Most believe the question of human free will is a purely philosophical or academic matter. It is not. I’ll argue here that no question is more important to the human race. Stay with me. It’ll happen fast. Why I don’t believe we have free will My longer arguments can be found here, so I won’t go into excessive…
Ignorance + Evil = Catastrophe
When something catastrophic happens, like the sub-prime mortgage crisis, I immediately search for two components in the event: Ignorance: a victim, or group of victims, who should have known better Selfishness: a malicious agent to capitalizes on said ignorance for his gain In the housing example it was pretty clear: those people should not have been signing up…
The Morally Pure Way to Settle America
I’ve been thinking a lot about content for the book I’m working on, and given that the theme is speaking clearly and honestly about topics that are controversial I began wondering about the proper way to educate children about the colonization of America by Europe. For those not familiar, it used to be that Columbus was revered as…
Free Will vs. Determinism as the Core of Political Disagreement
Ultimately, there are two primary political belief systems, and they are poorly captured by any label such as liberal, conservative, republican, or democrat. These two designations are far more fundamental than any people normally discussed, and are defined by a single fork in philosophical thought: the question of free will vs. determinism. The two, fundamental political belief systems…
Does Your Morality Come from God or From Within?
One of the most common arguments from the religious is that without God there would be no morality. Non-believers reject this, and there’s an easy though experiment way to see which side you fall on. So, to those who do subscribe to a mainstream religion such as Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, consider this: Imagine that one day God…
A Deductive Moral Argument for Helping Those Who Fail
There is no supernatural origin of free will. All human action is the product of the interaction of a finite number of variables. These variables are determined by combining genetic potential (nature) with the environment that interacts with that potential (nurture). Humans do not control their own genetics. Humans do not control their environment.1 So, if a criminal…
The Atheist’s Dilemma: Logical Conclusions to the Lack of Free Will
I have a number of friends that are religious fundamentalists. We enjoy debating the important issues of our respective belief systems: skepticism for me, and Christianity or Judaism for them. The latest of these has been free will. I’ve touched on the topic a number of times before, but would like to revisit it again.Upon being presented the…
Frog-Slaying with Danzig
The other night while driving back home I happened upon a stretch of country road that had dozens of frogs either hopping across or just sitting there. I hit many of them, and it bothered me greatly. I swerved to avoid quite a few, but some were just so bent on suicide that they basically jumped right in…