Official Website for Amitabha Palmer
Introduction to Descartes Meditation IDescartes’ Meditations is one of the most important works in modern philosophy (i.e., 17th Century philosophy). It is the point of departure for many philosophical issues and debates up to and including the present. The overall aim of his project is to determine what we can know beyond any possible doubt; […]
Read More Descartes and the First Meditation: What Can We Know for Sure?Libertarianism: IntroI’ve been wanting to write a post on libertarianism for a while and since I have a ton of things I’m supposed to be doing right now, I thought now would be an excellent time. When I was philosophically naive I found libertarianism quite compelling. I think this is common for most youth–especially young […]
Read More Libertarianism and Moral Obligation to OthersOriginsOk, so lets start from the start. A few months before my brother’s (Ezra) wedding, his future sister-in-law wrote me an email asking me if there were any Canadian traditions we might want included in the wedding. Here is my response:Canadian Wedding TraditionsThere are several Canadian wedding traditions you should consider making time for. We […]
Read More My Ceremony for Ezra’s "Canadian" Wedding in GermanyMy good friend David asked me to construct a custom secular wedding ceremony for his wedding. He and I share a similar sense of humour, so–although it wasn’t explicitly discussed–I figured there was no need for it to be very serious. For those of you reading this who don’t know David, he has lived in […]
Read More My Ceremony for David’s WeddingThe voices in my head have been asking me to make this post for a while, so now that I have a few moments, I will oblige them. A couple of notes before I procede. These complaints/points apply to beginners–and regulars who should know better. If you’re new to the gym and you are […]
Read More Gym Etiquette Rant/List for Beginners (and Others) and How to SpotIntroductionIn the previous posts we looked at argument schemes that are typically employed in factual matters: generalizations, polls, general causal reasoning, particular causal reasoning, and the argument from ignorance. In this next section we’ll look at common argument schemes used in normative (i.e., having to do with values) arguments. Check. it. aus…Slippery-Slope ArgumentA slippery slope […]
Read More Critical Thinking: The Slippery Slope Argument, Argument from Analogy, the Argument from Design, and Gay Marriage.Introduction to the Scientific Method in the Context of Critical Thinking http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/OXO2azb3_PE&source=uds (For an example of real science in action, watch the video)In the last few lessons we’ve looked at 5 common argument schemes: Generalizations, polling, general causal reasoning, particular causal reasoning, and arguments from ignorance. As luck would have it, these are the most […]
Read More Critical Thinking: The Scientific Method in 5 Stepshttp://youtube.googleapis.com/v/_w5JqQLqqTc&source=uds IntroductionThe next argument scheme we will look at is what’s known as the argument from ignorance. An argument from ignorance (or argumentum ad ignorantium if you want to be fancy) is one that asserts that something is (most likely) true because there is no good evidence showing that it is false. It can also be […]
Read More Critical Thinking: Arguments from Ignorance, God, and GMOsIntroductionIn the previous section we looked at general causal reasoning. Now we’re going kick it up a notch with particular causal reasoning. Essentially, particular causal reasoning is when we apply causal reasoning to explain a particular effect in terms of a particular (or sometimes general) cause. For example, I got bronchitis because of the fire down […]
Read More Critical Thinking: Particular Causal Reasoning and Arguments from IgnoranceIntroductionBeing able to separate correlation from causation is the cornerstone of good science. Many errors in reasoning can be distilled to this mistake. Let me preempt this section by saying that making this distinction is by no means a simple matter, and much ink has been spilled over the issue of whether it’s even possible […]
Read More Critical Thinking: General Causal Reasoning
Wrestling with Philosophy 