Philosophy & Ethics

Interlude: How Plato's chair has been destroying the world

A problem arises with abstract representational thought where we imbue more significance to the symbol… the word… than to what that word is a symbol of. This is the major failing of most established memes throughout recorded history. ...

Blog Post - Delian Valeriani - Jul 11 2009 - 12:18pm

Explanation Part Two

------WARNING------ THIS IS RAW UNEDITED CONTENT--- it essentially amounts to stream of conscious and I have not gone back over it since I wrote it. I have included it because it contains some elements that I want to convey that links with ideas from previ ...

Blog Post - Delian Valeriani - Feb 16 2009 - 4:35pm

Tierney on Neanderthal Ressurrection

John Tierney asks, why not bring a neanderthal to life?". With today's technology, we could probably completely reconstruct a physical neanderthal genome. Tierney sees no reason not to do it. Commenters over at Tierney's column point out tha ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Feb 15 2009 - 9:47pm

Putting Man Before Descartes: Thought Experiment

Rene Descartes, father of modern philosophy and analytical geometry, is perhaps best known for his simple statement: Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am (or I am thinking, therefore I exist). ...

Article - Becky Jungbauer - Feb 19 2009 - 3:09pm

The human essence

Has anyone ever wondered what embodies our self’s essence? May be a needle in a haystack number of people think of such wonderments. However, the question is, are such thoughts just a waste of time or it has indeed some utility for human existence? ...

Blog Post - Akhtar-Naveed Syed - Feb 20 2009 - 2:05am

What Is Grammar?- A Critique

Grammar is supposedly a holistic account of how meaning is expressed by using words in categories and in sequences. It is supposed to be a meld of syntax and semantics. Unfortunately, most writers on grammar focus on the syntax to the exclusion of the sema ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Mar 3 2009 - 6:49pm

What is Truth?

"I think, therefore I am."- Descartes. Are you impressed by this deep and meaningful insight into the human condition? Descartes also wrote, in his Discourse: "... philosophy affords the means of discoursing with an appearance of truth on a ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - Mar 4 2009 - 9:26pm

What Happens In Cases Of Peer Review Plagiarism?

In the past two years, University of Texas Southwestern researchers have used a computer-based text-searching tool they developed, called eTBLAST, to analyze millions of abstracts randomly selected from Medline, one of the largest databases of biomedical r ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 5 2009 - 3:34pm

Probability And Induction: The Very Foundations Of Science

I have been downloading a cartload of books on my new Kindle lately, since I really enjoy the idea of walking into the subway carrying a rather inconspicuous, very light, yet incredibly large library with me. One of these books is Samir Okasha’s  Philosop ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Mar 9 2009 - 9:56pm

Many Terminally Ill Patients Feel Abandoned By Their Doctors- Study

Terminally ill patients and their family caregivers often feel abandoned by their doctors and feel a sense of "unfinished business" with them, according to a new study by an oncologist at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. The study results, publi ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 9 2009 - 6:14pm