Sunday School

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Yesterday saw thousands of people celebrate Sol Invictus.

A checklist to see if you might be suffering from an overdose of Christian privilege.

Yet another human being is jailed in Saudi Arabia for not believing in their puny imaginary god. The blasphemy laws in Egypt are just as vulgar.

Christian lobby groups’ doublespeak is a distortion of human rights.

Lauren the idiot says the Equality Act will ‘illegalize Jesus Christ’.

Why religious lobbyists in Australia are fighting to keep schools’ power to discriminate.

Atheism and agnosticism: The last closet.

World of Woo: Lessons in skepticism.

Environment: GDP ignores the environment: why it’s time for a more sustainable growth metric.

The successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is a gift to humanity. See also last video below which is very well produced.

World’s oldest family tree created using DNA.

We had quite a few ancient human discoveries in 2021.

Why Christopher Hitchens still matters.

There’s a problem with deception in Psychology.

As an ordained minister in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Praise be his noodly appendages) it is heartening to have Him accepted by science.

How small was the Universe when the hot Big Bang began?

Long Reads: The clockwork universe: is free will an illusion? Moral philosophy is bogus, a mere substitute for God that licenses ugly emotions. Here are five reasons to reject it. (see also the comments that the author responds to). The Mermaids in the basement came out to look at me.

Who was Joan Didion, who devoted her life to noticing things other people strive not to see?

Sunday Book Club: Primeval and Other Times. This is an excellent read.

Some photographs taken last week.  Some photos of the year. Animal photos of the year.

While you are waiting for the kettle to boil……

Coffee Break Video:  Tim Minchin in conversation with Richard Dawkins. What does it take to make a Universe? Things we’ve never seen: The James Webb Space Telescope explores the Cosmos.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Have a great week everyone!

[StregaModerator]

Thanks, Reg!  You rock!

[—Participant]

Atheism and agnosticism: The last closet.

Probably would have been better without the comparison to coming out LGBTQ. It ended up undercutting the the author’s own argument.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

And a Happy Solstice back at ‘cha!

Is that critter in the picture of the first story Baby Baphomet? You’d think they could have portrayed him cuter like The Child in The Mandalorian. 😁

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  TheEncogitationer. Reason: Italics

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

Speaking of Christian Privilege, I had a lady come up in my line and say she was surprised my store let’s people say: “Merry Christmas!” (Which, by the way, I will do if customers have explicitly Christmas items to purchase and the customers aren’t dickheads and douchebags like this customer here, for reasons to be made clear below.)

I exasperatedly pointed out to her “My store has never prohibited anyone from saying ‘Merry Christmas’ and we have all of Bill O’Grady’s books either on the shelves or on our Web Site.”

And as I scanned her items, I noticed she had “grazed” half of the grapes she had in her bag, an item that requires weighing and has no pre-weighed barcode.

This practice of “grazing” costs grocers and retailers untold Millions or even Billions of Dollars, which comes out of shareholders’ dividends, out of the bonuses of employees, and ultimately out of the costs consumers must pay for goods. Sorry, folks, “insurance doesn’t cover dat.”

Ever the one to put the kibash on foolishness, I told the lady “I’ll have to weigh these twice to make up for the grazing.” After I totalled her order, tendered her cash, gave back her change and receipt, I very pointedly and emphatically said “Merry Christmas!” and got only a mumble in return.

Funny how pow people act when they think “it’s all Heaven sent!”
🙄

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@Encogitationer – You’d think they could have portrayed him cuter like The Child in The Mandalorian.

Being the spawn of Satan has its own rewards too. I hope that Bishop was pleased to meet him. I wonder if he can guess his name?

 

 

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

Reg the Fronkey Farmer wrote:

Moral philosophy is bogus, a mere substitute for God that licenses ugly emotions. Here are five reasons to reject it.

I think the author, Ronnie de Sousa, is complaining about moral philosophy rather than morality itself.  I agree with him.  Someone said that moral philosophy has become “a special way to be boring” and I say it’s a big pile of steaming poop with a bow on it.

I have perfectly good reasons for my desire not to cause harm, not to act unfairly, or to be kind. These reasons derive both from my first-order reasons and from my reflection on them. They matter not because of morality, but because I care.

So, he believes in morality after all.

[DavisModerator]

it’s a big pile of steaming poop with a bow on it.

This is as meaningful as listening to a creationist who doesn´t know anything about evolution complain about evolution. Simon…read a few bloody books on ethics before trashing it. This anti-ethics bullshit is almost as exhausting as Enco when he gets on the libertarian talking points bandwagon.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

Davis wrote:

This is as meaningful as listening to a creationist who doesn´t know anything about evolution complain about evolution.

Can your moral philosophy tell anyone anything about how to live?  Really?  It can’t, because it doesn’t make sense and is not connected with reality.

I’m looking for a simple everyday example of how moral philosophy could aid people in their everyday lives, or how it has anything to do with everyday life.  No aliens or science fiction.

[—Participant]

Simon Paynton wrote:

Davis wrote:

This is as meaningful as listening to a creationist who doesn´t know anything about evolution complain about evolution.

Can your moral philosophy tell anyone anything about how to live? Really? It can’t, because it doesn’t make sense and is not connected with reality. I’m looking for a simple everyday example of how moral philosophy could aid people in their everyday lives, or how it has anything to do with everyday life. No aliens or science fiction.

It might be worth establishing what all parties mean by ‘moral philosophy’ here. I am sure you’ve had conversations on this in the past, but the author of the cited article was fairly particular in their definition:

By ‘morality’, I refer to the sort of rules the transgression of which common sense decries as ‘immoral’, ‘wrong’ or ‘evil’. Such rules are generally regarded as obliging us without qualification.

That would seem to exclude some of what customarily gets grouped with moral philosophy (e.g. a number of systems of ethics and ethical consideration).

[DavisModerator]

Can your moral philosophy tell anyone anything about how to live?

Uhhhh. Yes. That would be a practical application of most moral systems.

Really?

Yes.

It can’t

Oh…and you know that based on your refusal to read a single bloody book?

because it doesn’t make sense and is not connected with reality.

See above comment.

I’m looking for a simple everyday example of how moral philosophy could aid people in their everyday lives, or how it has anything to do with everyday life.

Every bloody moral system has an answer or an approach on how to deal with every day issues. The fact that you don’t know this is glaring evidence of your near complete ignorance of even the most common moral systems. If you knew anything about them…you wouldn’t say such stupid shit. Pick up a god damn book and read and spare us your monumental intellectual laziness.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by  Davis.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

Davis wrote:

Pick up a god damn book and read and spare us your monumental intellectual laziness.

I didn’t think you would be able to provide an example.  You’ve proved my point.

Here’s an example from my version of evolutionary ethics:  a person goes into a shop and buys something.  What morality comes into play?  1) reciprocity, when I exchange money for goods; 2) Perfect Compassion, or fairness as respect, when I treat the sales clerk in a polite and friendly manner.

[Simon PayntonParticipant]

Autumn wrote:

It might be worth establishing what all parties mean by ‘moral philosophy’ here.

Both the article and myself are referring to the industry-standard of moral philosophy, which has the unnatural and unconvincing bases of utilitarianism, Kantianism, virtue ethics etc.

The problem they have is that each one of these approaches needs to be combined into one, and they don’t know how to do it.  This is because the whole thing is unhinged from real life.

Medical ethics is a good thing, because it’s right at the coal-face of reality.

[—Participant]

Simon Paynton wrote:

Autumn wrote:

It might be worth establishing what all parties mean by ‘moral philosophy’ here.

Both the article and myself are referring to the industry-standard of moral philosophy, which has the unnatural and unconvincing bases of utilitarianism, Kantianism, virtue ethics etc. The problem they have is that each one of these approaches needs to be combined into one, and they don’t know how to do it.

The article’s definition appears to be much narrower than the broad field of moral philosophy. Or at least I would hope so. Other wise this is one of those conversations very much like nailing Jell-O to the wall. It’s like conversations with people who don’t want to eat foods loaded with “chemicals”. In a sense, we know what they mean, and there is perhaps some validity to the underlying sentiment. But taken literally, it’s nonsensical, encompassing not only that to which they object, but also that on which they depend to live.

[Author]

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