MetaFilter posts tagged with religion and philosophy

Environmental Discrimination?

mccarty.tim — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:29:01 -0800

Tim Nicholson, a UK former executive, believes he was fired for his environmental views. He has sued his former employer for discrimination on grounds of the Employment Equality act, which states that employees may not be discriminated against for religious or philosophical beliefs. His former employers argue that his views were political, and thus do not fall under the act. This would not be the first time religion and global warming were compared, but usually the comparison is unfavorable and used to either discredit the science or to imply religious people cannot be environmentalists, as that leads to distracting from their faith for worldly or heretical concerns. This raises a lot of interesting questions about discrimination in the workplace, and what should be considered a religion or philosophical view.

Philosophia Islamica

ageispolis — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:21:17 -0800

Meet the Islamic Philosophers. Arabic philosophy sought to reconcile the science and empiricism of Aristotle, the metaphysics of Neoplatonism, and the revelations of the Holy Qur'an. From the first thoughts of Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī, to the 20,000 pages of Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd, the influence of these Muslim polymaths profoundly shaped Western thought. The "Golden Age" of Islamic Philosophy: 1. Al-Kindi (and the Mu'tazili) (c. 801–873 CE) - On First Philosophy. 2. The Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan as-Safa') (10th century). 3. Al-Farabi (“Second Teacher") (~872 - ~950) - The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. 4. Ibn Sina (~950 - 1037) - Remarks and Admonitions. 5. Omar Khayyam (1048-1123) - The Rubaiyat. 6. Al-Ghazali (1058 - 1111) Tahafut al-falasifah and The Mysteries of the Human Soul. 7. Ibn Tufail (1105 - 1185) - The Improvement of Human Reason. 8. Ibn Rushd (Averroës) (1126 - 1198) On the Incoherence of the Incoherence.

Beyond Platitudes

ninebelow — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:53:23 -0800

Thought For The World is an alternative to the BBC's much mocked Thought For The Day. Contributors include the author and broadcaster Muriel Gray, the philosopher AC Grayling, agony aunt Claire Rayner, Jonathan Bartley of the religious think tank Ekklesia, Guardian Columnist Polly Toynbee, comedian Mark Thomas and Richard Holloway, the former Bishop of Edinburgh.

Roger Williams

homunculus — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 21:20:30 -0800

The First Founder: The American Revolution of Roger Williams. [Via 3quarksdaily]

Dignity and Bioethics

homunculus — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:35:43 -0800

The Stupidity of Dignity: Conservative bioethics' latest, most dangerous ploy. Steven Pinker reviews Human Dignity and Bioethics, the latest report from the President's Council on Bioethics. dgaicun posted Pinker's article in the Leon Kass vs. ice-cream thread, but I think it and the report deserve their own post.

The Four Horsemen

empath — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 20:52:08 -0800

The Four Horsemen: Just in time for holidays, enjoy a pleasant chat between the world's most famous atheists - Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennett.

free Yale courses online

nickyskye — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 07:43:26 -0800

Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to seven introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University:Astronomy, English, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religious Studies: a full set of class lectures produced in high-quality video, syllabi, suggested readings, and problem sets. The lectures are available as downloadable videos, and an audio-only version is also offered. In addition, searchable transcripts of each lecture are provided.

In Search Of . . .

geekyguy — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 22:52:08 -0800

Project Pterosaur The goal of Project Pterosaur is to mount an expedition to locate and bring back to the United States living specimens of pterosaurs or their fertile eggs, which will be displayed in a Pterosaur Rookery that will be the center piece of the planned Fellowship Creation Science Museum and Research Institute (FCSMRI). Although, sadly, it may not be real.

The most important Evangelical you've never heard of

verb — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:58:26 -0800

Christianity is not just a series of truths but Truth -- Truth about all of reality. And the holding to that Truth intellectually... brings forth not only certain personal results, but also governmental and legal results.

When the Religious Right cruised onto the cultural scene in the late 1970s, the road map was drawn by oddball Pennsylvanian Francis Schaeffer. Generally regarded as the first (perhaps only) Evangelical philosopher, Schaeffer's views on the fundamental clash between Christian and secular belief systems became the talking points for a generation of American Christians. The movement's trajectory, though, left many of Schaeffer's more nuanced beliefs by the wayside. His son's recent writings suggest that it didn't take long for the father of the Religious Right to regret what he'd birthed.

art with a lot of concept

moonbizcut — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:57:47 -0800

Fate, Absolute Life and Death, the Aleph, the Zeitgeist, the sinking of the Atlantis, the World Trade Center, the formation of the universe...what more could you want from art? There's probably already been a been a post on this guy, Paul Laffoley, but I should hope more people could get a glance at some of this man's work. Crazy or brilliant, you make your decision. A video from his website.

The Tanner Lectures on Human Values online library

cog_nate — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:57:31 -0800

The Tanner Lectures on Human Values are all online for you to peruse. The library consists of around 180 full text PDFs by a wide variety of authors -- Christine Korsgaard, Antonin Scalia, Jared Diamond, John Rawls, Richard Dawkins, Frans de Waal E.O. Wilson, Francis Fukuyama and the previously mentioned Elaine Scarry among them. Lots of interesting reading to be... read. Navigation is to the left. The collection is sorted alphabetically by author.

Return Of The Mummy

amyms — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:13:39 -0800

Modern Mummification. For yourself or your pets. The Summum organization, which incorporates a variety of religious and spiritual philosophies into its belief system, introduced modern mummification in 1975 as a means to "guide one's essence to a greater destination following the death of the body." They even have their own pyramid, in Utah of all places. There are several webpages for the kiddies, even very young ones. One presentation for kids explains that mummification is like "a caterpillar turning into a butterfly." Some people would like to expose the whole thing as a batshitinsane, money-making cult.

It Paines Me

Gnostic Novelist — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:55:47 -0800

Thomas Paine is sometimes forgotten, but dealt with some modern predicaments. Quotes, letters & essays, and an assortment of his writings.

Principled Toleration of Religion

monju_bosatsu — Tue, 30 May 2006 10:41:44 -0800

Why Tolerate Religion? Brian Leiter's new paper on the philosophical and legal justifications for toleration of religion. From the abstract: Religious toleration has long been the paradigm of the liberal ideal of toleration of group differences, as reflected in both the constitutions of the major Western democracies and in the theoretical literature explaining and justifying these practices. While the historical reasons for the special “pride of place” accorded religious toleration are familiar, what is surprising is that no one has been able to articulate a credible principled argument for tolerating religion qua religion: that is, an argument that would explain why, as a matter of moral or other principle, we ought to accord special legal and moral treatment to religious practices. There are, to be sure, principled arguments for why the state ought to tolerate a plethora of private choices, commitments, and practices of its citizenry, but none of these single out religion for anything like the special treatment it is accorded in, for example, American and Canadian constitutional law. So why tolerate religion? Not because of anything that has to do with it being religion as such - or so this paper argues.

The REAL Meaning of Life

sotonohito — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 08:50:47 -0800

What is the meaning of life? Answers range from pithy pseudo-psychological to the annoyingly flash based AND pseudo-psychological, the Christian, Muslim, and Sikh and other. Other people think they've figured it out, and their answer is different at least. Some people's answers just get strange and pseudo-scientific. And of course we can't forget Monty Python .

Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

jeffburdges — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 11:10:58 -0800

Prof. Daniel Dennett's (New York University, Philosophy) new book Breaking the Spell appears to have frightened its NYT book reviewer, Leon Wieseltier (The New Republic, Literary Editor). Wieselter claims "The question of the place of science in human life is not a scientific question. It is a philosophical question", and promptly proceeds to demonstrate that he himself knows nothing about philosophy. Dennett responds.
Prof. Brian Leiter (University of Texas, Philosophy) responds that "'The view that science can explain all human conditions and expressions, mental as well as physical' is not a 'superstition' but a reasonable methodological posture to adopt based on the actual evidence, that is, based on the actual expanding success of the sciences . . . during the last hundred years."
b l o g s s and serious reviews.

Atheism in Hinduism

Gyan — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 18:18:05 -0800

Elements of Atheism in Hindu Thought

Paul Tillich: the Apostle to the Intellectuals

dios — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 10:40:34 -0800

Paul Tillich (1886-1965) was a German thinker who came to America in 1933 after losing his job for opposing the national socialism movement. Tillich was at once a protestant theologian and an existentialist philosopher and humanist who attempted to intellectualize religion and bring it to contemporary audiences in the age of science. His brilliant writings and speeches would typically weave together biblical passages with discussions of philosophy and science. In this most famous work, The Courage to Be, Tillich laid out his case of how man can resolve the existential crisis of facing non-being. In echoes of Soren Kierkegaard and Freud, Tillich attempted to explain how man could resolve the fear of nothingness with the Courage to Be in the face of Non-being. Throughout his life, Tillich's ultimate concern was to try to help man understand the real value of faith and meaning by divorcing the concepts from the myths and the religious and social dogmas which cramp the mind of modern man.

Can a xlqp make a btzl?

brownpau — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 14:46:57 -0800

Can God make a rock so heavy that he could not lift it?

get an after-life.

all-seeing eye dog — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 07:47:24 -0800

Is there any real possibility of an after-life? Some argue that belief in the after-life is an inherently unfalsifiable proposition. Others argue that science has already ruled out the possibility. Buddhism takes a radically different view, embracing a conception of the after-life far different from any found in the Judeo-Christian faiths. What about the possibility of Eternal Recurrence, as proposed by Nietzsche? Just what do we mean when we speak of the "after-life" anyway?

God's Darwin or Chance's Drawin'?

daksya — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:13:57 -0800

Did the discovery of evolution lead to Darwin's agnosticism, as claimed? Carl Zimmer wonders. More importantly, can evolution be reconciled with Christianity?

The Gorge

matteo — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 11:06:57 -0800

"... Giordano Bruno might have been a pantheist. A pantheist believes that God is everywhere, even in that speck of a fly you see there. You can imagine how satisfying that is—being everywhere is like being nowhere. Well, for Hegel it wasn’t God but the State that had to be everywhere; therefore, he was a Fascist.”
“But didn’t he live more than a hundred years ago?”
“So? Joan of Arc, also a Fascist of the highest order. Fascists have always existed. Since the age of . . . since the age of God. Take God—a Fascist.”
Umberto Eco in the New Yorker

Meaning of Life

andrew cooke — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 17:29:27 -0800

The Meaning of Life according to various rather famous people (Dennett, Fukuyama, etc). I'm watching the Dennett video at the moment and it starts rather weakly, but, by midway through, is rolling along nicely. With topics like "being good without god" and "the anthropic principle" it struck me as relevant to a couple of recent askmefi threads.
Dennett: [pause] i guess i'll say it again, more slowly...
(oh, and the player interface is rather delicate - give it time to load and click play a few times...)

The wisdom or capriciousness of disgust

Tlogmer — Sat, 04 Sep 2004 15:44:57 -0800

Conservatives have been talking about the Wisdom of Disgust for a long time -- most recently with regard to human cloning, but usually, of course, homosexuality. Nussbaum counters at Reason Online. (And Kimball rips her a new one at the New Criterion.)

Pontius Pilate contracted his brows, and his hand rose to his forehead...

matteo — Thu, 24 Jun 2004 11:26:17 -0800

"Jesus?" he murmured, "Jesus -- of Nazareth?..." Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea, is the only historical figure named in the Nicene Creed -- Coptic saint or eternally damned, his role in the greatest story ever told has been debated by many of history's greatest minds: St Augustine, Dante Alighieri, Tintoretto, John Ruskin, Mikhail Bulgakov, Monty Python. Unfortunately, there is very little historical evidence about him. His role in the death of a certain charismatic Galilean healer and apocalyptic preacher is still being debated today by theologians and historians alike. He is also, of course, the main character of The Procurator of Judea, the classic short story (complete text in main link) by Anatole France. (France's magnificent story has lately been tragically neglected by publishers, even if the author was one of his era's most acclaimed writers in the world -- he won the Nobel Prize in 1921 over Shaw, Yeats, Joyce, Thomas Hardy, D.H. Lawrence, and Proust, and when he died in 1924, hundreds of thousands of people followed his funeral procession through Paris). These last 2,000 years of fascination with Pilatus can be explained, some argue... (more inside, for those unwilling to wash their hands of this post)