Author Archives: BigBill

About BigBill

Stats: Married male boomer. Hobbies: Hiking, woodworking, reading, philosophy, good conversation.

More thinking about muddled thinking

Posted on November 4, 2012 by BigBill

I’ve posted several comments here about critical thinking. It seems that nearly everywhere I look I find things that make my case that critical thinking is becoming a lost art. In this election season the two primary political parties have … Continue reading →

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Inform yourselves, people!!

Posted on November 4, 2012 by BigBill

Elections are this week. Americans all over country will be heading to their local polling stations to cast their ballots, making incredibly important decisions based usually on what they think they learned from 30-second sound bites. I don’t know about … Continue reading →

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And yet more craziness

Posted on October 15, 2012 by BigBill

Malala Yousafzai is a 14-year old girl living in Pakistan. In a country not known for the freedom of women, and especially that of young girls, this courageous youngster has become an example for all for her outspokenness in favor … Continue reading →

Posted in General commentary on the world as I see it..., Religion and philosophy | Leave a comment

Bad craziness in the name of God

Posted on September 26, 2012 by BigBill

Unless you’ve been living under a rock in the last couple of weeks you know that portions of the Islamic world seem to have taken leave of their senses. To explain (just in case you in fact haven’t been following … Continue reading →

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Thinking critically (part 4)

Posted on September 10, 2012 by BigBill

There’s another component to developing critical thinking skills: the awareness of our own biases. We tend to find “truth” in things that line up with our preconceived notions. I’m not saying this is a bad thing; in fact, I’d suggest … Continue reading →

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Thinking critically (part 3)

Posted on August 26, 2012 by BigBill

In my last post I talked about how to evaluate scientific claims. That’s relatively easy compared to critical evaluation of what most of us are come across on a daily basis. Questions like “should a modern society allow capital punishment?” … Continue reading →

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Thinking critically (part 2)

Posted on August 18, 2012 by BigBill

So what exactly does it mean, to “think critically?” It might be tempting to say that, since a lack of critical thinking more or less means accepting whatever you hear without question, then critical thinking would mean automatically rejecting everything … Continue reading →

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Thinking critically (part 1)

Posted on May 29, 2012 by BigBill

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said “I don’t believe the liberal media.” I think it’s safe to say that a significant percentage of our population believe that everything they read in the newspapers or on TV … Continue reading →

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Does free will explain our struggle with morality? (part 2)

Posted on May 27, 2012 by BigBill

So back to the question. Leaving aside for now whether or not such a thing even exists, could the presence of free will explain our struggle to achieve a God-given morality? I think it doesn’t, because it circles around the … Continue reading →

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Does free will explain our struggle with morality? (part 1)

Posted on May 6, 2012 by BigBill

I’ve written a number of posts here about the source of morality; mostly because I no longer believe that our sense of morality is given to us by God (or to put it another way, I don’t believe that without … Continue reading →

Posted in General commentary on the world as I see it..., Religion and philosophy | Leave a comment