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Islam and science have problems with their relationship
In August 2013, Richard Dawkins elicited one of his periodic bouts of controversy by tweeting that Trinity College, Cambridge had produced many more Nobel Laureates than the entire Muslim world. While...
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The earliest reference to a telescope: England 1551?
“And hereof came it that Fryer Bakon was accompted so greate a negromancier, whiche never used that arte (by any coniecture that I can fynde) but was in geometrie and other mathematicall sciences so...
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Is the book trade too left wing for its own good?
I like to drop into the excellent Riverside Bookshop on Tooley Street, London SE1 (late of Hays Galleria). It has a good selection and dedicated staff (even if they blot their copybook slightly by not...
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Hey there
Jim S here. Sorry for being out of the blogging business for so long, I got kind of burned out by the comments in this post, although it was probably just the straw that broke the camel's back. I...
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Violence in the name of God
Some nonreligious friends of mine were recently texting me and each other about the recent terrorist attacks in Paris and how the specific religion of the terrorists was irrelevant. I loathe texting...
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How to get ancient Greek Science almost completely wrong
When we think of ancient Greek science, we tend to imagine Raphael’s great fresco “The School of Athens” featuring philosophers in togas lost in thought. The picture suggests that science in the...
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Dennett on Christianity
I recently made a point in the comments over at Victor Reppert's blog that I think warrants fuller promotion. There is much to remark on regarding the debate between Daniel Dennett and Alvin Plantinga...
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New York Values
Here in the States there was a political dust-up recently when one candidate accused another of advocating New York values instead of more broadly American values or rural values or Midwest values or...
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Ethics and its importance to ancient Greek science
I noted in my previous blog post thatancient Greek science consisted of many different natural philosophies. In fact, it’s wrong to speak of Greek science in the singular. I’ve also noted in the past...
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Happy Easter
I've written some posts on the historical Jesus, although not recently. You can peruse them here (the link goes to my other blog, but many of them were cross-posted here) or you could look at my posts...
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Oy
OK, I can finally exhale. I was going to start blogging more, then I had to review the proofs and compile the index for a book that's coming out in a couple months, and the stress was ... considerable....
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Some comments on the flood, part 1
The account of Noah and the flood is one of those Bible passages held up as being inconsistent with contemporary science -- probably only the creation account receives more fire. In fact young-earth...
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Just read
I just read a great short story that some of you might like. It's a combination detective story, hard science fiction, and the history of science called "The Weighing of Ayre" by Gregory Feeley. The...
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New book
My first book was just published. It's about the various arguments to the effect that determinism and/or naturalism are self-defeating. You can read a goodly portion of the first chapter on the...
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Brexit: What on earth happened?
Readers of the blog come from all over the world and they may have heard some surprising tidings from the United Kingdom over the last few weeks. As most of international news reporting has painted...
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BS
Some University of Washington philosophers are teaching a course this coming spring term on critical thinking. A very specific aspect of critical thinking. Their course title is "Calling Bullsh*t"...
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My new book: What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax
I have a new book out called What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax. In it I take look at the UK tax system and provide non-specialist readers with an easy-to-understand explanation of tax and tax...
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New articles on science and religion/history of science
Although my new book is on What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax, I have been contributing to various books on the history of science, and on science and religion in the last few years. First up, and...
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The Bones of St Leonard's
We visited the seaside at Hythe in Kent, one of the five Cinque ports, on Saturday. Hythe is a pleasant little market town, although nothing like as pretty as Rye or Winchelsea. The highlight of Hythe...
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Blowing up the flat earth
Daniel J. Boorstin was a historian and Librarian of Congress. He is known among historians of science for his absurd claims about the flat earth myth in his book The Discoverers: A History of Man's...
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Three points
1. Jerry Pournelle, science-fiction author extraordinaire, has died. I'm more affected by this than I can justify. I wrote over at Agent Intellect that the universe seems smaller now. I note that less...
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A tribute to my grandmother
My grandmother, Nana, died at the age of 101 late last year. Here's my tribute from her funeral.Nineteen sixteen seems a very long time ago. It was the year of the Battle of the Somme in the midst of...
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Some thoughts on Toby Huff’s The Rise of Early Modern Science
Why did modern science arise in western Europe and nowhere else? If you ever meet a historian of science, for goodness sake, don’t ask them that question. It implies that the West enjoyed some sort of...
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Grand strategy computer games: the ultimate waste of time?
I suffer from an addiction. It’s not a craving for alcohol, tobacco or some other substance. My poisons are computer games like Civilization and Europa Universalis. Civilization is up to its sixth...
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Did Isidore of Seville Think the Earth is Flat? Yes, Probably.
Isidore of Seville (c.560 - 636) was one of the most influential authors of the early Middle Ages. Although he was a long-serving bishop, he wrote on secular subjects as well as religious ones. He’s...
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