Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
Commentary on the Endless Dispute Between Evolution and Creationism
Jason Rosenhouse received
his PhD in mathematics
from Dartmouth College in 2000.
He subsequently spent three years as a post-doc at
Kansas State University.
Observing the machinations of the Kansas Board of Education
led to his unhealthy obsession with issues related
to evolution and creationism.
Currently he is an Associate Professor of
Mathematics at James Madison University,
in Harrisonburg, VA.
Category: Philosophy
My earlier post on this subject was entitled “What is Scientism?” because, while I have seen the term thrown around in a number of venues, I have never been entirely sure what it means. Having had a chance now to...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 11:59 PM • 603 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
Michael Ruse has now written a second post on the subject of scientism. He gets down to business in the second paragraph: My three examples of nonscientific truths were mathematics, morality, and answers to those kinds of philosophical meta-questions, like...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 9:40 PM • 115 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
If you spend much time involved in science/religion discussions, you will inevitably hear the term “scientism” thrown around. Usually it is hurled as an epithet. In practical terms, to be accused of scientism is usually to be accused of being...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:36 PM • 259 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
Writing at the Huffington Post, John Blumenthal offers a humorous take on intelligent design: Thanks to Michele Bachmann, the tired concept of Intelligent Design has once again become a topic of conversation among Creationists, most of whom, ironically, often sound...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:33 PM • 149 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
My last post has provoked a few replies. Especially the part about the problem of evil. In my review of the new book by Giberson and Collins I was critical of their treatment of the problem. Michael Ruse, always classy,...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 3:07 AM • 66 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
The BECB (that's the big evolution/creation book) is slowly winding its way towards a complete first draft. I just finished writing a chapter about religious experiences. Creationists routinely tell me they have had them, you see. So over the last...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:47 PM • 11 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
When people ask the question in the post's title, or the roughly equivalent question, “What is the meaning of life?” my reply is that I don't understand what is being asked. They both seem like category errors to me; universes...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 11:52 PM • 43 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
Jerry Coyne has posted his thoughts on the subject of methodological naturalism. Here's a sample: I am a methodological naturalist, but I don't think that all supernatural claims defy scientific analysis. Moreover, I don't see that the methodological/philosophical distinction has...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:07 PM • 28 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
In his book Indiscrete Thoughts, mathematician Gian-Carlo Rota spoofed a certain style of book reviewing: The bane of expository work is Professor Neanderthal of Redwood Poly. In his time, Professor Neanderthal studied noncommutative ring theory with the great X, and...
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 8:26 PM • 78 Comments •
Category: Philosophy
If I say that X has probability p, what does that mean? What sort of thing is X, and what does the number p represent? Philosophers have spilled a lot of ink on this question, with no clear answer emerging....
Posted by Jason Rosenhouse at 5:01 PM • 22 Comments •
casaubon's book 02.13.2012
denialism blog 02.13.2012
respectful insolence 02.13.2012
evolutionblog 02.12.2012
starts with a bang! 02.11.2012
