One of the basic distinctions in contemporary thought about thinking is between brain and mind. “Brain” means the organic machine inside our skulls. “Mind” is more elusive: it can refer to anything from the generic subject of any possible judgement to the syndrome of affinities, . . . . Continue Reading »
Last Friday evening , Wasilla Bible Church was set fire while several people and two children were inside. The church, which gained national media attention during the presidential campaign as having once been attended by Gov. Sarah Palin, has suffered at least one million dollars in damage due to . . . . Continue Reading »
It is interesting how some things never change. In the 1990s, Jack Kevorkian’s death circus lit a wildfire of debate over assisted suicide, with the default position being that since “terminally ill” people are going to commit suicide because the suffering is sometimes so . . . . Continue Reading »
In the latest issue of Intelligent Life , Anthony Gottlieb offers an interesting commentary on the correlation of faith and fertility in populations today: Earlier this year a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that nearly three quarters of American adults professed the . . . . Continue Reading »
New editions of my regular podcast, “What It Means to be Human,” come out each Tuesday. I tend to wait for a slow news day before linking them here, and with all the assisted suicides going on, and televised depictions thereof, not to mention a judge ludicrously turning the advocacy . . . . Continue Reading »
The similarities between the “suicide tourism” ongoing in Switzerland and Jack Kevorkian’s death circus are just too striking to ignore. Both involved depressed people with disabilities, people with terminal illnesses, and some people who are not ill at all traveling from their . . . . Continue Reading »
Thanks to all who’ve written or called about my daughter Faith. She’s in the intensive-care wing of the pediatrics ward at NYU hospital, but the doctors are fairly confident they have the situation under control. Your prayers are more than welcome. . . . . Continue Reading »
Whatever happened to fact checking in the media? I recall writing an article against Kevorkian for the New York Times more than ten years ago, and I had to prove every i-dot and t-cross to the editor—it was the editorial equivalent of a colonoscopy. (“Depressed? Don’t Go See Dr. . . . . Continue Reading »
The Gray Lady has now officially noticed in print the radical attacks on human exceptionalism represented by Ecuador’s granting rights to nature and Spain on the verge of passing the Great Ape Project. No, of course it doesn’t frame it that way! Indeed, the story is rather . . . . Continue Reading »
I wasn’t planning on exploring the Vatican’s new bioethics pronouncement. But the media’s reportage does bear some discussion. Scientific American’s story, for example, contains the following subheadline: Mischaracterizations of science lurk in the Vatican’s latest . . . . Continue Reading »
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