The death penalty has been in the news a lot lately. I read recently that Oklahoma has approved nitrogen gas as a way to kill people. The Boston Marathon bombing trial is in its sentencing phase. There have also been several high profile executions gone wrong. And, of course, The Supreme Court just heard oral…
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these Logic 101 posts. Just as a refresher, I like to look at a topic from the point of view of logic 101. That is, I try to see where the basic errors in reasoning occur. My theory is that if everyone took an intro to…
I first became aware of libertarianism more than twenty years ago when I was in high school. A few years later, at college, I met my first libertarians. Rand Paul’s announcement that he will be seeking the Presidency of the United States got me thinking about it again. I’m not going to talk about Rand…
Today, as I do most everyday, I was scrolling through 3 Quarks Daily. In case you don’t know, it’s an excellent site. Once a week, on Monday, they have a collection of original essays. The rest of the week, they are a high quality aggregator. Instead of the usual headlines, they tend to feature longer works dealing with…
I’m sure you have heard that Leonard Nimoy died. I, like almost everyone else, will forever think of him as Mr. Spock. And I, unlike most people, will forever think of Mr. Spock as my first philosophy teacher. Of course everyone associates Spock, and all Vulcanians (that’s what they were called in the original TV…
I have often said that there is no thing more worthy of a holiday than love. This, however, is not the dominant view. Most people seem to see Valentine’s Day as the ultimate Hallmark Holiday. People complain because they are single on Valentine’s Day or they complain because it creates obligations they don’t want. It…
I saw the final installment of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy. Apparently (according to the credits), it is based on a novel by JRR Tolkien called The Hobbit. I have read a book called The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien many times, but I’m struggling to find the connection. I can only conclude that Peter Jackson and…
There are two types of facts in the world. I know it sounds odd to say that, but it’s true. There are facts that are true no matter what and there are facts that are contingent. That probably still sounds odd, so I’ll give some examples. A fact that is true no matter what is…
This started out as a post about gun rights, but as I thought about it, I realized that post wouldn’t make much sense without a more in depth talk about rights. So, I’m going to attempt my first ever two part post. This one will deal with rights in general and the next one will…
