Calling something a “scientific truth” is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it carries a kind of epistemic (how we know) credibility, a quality assurance that a truth has been arrived at in an understandable…
There are many different religions, but are there different types of atheism?
EPA/Andy Rain
This weekend thousands of so-called “New Atheists” will converge on Melbourne for the second Global Atheist Convention. Last month Alain de Botton, a European popular philosopher, received copious coverage…
Universities are centres of research… but what kind of research?
flickr/pcgn
Fundamentally, there are two big motives for research.
On the on hand there is intellectual ambition: the desire to know and understand the word, to appreciate the best that has been said and thought…
The ins and outs of the parliamentary day are often nothing more than a distraction.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Some people worry that we are, collectively, indifferent to politics. I am beginning to worry that I have not been indifferent enough.
It’s a frightening idea: maybe politics matters far less than I thought…
The "post-birth abortion" argument doesn't hold.
Paqman
By Andrew McGee, Queensland University of Technology
Philosophers Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva have received an avalanche of abusive comments and emails following the publication of their paper on “post-birth abortion” in last week’s Journal of…
Religion has been the guiding force behind much great architecture.
flickr/etrusia
Following the publication of Alain de Botton’s new book Religion for Atheists, there has been a curious development: a fight between atheists.
At one level the conflict looks crazy. The only condition…
Philosophers talk about the "dirty hands" problem: are lies OK in the pursuit of truth?
Le Mast/Flickr
“Truth is so precious that she should be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
Winston Churchill’s famous words were uttered during the war against the Nazis and referred to Operation Bodyguard, a deception…
We take animals' liberty every day, but is calling them slaves accurate?
Rev Xanatos Satanicos Bombasticos ClintJCL/Flickr
Is the confinement of animals for human purposes akin to slavery? Are some animals slaves?
Slavery is an evocative concept. Treating someone as a slave is one of the worst things you can do to them. Using…
When it comes to being "fortunate", context is king.
kaibara87
Some people seem born lucky. Everything they touch turns to gold. Others are dogged by misfortune.
It’s not just people who might be lucky or unlucky – it can be single acts. When the ball hits a post…
Gaddafi's death raises moral questions about whether he should have been put on trial or not.
EPA/Rehan Khan
Muammar Gaddafi met his end after being cornered in a Sirte drainage pipe, having fled from a NATO air-strike on his convoy. Questions about exactly how he died – whether caught in crossfire or summarily…
Technology reinforces traditional power structures.
Jared Rodriguez/Truthout
Last night, SBS screened the first instalment of a three-part documentary by Adam Curtis, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace. The program attracted intense debate when broadcast in the UK earlier…
The lawyer for the self-confessed Norway killer, Anders Breivik will enter a plea of insanity AFP photo/Facebook - Youtube
Societies, if we are to take the Freudian line, prefer to subordinate chaotic urges in favour of dull order. Civilization implies stability. By the nineteenth century, human society was digesting a range…
Is our understanding of time a "stubbornly persistent illusion"?
xenob/Flickr
One thing most of us know about time is that there isn’t enough of the stuff, and that the problem is getting worse.
“Too swiftly now the Hours take flight,” as the English poet Austin Dobson (1840-1921…
