An article about the conflict between preservation of a historic site and use by an ‘alternative’ religion gives oddly short shrift to the scholarly half of the equation.… Read the rest

Because the Bible doesn’t say fossil fuels were formed millions of years ago, so neither should books in Texas classrooms.… Read the rest

The damage religion does to the mind is worse than sexual abuse by the parish priest.… Read the rest

A Sokal Hoax turned back to front? And why does the Chronicle of Higher Education call it just deserts?… Read the rest

The intersection of two vexed subjects, evolutionary psychology and the differences between men and women, is examined in A Mind of Her Own.… Read the rest

Mystery, humility, human finitude; science has nothing to say about who we are; the self cannot be an illusion; free will must be true…Such are the platitudes that greet a book on bioethics by a presidential pundit.… Read the rest

Steven Pinker points out that New York Times book reviewer resorts to the very fallacy the book is about.… Read the rest

Philosophers will insist on getting Dawkins wrong.… Read the rest

Philosophers uncover conceptual connections and thus help to make ethical debate better informed.… Read the rest

Which tells us more about consciousness, fiction or cognitive science?… Read the rest

‘Statistics show’ is a mere rhetorical device in education research, used to support whatever policy one favors. Research in cognitive psychology shows promise.… Read the rest

Are John Gray and Steven Pinker saying the same dismal thing about human hopes, and are they right to be saying it?… Read the rest

‘It could be you’. Perhaps a more useful suggestion about the Nobel prize than about the lottery.… Read the rest

Bernard Williams defends the truth, while also exploring when we need to tell lies.… Read the rest

A computer scientist teaches liberal arts students an intelligent skepticism about computer technology…and what binary numbers are.… Read the rest

Even practicing Mormons can have a hard time conforming to the rules at Brigham Young University.… Read the rest

Are analytic philosophers ‘hard-working public relations agents for contemporary institutions and practices’? Or are neo-pragmatists hard-working Artful Dodgers…… Read the rest

Link lecturers’ pay to how popular they are with students? Might there be some drawbacks to that idea? … Read the rest

The Salem witch trials are interesting not because of the occult aspect but as an example of ‘senseless self-destruction’.… Read the rest

Even in that supposed heyday of reason, attacks on freethinkers were a favourite sport.… Read the rest