thoughtful ideas on life's big questions
It was just a short conversation over coffee….. …. when the conversation turned to brains. “My neurobiology lecture this morning was pretty challenging. It was about theories of how the brain does logical reasoning. They still don’t really understand it. Left me wondering about how the brain can think logically at all.” “What do you […]
Humans can use the Pythagorus Theorem to set out accurate right angles. You may be surprised to know that one philosopher sees this ability as being a pointer to naturalism not being true.
Do human beings have free will? Can we choose among different possible actions and beliefs? Or are we controlled by our genetics, or by blind physical processes in our brains? And if we couldn’t make genuine choices, would that diminish us? Would we be any different from animals, except a little smarter … perhaps? And […]
The purpose of science and philosophy is to explain difficult facts. If our current philosophy or science cannot explain some facts, we consider a new hypothesis or vary the current hypothesis. But one aspect of reality is proving impossible to reconcile with current science and philosophy, which creates tensions.
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?