Is Healthcare a Right?

Is healthcare a right? This question has become highly politicized in recent years. Before thinking about the answer, we should note that this is an entirely different question than whether or not the government should provide healthcare to all citizens. Separating these two questions is very important. There are many government services that are beneficial…

Continue reading →

Scientist?

The perpetuators of Scientism are obviously “Scientists” themselves. Scientists, in the Scientism sense of the term, do not believe that they are subject to the problems of other humans, such as cognitive dissonance. Bill Nye, one of the high priests of Scientism, shows this characteristic well, as demonstrated in this piece by Scott Adams.  He…

Continue reading →

The New High Priests

If scientism is a new religion, then people like Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson are it’s high priests. They rhetorically slay the adversaries of science by invoking the unassailable authority of science itself and foster a belief in its inerrancy. They are religious zealots of this new religion. Both are famous for issuing quips…

Continue reading →

Scientific Nonsensus

I’ve said before that we need to be careful of those who claim “scientific consensus” as an argument-ender. This issue has become even more prominent recently as people or groups are dismissed at once as being “science-deniers” or “truth-deniers.” We are told that we now live in the “post-truth” era where “facts” have been made…

Continue reading →

What Is Knowledge?

Raphael’s School At Athens (Please read On the Nature of Truth and Reality first if you haven’t already.) What is knowledge, and how do we justify it? In The Theaetetus, Plato records a dialogue between Socrates and Theaetetus regarding the nature of knowledge. Socrates, just before his death, suggests three ideas: Knowledge is nothing but perception. This idea,…

Continue reading →

On the Nature of Truth and Reality

Is there an objective nature or reality? Or is it subjective, dependent upon our perception of it? Such are the questions that fill sophomoric philosophy class essays. I will make no argument here other than to say that there is an objective reality. Anyone who says that there isn’t makes a statement that is incompatible…

Continue reading →

Perception Is Not Reality

We don’t see things as they are; we see things as we are. – Anais Nin I’m sure someone has told you that perception is reality. It isn’t. This popular platitude is harmful and destructive. It is philosophically and logically false. It’s usually spoken by one person who wants another person to change something, but realizing…

Continue reading →