"How many people frequently step back and examine the methodologies they use to carry on their life?... Are you going to take my (or someone else's) word for it, or are you going to live your own thoughtful existence?"
"Science is not something mysterious. Being 'scientific' involves being curious, observing, asking how things happen, and learning how to find the answers. Curiosity is natural to children, but they need help understanding how to make sense of what they see."
"As we each filter the landscape through preexisting beliefs and memories [and grow more certain of our worldviews], we are more likely to see things that conform to preexisting worldviews and less likely to see things anew. Memories not only store experience after we have interpreted that experience, but memories also provide us with a pair of colored lenses through which we see the world."
An online guide for freethinkers.
Have you compartmentalized your mind? Do you treat your 'spiritual' beliefs differently than you treat your physical, day-to-day actions?
Interested in epistemology? Ever feel like you've been too culturally molded? Then take a look at this classic tale which deals with thinking clearly and critically."We are two very good tailors and after many years of research we have invented an extraordinary method to weave a cloth so light and fine that it looks invisible. As a matter of fact it is invisible to anyone who is too stupid and incompetent to appreciate its quality."
"These ideas are intriguing, even a little outrageous, but - most importantly - they have proven astonishingly influential. When a Dawkins' meme smacks into your neurons, your neurons obediently repattern themselves around it. You might resist their explicit message, but they are difficult to ignore and impossible to dismiss. They're quite fit - in the Darwinian sense."
"the simplest of two or more competing theories is preferable and an explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted in terms of what is already known"
We will never know. But you can find hints that he may have been, or at least that he wasn't totally fond of religion and its orthodox practitioners, from his plays.
"What most scientists fail to realize... is how many people seriously misunderstand or consciously reject many of the basic precepts and findings of science. In the United States... their numbers are large and growing -- currently approaching half the population. Many of these people are likely to be your neighbors, influencing social mores and community policies."
A satirical look at how laws requiring the posting of the 10 Commandments will save the world.
A personal look at religion, those obtaining a religious education, epistemology, and reason.
A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci