Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

JCW on the need to face inescapable, necessary first truths

Famously, Epictetus had an exchange with someone on the necessity, credibility and utility of logic: DISCOURSESCHAPTER XXV How is logic necessary? When someone in [Epictetus’] audience said, Convince me that logic is necessary, he answered: Do you wish me to demonstrate this to you?—Yes.—Well, then, must I use a demonstrative argument?—And when the questioner had agreed to that, Epictetus asked him. How, then, will you know if I impose upon you?—As the man had no answer to give, Epictetus said: Do you see how you yourself admit that all this instruction is necessary, if, without it, you cannot so much as know whether it is necessary or not? [Cf J. C. Wright] However, many today miss the point. J C Read More ›

Upright Biped Schools Ed George

Everything below is from a comment posted by UB: Ed at 34, [re: Ed on telling the truth]It is just one of the rules we have to follow if we want to be welcome in society. If I chose to live by myself in a cabin in the hills I would have no obligation to be honest to the rare person that stumbled upon me. Yes, you’ve been very concise on this feature of your belief system, and we understand you. If you live in a society then you have to tell the truth as a moral obligation to the consensus of that society (who collectively believe that people should tell the truth). But if you live out on your own, then Read More ›

Are there universal laws of ecology?

Sounds promising. If physics depends on mathematics and chemistry depends on physics and biology depends on chemistry, why could not be laws be derived that help us understand ecology? But then Malthus betrays the authors, as he misled Darwin. Read More ›

An argument for the necessity of design in the universe

Arvay: Would not the multi-verse itself have to have parameters? Would not those also, have to fall within narrow ranges? And what principle of physics defines how many constants there are? What defines what ranges those parameters must have? What law of nature decides what the laws of nature must be? (That would be circular causation!) What governs the dice? Read More ›

Yesterday was the 160th anniversary of Darwinism

To judge from Darwinism's lobbyists and followers in recent decades, who want to make a living putting rubes in their place, without embracing eugenics, Darwin has certainly paid off. But the genome map is killing all that. Read More ›

Douglas Axe on the central weaknesses of Darwinism today

Axe: Then again, if you simply value scientific honesty, you ought to be moved by the fact that thousands of professional Darwinists laboring for 160 years have not explained the origin of a single complex functional feature of life with the degree of rigor expected in all serious sciences. Read More ›

Douglas Murray: Is Darwinism toxic to Christianity?

And if Darwinism isn’t a correct statement of origins anyway, where does that leave all these theistic evolution fudgers in the cold light of the morning? They won't come off looking any better than the creationists or the Darwinists, however they tried to position themselves. Read More ›

Cilia are more complex than thought

"Before this work, everyone assumed these proteins inside cilia just stabilize the structure, which is true for a subset of the proteins, especially when you consider the forces produced by the continuous beating of the cilia," Zhang said. "But based on how they are arranged inside this structure, we believe these proteins are doing many more things." Read More ›