^TagG. K. Chesterton

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 26, 2023

Categorized
Evolution, Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
Ann Gauger, Blaise Pascal, Catholicism, Catholicism and Darwinism, Darwinism, G. K. Chesterton, God's Grandeur (Discovery Institute Press 2023)), H. G. Wells, Hilaire Belloc, Scott Ventureyra, The Everlasting Man (book 1925)}

New Book Looks at Design in Nature From a Catholic Viewpoint

_{Catholic thinkers who reject Darwinism don’t focus so much on its claims about universal common descent as on its utter inability to account coherently for the human mind} _{Denyse O'Leary

November 26, 2023

5

Evolution, Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

Popular lore, misleading as it so often is, holds that Catholics are “okay with evolution.” Some are, to be sure. But few observant Catholics believe that human beings naturally evolved from the slime without any divine initiative. The great philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) offered five proofs of the existence of God. The fifth one was: The Argument from Design: All things have an order or arrangement that leads them to a particular goal. Because the order of the universe cannot be the result of chance, design and purpose must be at work. This implies divine intelligence on the part of the designer. This is God. “Aquinas’s Five Proofs for the Existence of God.” In The Catholic Faith Handbook Read More ›

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post

Author
Eric Holloway
Date
July 26, 2021

Categorized
Philosophy, Science

Tagged
G. K. Chesterton, immortality, Materialism, Technology}

Our Scientific Salvation Will Be The Death Of Us

_{Will we trust "the science" (meaning the scientists) to the point of madness?} _{Eric Holloway

July 26, 2021

4

Philosophy, Science}

Originally published at Patheos “The truly insane man is the perfectly rational man.” So says G.K. Chesterton. This saying is very counter intuitive today. The perfectly rational man is the ideal scientist, the man who knows reality in precise quantitative terms, the best kind of knowledge we have. Such scientific knowledge promises the secret of immortality. If we can understand the fundamentals of our physical existence, we can shape our existence in whatever way we wish. The rational man is the messiah of our scientific age. So, why did Chesterton warn us about the rational man? The problem is that rationality only deals with the known knowns and the known unknowns. Rationality does not deal with the unknown unknowns. The Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
February 24, 2021

Categorized
Natural Intelligence

Tagged
Animal personality, Ant personality, Bacterial personality, Bee personality, Beetle personality, Cockroaches, Crickets, G. K. Chesterton, Hive mind, Insect personality, J. Scott Turner, octopus, Personality, Plant communications, Plant personality, Rick Karban, Spider personality, Spiders}

Can Insects, Bacteria, and Plants Have Personalities Too?

_{If personality amounts to observed individual differences in behavior, the answer is yes, though the issues are more complex for plants} _{Denyse O'Leary

February 24, 2021

8

Natural Intelligence}

Yesterday, we looked at a paper in which researchers reported that marmosets (a South American monkey) have personalities. Most of us would simply assume that they do and we are right to think so. Research on many vertebrate animal species shows that even reptiles and fish have personalities. Of course, the number of dimensions a vertebrate’s personality can have varies with its intellectual and lifestyle complexity. But now, what about the vast world of the invertebrates, the life forms whose body is not organized around a spinal cord terminating in a brain? Their body plans can vary from that of a starfish through to a honeybee. Can they have personalities, despite very different brain arrangements, including — in some cases Read More ›

Educational kids math toy wooden board stick game counting set in kids math class kindergarten. Math toy kids concept.

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
February 16, 2021

Categorized
Education, Mathematics

Tagged
1984 (book), 2 + 2 = 4, 2 + 2 = 5, Algebra, Brittany Marshall, Cynical Theories (book), Douglas Murray, Edward Feser, Equals sign, Ethnomathematics, G. K. Chesterton, George Orwell, James Lindsay, Laurie Rubel, Nancy Pearcey, Oregon Department of Education (ODE), Paula Bolyard, Rochelle Gutierrez, Seattle math curriculum, War on math}

Yes, There Really Is a War on Math in Our Schools

_{Pundits differ as to the causes but here are some facts parents should know} _{Denyse O'Leary

February 16, 2021

10

Education, Mathematics}

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) recently encouraged teachers to register for training that encourages “ethnomathematics,” an education trend that argues, “among other things, that White supremacy manifests itself in the focus on finding the right answer”: “The concept of mathematics being purely objective is unequivocally false, and teaching it is even much less so,” the document for the “Equitable Math” toolkit reads. “Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict.” … An associated “Dismantling Racism” workbook, linked within the toolkit, similarly identifies “objectivity” — described as “the belief that there is such a thing as being objective or ‘neutral’” — as a characteristic of White supremacy. Instead Read More ›

Twin Moons over Alien Desert City with Pyramids

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
October 31, 2020

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Brief Window hypothesis, G. K. Chesterton, Matt Williams, Science fiction, Sebastian von Hoerner}

Is the Brief Window for Finding ET Closing?

_{According to some scenarios, we could be past our best-before date for contacting aliens} _{News

October 31, 2020

6

Arts & Culture}

Readers will recall that we have been looking at science writer Matt Williams‘ analysis of the various reasons that we do not see extraterrestrials except at the movies. We’ve listed (below) the many interesting ideas he has covered but now here’s a new one!: What if there is only a brief window during which a space-faring civilization can even develop? For the sake of the Brief Window Hypothesis, the key parameter is L. In this case, it can be defined as the amount of time a civilization can be expected to exist before succumbing to an extinction-level event. This could take the form of a natural disaster (an asteroid impact) or come in the form of self-destruction (nuclear or biological Read More ›

Vintage tone beautiful pedestrian stone bridge and knee-wobbling vantage point over the second tier 69-foot drop of Multnomah Falls lower in winter time. Natural and seasonal waterfall background

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Egnor
Date
September 15, 2020

Categorized
Philosophy of Mind, Religion

Tagged
Featured, G. K. Chesterton, John Horgan, Law of non-contradiction, Rene Descartes, Skepticism, Solipsism}

How Do You Know You Are Not the Only Human Who Ever Existed?

_{Can evidence or logic help you decide? You might be surprised…} _{Michael Egnor

September 15, 2020

6

Philosophy of Mind, Religion}

Solipsism is the belief that you are the only human being who has ever existed; all others are the inventions of your imagination. G.K. Chesterton famously received a letter from a reader who commented (I paraphrase), ‘Solipsism is a compelling metaphysical position. I’m surprised more people don’t believe it.” At Scientific American, columnist John Horgan describes solipsism as a central dilemma of human life. In a recent essay, “How do I know I’m not the only conscious being in the universe?”, he writes, It is a central dilemma of human life—more urgent, arguably, than the inevitability of suffering and death. I have been brooding and ranting to my students about it for years. It surely troubles us more than ever Read More ›