reasonandmeaning

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A Shuffled A Deck Of Cards: The Order Has Never Appeared Before

This article originally appeared in 3 Quarks Daily,  by JONATHAN KUJAWA When you well shuffle a deck of cards the resulting order has never appeared before in all of history! Amazing but true. This is just another example of how our intuition misleads us. Continue reading A Shuffled A Deck Of Cards: The Order Has Never Appeared Before

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The Weirdness of the World: Schwitzgebel

I have recently been made aware of a new book, The Weirdness of the World, by the philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel. Continue reading The Weirdness of the World: Schwitzgebel

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Is Philosophy Good For You?

I had a recent conversation with someone who is reading my book Short Essays on Life, Death, Meaning, and the Far Future. He told me that he was now enthusiastic about reading more philosophy. But this got me thinking. How much should you philosophize? Is philosophy dangerous? Does philosophizing make your life go better? If I had to do it all over would I have spent so much of my life thinking…

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[reasonandmeaning]

Best Foods To Help Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

I’ve read extensively about the relationship between diet and ASD. The bottom line is that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is beneficial for autistic children (as it is for all of us). Continue reading Best Foods To Help Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

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My First Semester Teaching

In the fall of 1987 I taught my first college classes—two sections of ethics at a major midwestern university. I admit to being scared of speaking in front of 40 students who weren’t much younger than me. Continue reading My First Semester Teaching

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How The Past Pervades The Present

Responding to a recent post, Chris Crawford offered a beautiful image of how our lives might be meaningful despite our deaths. He writes, Continue reading How The Past Pervades The Present

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On Dying and Grieving and Judgment

by Marie Snyder (Reprinted with author’s permission.) My dad passed away this week. He was older than the hills: 93 and a half years old. I’m not sad about his passing; he lived a long and fulfilling life. But I am troubled by how he went, and our expectations around grief. At his 90th birthday party, he was jovially talking with old friends and extended family. He lived a quiet life with his…

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Should I Choose To Live Forever? A Debate

I have just been made aware of a new book, Should I Choose To Live Forever? A Debate The book is a debate between the philosophers Stephen Case–who answers the question in the negative, and John Martin Fischer—who answers in the affirmative. The book also includes a Foreword by Lord Martin Rees, the current Astronomer Royal of the United Kingdom. Continue reading Should I Choose To Live Forever?…

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Should we be grateful for death?

by John Danaher Most people think death is bad. They approach it with a degree of trepidation, possibly even denial. The prospect is particularly acute for someone who does not believe in an afterlife. Could such a person ever view death as a gift, something for which they should be grateful? That’s the intriguing question asked by Mikel Burley in his article “Atheism and the Gift of Death”. I…

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The ethics of human extinction

I recently finished reading Emile Torres‘ essay in Aeon magazine, “The ethics of human extinction,” a topic I have thought and written about much over the years. Continue reading The ethics of human extinction

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More On "Is The World Better Than Ever?"

By Anton Alterman [Note. This is a follow-up essay to my many recent posts about human progress.] Nicholas Kristof of the NY Times publishes a column at the end of every year with the same idea as Pinker’s book … and a lot of the same data points.  Continue reading More On “Is The World Better Than Ever?”

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Eternalism & Free Will

In the common-sense view of time, called presentism,  each of the four instants of time in the snapshot above exist one after another and only the present exists. The main problem with presentism is that it conflicts with the theory of relativity. Continue reading Eternalism & Free Will

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A Final Note On The Existence of Free Will

Over the past few weeks, I’ve read quite a bit about free will in the hope of expanding on the position I elucidated in a previous post. What I’ve discovered along the way is a stronger commitment to Continue reading A Final Note On The Existence of Free Will

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Existential Physics: A Scientists Guide To Life's Biggest Questions

I just finished Sabine Hossenfelder’s new book, Existential Physics: A Scientists Guide To Life’s Biggest Questions. I intended to do a full review but alas I don’t have time. Still, I wanted to share a few notes I made on some key points she made in each chapter. So here goes: Continue reading Existential Physics: A Scientists Guide To Life’s Biggest Questions

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Short Philosophy Jokes

Q: How many philosophers does it take to change a light bulb? A: Depends on how you define “change” Continue reading Short Philosophy Jokes

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Society May Be Better But Is It Also More Fragile?

By Ed Gibney For the last five posts, we have been discussing the question of whether the world is getting better or not. I’d like to give Ed Gibney the last words (for now?) on the topic: Continue reading Society May Be Better But Is It Also More Fragile?

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On Balance There Has Been Human Progress

I was preparing a critique of Jeremy Lent’s views on our lack of progress but an email from my collegue Francis Heylighen beat me to it.  Continue reading On Balance There Has Been Human Progress

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