Category Archives: Naturalism

Are Mountains Real?

[Post at Preface to Atheism, Apr 27, 2024.] When philosophers ask if something is real, they mean: Does it exist independently of our thoughts? Whose thoughts, exactly? Well, generally, human thoughts. Our in this context means us as a species. … Continue reading

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Georges Lemaître & Naturalism as History

Throughout the history of science, the naturalistic turn of mind has been to look for a history for physical stuff. And the supernaturalistic turn of mind has been the opposite. Plato famously excluded a history for the world by postulating … Continue reading

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Fallacies of the Naive Observer

Today I’m going to discuss a fallacy common to observers of the physical world (people like us), one which has significant practical importance. I call it the naive observer fallacy, and it goes something like this. (1) Observers bring biases … Continue reading

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Mind is the Brain Improving Itself

Intelligence is being able to see what is right in front of you. Ignorance is looking at the world before you and seeing what you were taught to see. For thousands of years people looked at the night sky and … Continue reading

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Rough Notes about Consciousness

I suspect that no topic has been obfuscated with more nonsense—religious, philosophical or scientific—than consciousness. First, the focus on what consciousness “is” usually starts at the wrong place, at what might be called “high up” complex consciousness, rather than beginning … Continue reading

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Do We Live in a Simulation?

The human brain creates a simulation of the world around us from sensory inputs. This simulation is inside of us, and can be analyzed and known and expanded with supplemental knowledge. But some (actual) scientists are confused. They wonder if … Continue reading

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When Biology Trumps Physics

[The following is a draft that I wrote a good decade ago, never completed. The title reveals that I had ambitious intentions for where my line of thought would go. But, being human, the 20th century morass of “information theory” and … Continue reading

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Framing Free Will

When interactions occur between theists and atheists, our disparate frames of mind often cause confusion and misunderstanding. Behind these conflicting mindsets lie two incompatible worldviews: supernaturalism and naturalism. Understand these frameworks, and you will have a key to understanding our … Continue reading

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The Basics

For thousands of years philosophers have gotten the science of our existence wrong. They have mistakenly assumed that we know or perceive the world around us; we do not, we cannot. They have believed that our sense perceptions are direct … Continue reading

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Naturalism and Knowledge

We are living at the crossroads between supernaturalism and naturalism: the world is gradually abandoning the first for the second. Conservative Christians like to say there is a culture war going on, and there is. But it has more than … Continue reading

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