I think most people know that there are certain kinds of fires that you don’t throw water on to extinguish, primarily grease, oil, gasoline, and electrical. In such cases, water is simply going to make matters much worse, either by splashing and floating the burning substances to disperse in a wider range, or by [...]
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May 14th, 2013 | Tags: activism, confirmation bias, emotional supplication, GMO, Greenpeace, Mark Lynas, misguided, PETA, ruled by emotion, self-importance, self-righteousness | Category: Continued from other blogs, Critical Thinking, Reference, Science & Evolution |
 Leave a commentMany a young, impetuous acolyte, on first learning the lore of the Thinking Fallacies, seeks to infuse their knowledge throughout both their lives and those around them, but lo! such a path is fraught with danger, because the Fallacies are not easily tamed. Within inexperienced hands, they can be poor weapons, even dangerous to [...] May 1st, 2013 | Tags: debating fallacies, logical fallacies, right/wrong, win/lose | Category: Critical Thinking, Reference |
Leave a comment[Click on the 'Play' arrow below for the podcast version. If it stalls, try reloading the page.] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] I realized I haven’t been trying hard enough to earn my Shrill and Strident merit badge, which is funny, because there are certainly enough subjects that reinforce my atheism which [...] April 25th, 2013 | Tags: literary devices, metaphor, pointlessness, scripture, unevidence | Category: Critical Thinking, Rants, Reference |
Leave a commentSome things get accepted into culture, maybe unintentionally, maybe in a casual way, but then become established enough that we get fooled into thinking they came from a reputable source, or from careful consideration; most of philosophy is this way, it seems. One that I’m going to address here is something that I’ve coined [...] April 15th, 2013 | Tags: binary thinking, doubt as a weapon, god of the gaps, negative evidence, possibility, probability | Category: Critical Thinking, Reference |
Leave a commentThere were two things that prompted me to read this book: an interest in the curious history of psychic research within the US military, and the reputation that the author seems to have in skeptical circles. I’ll skip the dramatic buildup by saying that the book failed to address either of these. The Men [...] April 11th, 2013 | Tags: conspiracy theory, credulous journalism, hack, Jon Ronson, The Men Who Stare at Goats | Category: Book Review, Critical Thinking, Reference |
Leave a commentWhen I was taking an online course on reasoning and constructing good arguments (which I never completed, but that’s another post,) there was one interesting tidbit that was covered: some conclusion might be perfectly correct, but the argument leading to the conclusion could be flawed or unsupportive. That’s the most applicable thing that can [...] April 10th, 2013 | Tags: confirmation bias, mindless assertion, Portland Family, Stacy Loscalzo, Why Playing Outdoors Makes Children Smarter | Category: Continued from other blogs, Critical Thinking, Reference |
Leave a commentAt Why Evolution Is True, Jerry Coyne has tackled yet another foofaraw among philosophers; this particular topic is one of frequent appearance, being Does science assume naturalism? And ever so typical of philosophy, it begins with traditional assumptions and goes even further off course from there. The duel comes over the various definitions of [...] April 2nd, 2013 | Tags: a priori, methodological naturalism, naturalism, ontological naturalism, worthless philosophy | Category: Critical Thinking, Rants, Reference, Science & Evolution |
Leave a commentI’ve mentioned that I find skepticism and critical thinking to be slightly different concepts; to a large extent, this is in perception only, where many people consider skepticism (or being skeptical or a skeptic) to mean cynical, disbelieving, dismissive, and so on. In current culture, skepticism is sometimes considered a pursuit or even a [...] [Click on the 'Play' arrow below for the podcast version. If it stalls, try reloading the page.] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] I probably shouldn’t ever look at the searches that get linked here because of that title. Be patient, and it will become clear what it means. I have, on numerous [...] [Click on the 'Play' arrow below for the podcast version. If it stalls, try reloading the page.] [Audio clip: view full post to listen] I delayed this one slightly to serve as my Darwin Day post ;-) I freely admit that there are some really stunning things to be found in nature – in [...] |
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