Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Logic and First Principles: Summarising first principles and duties of reason

As we continue to ponder the core of responsible rationality, it is helpful to ponder a summary of what we have won: I recall, way back, being taught how the seventeen first equations of Boolean Algebra [which can all be verified as equivalence relations through truth tables] were of equally axiomatic status. But then, I got the logic of being infection, and began to see that in fact, from the ontological perspective, identity and its close corollaries are prior: Then, there was that old philosopher who said that truth says of what is, that it is; and of what is not, that it is not. Sometimes, the truth does fit in a nutshell. Here, that truth accurately describes reality. That Read More ›

At Nautilus: Do butterflies challenge the meaning of “species”?

Yes, of course they do. But imagine anyone asking such a question years ago for any purpose except to show that it ain’t so: Stamp OUT Darwin Doubt!! was the permitted approach. But now we read doubt about Darwinian speciation in typical think mags. Read More ›

The larger lesson from the story of the Man With Two Fingerprints

Remember when DNA was Certain? When people were executed or spent life in prison on account of DNA evidence? “Your DNA is on it” was like Holy Writ. DNA was the guarantor of the Darwinian selfish gene. And now… The worst thing that ever happened to Darwinism was DNA mapping. Read More ›

Sabine Hossenfelder on why the Anthropic Principle is controversial

It’s controversial because it is sometimes used to support the idea of a multiverse. Otherwise, it should be common sense to assume that a venue in which we exist must feature conditions that allow for that. But the multiverse does not need logic, evidence, or science. Read More ›

What difference did Protestantism make to modern science?

In reality, it is mixed. For example, consider eugenics. The Catholic Church always opposed that dreadful scourge of people armed with strong opinions passing laws compelling some of their neighbors to be sterilized. When they did so, these eugenicists were acting explicitly as the priests of science. That was their idea of a vocation and Protestant churches largely supported it. Read More ›

Decline in giving is linked to decline in religious belief

If you believe that we evolved randomly and that the world has always been governed by Darwinian survival after that, you would only give if you felt like it. The “giving gene”? The “evolutionary psychology of giving?” Sure. That'll work. Read More ›

Chance vs. Randomness: Another theological dance in Darwin’s defense?

Pardon the suspicion but some of us remember sneery “science-splains” at theistic evolution sites as to how there is a huge difference between chance and randomness—which sounded exactly like some scuzz claiming that there is a huge difference between taking money to keep quiet about wrongdoing and a bribe. Read More ›

Imagine someone asking just how much wisdom there is in the scientific crowd?

Surprisingly, someone did. Wow. Read and bookmark the whole piece. Remember it if some yob accuses you of being anti-science because, based on experience and judgment, you question some finding widely puffed in media. Read More ›