On Skepticism: Its Definitions and Scope

Several people have asked me if I plan to respond to PZ Myers, considering the “beating” he gave me and others in a post last week. No, I don’t. I may if I see a good reason, but the truth is that responding to him is a bit like debating a creationist. Sometimes one should, […]

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On Oversimplification and Certainty

Responses to requests, demands, and criticism in the blogosphere in recent months has prompted a great deal of discussion, most of it terribly unproductive. In fact, most of it has been downright silly – a childish back-and-forth which, to an outsider, might appear to be violent agreement. In other words, camps do not appear to […]

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The Must-See of TAM2012 & Some Thoughts on Good Neighbors

The highlight of TAM2012 was an easy pick. That does not mean that the talks were bad by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, despite what some felt was a scarcity of “big draw” speakers (e.g., high-profile science communicators like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye or high-profile atheists such as Richard Dawkins), the […]

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Are Atheists More Compassionate or Prosocial Than Highly Religious People?

I hope I grabbed your attention with that title, but do not expect to find the answer to that question here. What I am going to discuss today is a study that many people seem to think answers that question, but it doesn’t. As I noted in my last post, the study I’ll be discussing […]

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Take Back Skepticism, Part III: The Dunning-Kruger Effect

First, if you have not read Parts I and II, please read them now. The most important parts of those posts are: Arguments over scope and the conflation of atheism and skepticism have reached a fever pitch, as have arguments over tone. I will talk about some of this, but I will not attempt to […]

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