My friend Ilya Somin has written a detailed critique of my doubts about the Protestant Reformation. Here’s my reply.
Tag: faith
The Many Uses of Argumentation
The root of an idea a person has is generally going to shine through when you have a discussion and make strong arguments against their (main) points. When someone has intellectual integrity and likes to believe that they believe things due to reason and evidence … they will be put into a difficult position.
Hillary Clinton: Cold Creepiness with a Side of Corruption
Was Clinton’s latest lunge at Assange and WikiLeaks a preemptive strike? An attempt, perhaps, to get ahead of extreme ugliness in the coming news cycle?
Work on Your Dreams as If You’re Awake
The world is filled with people who dream of a day when they’ll be able to do a particular thing full-time, but there’s a common problem that plagues many of those who fall in this category: apart from what they say or put on their resume, their talent is a secret.
How My Grandfather Won His Last Battle
Today my grandfather died. I’m still processing what it means to live in a world without him. But there’s one thought that gives me extraordinary satisfaction: he ended so well.
Be True To Something Other Than Yourself
Some are very good at keeping it real as long as they get to redefine reality at whim. Others know how to keep it real by submitting to a reality beyond their own head.
Faith in Your Former Reason
To me, faith is continuing to act on a belief you formed using your full logical powers in a moment when emotion tempts you to do otherwise. It’s faith in your own ability to arrive at a sound conclusion, and faith in your former resolve to stick with it even when it becomes costly.
How To Waste Your Time
Arguing for the “legitimacy” of the State (or government) with an anarchist– using legal definitions and statist concepts– is as pointless as threatening atheists with Hell for not believing.
Feeling Good is Not the Enemy
Critical thinking isn’t just for the beliefs that fill our hearts with faith, hope, and love. It’s also for the beliefs that make us sad, angry, and uninspired. People are just as terrible at seeing the truth when the truth benefits them as they are at seeing the truth when it doesn’t benefit them.
The American Führerprinzip
Although Trump went to Texas and Florida after the recent hurricanes, he was criticized for being insufficiently sympathetic — or perhaps empathetic. He apparently neither shed tears nor hugged storm victims, as his predecessors did. Do people really want that? Disgusting.