Pascal’s Wager and the Ad Baculum Fallacy

27 January 2020

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Pascal’s Wager. The gist of it is that if you bet on there being a God (meaning, to Pascal, the Medieval Catholic God), you have an infinite expected return on investment, because at worst it costs you nothing (or at...

Study the Science & Philosophy of Free Will with Me!

25 January 2020

Do we have free will? In what sense? What sort of free will are we supposed to be talking about? Who or what is a will a will of? What are praise and blame, guilt and innocence for? What is fatalism and why is it bad for you? Challenge yourself by studying these...

Join Me in Florida Next Week!

25 January 2020

I’ll be at Old Man Frank’s in Winter Haven, Florida (1005 South Lake Howard Drive) from 3 to 4pm (I might stay longer if there’s demand) next Saturday, February 1—with books and conversation! Come stop by, hang out, chat on any subject, maybe...

Naturalism Is Not an Axiom of the Sciences but a Conclusion of Them

24 January 2020

I recently found an article from 2011 making a point I’ve long made myself, that the entire notion of a “presumption of naturalism” being axiomatic to history and the sciences is both an error made by some historians and scientists and an apologetic...

Tim O’Neill & the Biblical History Skeptics on Mythicism

22 December 2019

In April of this year the Biblical History Skeptics talked shop for three hours with Tim O’Neill (this Tim O’Neill) and I was invited to talk shop about that with Godless Engineer last month. The latter video has now gone live and you can watch it here....

Theism & Atheism: Science

18 December 2019

Part 3 of my series on the new Macmillan reference Theism & Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy: my discussion of the Argument from Science, which holds that the collective consequence of the advance of the sciences is the substantial reduction in the...

Theism & Atheism: Miracles

17 December 2019

Part 2 of my series on the new Macmillan reference Theism & Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy: my discussion of the Argument from Miracles, which turns that argument on its head. Far from being evidence for theism, the collective evidence regarding miracle...

Theism & Atheism: Doxastic Foundations

16 December 2019

This year Macmillan produced a peer reviewed collection of position papers between atheists and theists titled Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy (2019), in which I contributed several chapters. Like most academic monographs these days it’s...

Join Me in Vegas This Month!

6 December 2019

I’ll be hanging out at the Crown & Anchor pub in Las Vegas (4755 West Spring Mountain Road) on Friday the 13th, December 2019, from 6 to 7 pm. Come hang out with me! I’ll chat on any subjects and I’ll have all my books on hand to sell and sign if...

Who Is an Atheist?

29 November 2019

Is everyone who lacks belief in a god an atheist? Or is there always some middle category—we’ll call it “agnostic”—such that (a) they don’t believe any gods exist but also, at the same time, (b) they can never be called an atheist?...

What Did Paul Mean in Romans 1:3?

27 November 2019

Tim O’Neill is at it again, on Twitter this time, making false claims about my work, and about the Epistles of Paul. The item of contention again is my proposal that when Paul said Jesus was “made from the sperm of David” (which is literally what...

My 50th Birthday Wish: More Patreon or PayPal Patrons!

27 November 2019

I am nearing my half century of life—it will be official on December 1st! And Christmas is also just around the corner. To all who’d like to send me a gift for either or both, what I most want is more recurring patronage on either...

The Ancient Romans Essentially Did Have Universities

25 November 2019

It’s often claimed Medieval Christians invented the university. But this is as false as the similar claim that they invented the hospital. In both cases the underlying claim is used to sell a “Christianity saved the world” narrative in the halls of...

That Jordan Peterson Is a Crank: A Handy Guide

21 November 2019

Jordan Peterson has already become a joke in many circles. But enough remain mesmerized by his shtick to warrant a survey of why he’s just another pseudoscientific guru running a con. He is, essentially, the Deepak Chopra of the Nones; and his books, akin to The...

Join Me in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Tomorrow!

16 November 2019

I’ll be casually hanging out at the Cliffs of Moher Irish Pub tomorrow, Sunday, November 17 (2019), in Bowling Green, Kentucky, from 4 to 6pm. Come hang out with me! We can chat on all subjects. And I’ll have books on hand if you want to get any...