One sometimes gets the impression that religious and nonreligous people alike consider agnosticism a more rational and sophisticated creed than atheism. On the contrary, agnosticism differs from atheism in name only. The distinction between the... Read More

“Life’s a bitch, and then you die.” At least, that’s the gospel according to acclaimed rapper Nas. I can’t remember the circumstances that placed that song on a music roster generally made up of Elton... Read More

“Walk a mile in my shoes,” singer-songwriter Joe South advised back in the (highly overrated) peace and love days of 1969.       If you could see you through my eyes Instead of your... Read More

BEHAVIORISM is psychology’s variant on physicalism, the idea that physical events explain all mental or physiological events. It’s the view that all your private thoughts and experiences—moods, dreams, flights of art and fancy, and what... Read More

We’ve all been told we’re supposed to “be good.” But why? So your god can reward you? Such religious reasons have no evidentiary basis for their competing and occasionally destructive morals. Should you be good... Read More

Determinism is bound to remain one of the more intriguing problems in philosophy as well as science. As the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says: “There is no agreement over whether determinism is true (or even... Read More

There is a famous story about an essay contest in England in 1910. The topic was, “What is wrong with the world?” The British writer G. K. Chesterton wrote the winning entry. It consisted of... Read More