Rational thinking is over-rated?
We all like to think we are thoughtful, rational people. In our modern scientific world, it has become an ideal. To label someone as ‘irrational’ is a severe insult. But have we taken this ideal a little too far?
Tag: What is human?
Brain plasticity, aging and health
My post on Your brain, faith and disbelief generated some critical comment. The problem wasn’t so much with the main point of the post (that neuroplasticity appears to explain some of why believers and unbelievers are so polarised about God) but a side comment that there are demonstrated mental and physical health advantages in belief […]
Keeping an open mind
Last post I looked at recent discoveries in neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to restructure itself under certain circumstances. If we focus on some particular way of thinking, our brain can restructure itself to facilitate that thinking, but make us less able to think differently. Thus it appears that both believers and non-believers may make […]
Your brain, faith and disbelief
How can believers and unbelievers disagree so strongly? We all experience the same world, we have the same information from science and history. If it was anything else but religious belief, you might expect opinions to be a little less polarised. But highly educated people like Richard Dawkins and William Lane Craig disagree profoundly even […]
The logical conclusion from atheism …. or science?
Alex Rosenberg is a philosopher and an atheist. He was one of those participating in the Moving Naturalism Forwards workshop, so he is apparently well-respected by his fellow atheists. I previously blogged about his thinking in Atheism: reality or illusion …. or both? In 2011 Rosenberg published a book, The Atheist’s Guide to Reality: Enjoying […]
The mystery of consciousness
We are all conscious when we are awake. We observe, feel emotions, react, and form memories. But how does the brain do this? What is the relationship between our brain and our conscious mind? You might think this isn’t a very interesting or important question, but it is one of the most important questions today, […]
Susan Blackmore and God
Last post I looked at how UK psychologist, Susan Blackmore, has changed her previous view that religion is like a virus of the mind, in contrast to some other high profile atheists, but in accordance with the evidence. She also had some interesting (to me, at any rate) thoughts about God.
Susan Blackmore: religion as meme and virus?
Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist, well known because of her journalism. She is an atheist, practices Zen Buddhism, and has had particular interests in parapsychology, memes and the science of the mind. In recent years she has exasperated some of her fellow atheists by changing her views on the idea that religion is a […]
Atheism and freewill – the elephant in the room?
I have had an interest in the question of free will ever since a long and friendly email discussion with an atheist and determinist almost a decade ago. He was a researcher in artificial intelligence, and strongly believed that human beings had no free will, and that the only way we could have it was […]
Moving naturalism forwards?
In October 2012, 14 eminent scientists, philosophers and other thinkers met for 3 days in a workshop entitled Moving Naturalism Forwards. Why did they meet and what were the outcomes?