Author: Michael Egnor
Eco R.I.C.O.-Science
Eco-science has a checkered past. And, we are learning, a checkered present. In what is shaping up as one of the biggest science scandals in modern times, hackers have obtained thousands of e-mails, computer codes, and data sets from climate scientists at the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in England. The CRU is one of the world’s leading climate research institutions; its scientists play central roles in the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The e-mails involve conversations between CRU scientists and scientists from all over the world who support the theory of man-made global warming. The content of the e-mails is astonishing. British journalist James Delingpole has a synopsis of the scientific Read More ›
Godless Theodicy
The Problem of Evil is perhaps the most vexing problem in theology. There are many answers to it, which means that there is no single satisfying answer to it. What I’ve never understood about theodicy is this: why do atheists ponder the Problem of Evil?Jerry Coyne has a recent post on theodicy. He (finally) admits …I’m no philosopher…this is amateur philosophizing. Damn right. For a man who recently sneered at Thomas Aquinas, this is progress.Coyne:
Feser on Heisenberg on Act and Potency
In my view, the most important question in the ID-Darwinism debate is this: what do we mean by design? All participants in the debate agree that living things manifest design of some sort; Darwinists assert that the design is unintelligent, the product of ateleological genetic variation and natural selection. ID proponents assert that design implies an intelligent source. Philosophers of an Aristotelian and Thomist stripe assert that teleology pervades nature, but insist that a proper understanding of teleology entails a metaphysical understanding of nature (hylomorphism) that differs from the metaphysical presuppositions of most ID advocates, who generally accept (implicitly if not explicitly) the mechanical view of nature shared by materialists. In my view, we need to integrate our understanding of Read More ›
Dawkins vs. Armstrong
Recently the Wall Street Journal published dueling articles by Karen Armstrong and Richard Dawkins entitled Man vs. God. The editors’ choice of Dawkins to represent the atheist viewpoint is understandable enough; in the interest of balance, it seems that the WSJ editors searched hard to find a theist who mangles theism as effectively as Dawkins mangles atheism. Author Karen Armstrong, a former Catholic nun given to syncretism who believes that “we need God to grasp the wonder of our existence,” answered the WSJ’s “Mangler of Theology” Ad, and Dawkins had his disputant.Armstrong:
A Mind, Even if It’s Just a Couple of Pounds of Meat, Is a Terrible Thing to Waste
The world is awash with charities. Most are quite worthwhile. For pennies a day, you can send a child in an impoverished country to school, and kindle a lifetime of learning. But there remain many unmet needs.What about people living in ideological poverty? We’ve all heard the stories. Materialist philosophers of the mind who deny that the mind exists. Full professors of evolutionary biology who misunderstand demonstrations of the existence of God that are routinely mastered by teenagers in Introductory Philosophy courses. Atheist authors of letters to Christian nations who excoriate religion and ignore the unparalleled atrocities of atheism. Unrepentant Trotskyites who scold Christians for adherence to a messianic ideology. Some of our fellow men live in intellectual squalor.