am referring specifically to that between evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne (blog: Why evolution is True) and philosopher Massimo Pigliucci (blog: Rationally Speaking). It been … Continue reading → … Read More
Ken Perrott • Oct 12, 2011 •
In his recent criticism of Jerry Coyne’s* USA Today article As atheists know, you can be good without God, local theologian Matt Flannagan repeats his rather tiresome warning that scientists should not try to understand morality – “leave that to us … Continue reading → … Read More