In an interview with Wired about his movie Inception, director Christopher Nolan is questioned about an ambiguous scene in the film:So, there’s no one right answer.Oh no, I’ve got an answer.You do?!Yeah. I’ve always believed that if you make a film with ambiguity, it needs to be . . . . Continue Reading »
Pity the person who looks at the night sky and sees only hot glowing balls of gas. If he starts to speak, you are likely to get a great deal of hot air, but little romantic glow. Knowing the composition of a thing is good, but it is at least as good to know what a thing is to mankind.Stars are more . . . . Continue Reading »
Recently I was asked my opinion on anthropogenic global warming. In the ensuing discussion, there was criticism of my rejection of “the majority opinion of ‘experts’” as a good or valid method to base my position. Having rejected that, I was asked by what means, if not the . . . . Continue Reading »
My friends and fellow bloggers are talking about metaphysics. So, I will jump in. Matt Milliner announces, “Attempts to overcome metaphysics [have] been shown to be themselves irrepressibly metaphysical.” Matt Anderson insists:Either a natural order exists, or we impose it. Either . . . . Continue Reading »
The question of the existence of truth has been in debate for centuries and the subject will not be answered to everyone’s satisfaction. Of course there is an answer, and reformed theologians all know what the answer is. That’s why we don’t argue too much about it. But I . . . . Continue Reading »
If you are skeptical about postmodern thought, I encourage you to check out “The Church and Postmodern Series” by Baker Academic, which “features high-profile theorists in continental philosophy and contemporary theology writing for a broad, nonspecialist audience interested in the . . . . Continue Reading »
Everyone agrees that marriage, whatever else it is or does, is a relationship in which persons are united. But what are persons? And how is it possible for two or more of them to unite? The view typically (if often unconsciously) held by advocates of liberal positions on issues of sexuality and . . . . Continue Reading »
I commute to work on the NYC subway system every day, a routine no longer subject to the provisions enumerated in the UN Convention Against Torture owing to a jurisdiction dispute. One of the ways the Transit Authority mollifies those of us trapped into favoring it with our custom is to post . . . . Continue Reading »
Equations from God: Pure Mathematics and Victorian Faith by daniel j. cohen johns hopkins university press, 256 pages, $50 It is tempting to treat mathematics as though it existed in a socio-historical vacuum, unaffected by what happens to people and societies. Though, like any other . . . . Continue Reading »
Robert Frost: The Poet as Philosopher by peter j. stanlis isi, 350 pages, $28 Poor Robert Frost. Nearly half a century after his death, he is still suffering at the hands of both friends and enemies. Frost brought much of this problem on himself when he selected a troubled young . . . . Continue Reading »