Fallacy theory is popular among skeptics, but in fact it’s in serious trouble. Every fallacy in the traditional taxonomy runs into a destructive dilemma that I call the Fallacy Fork: either it hardly ever occurs in real life, or it is not actually fallacious. Here’s a piece I wrote about the Fallacy Fork for Skeptical Inquiry, based on our paper… Lees verder »The Fallacy Fork: Why It’s Time to Get Rid of Fallacy Theory
My colleague Michael Vlerick and I just published a paper in the journal Dialectica, dissecting the arguments of the so-called “New Mysterians”. This group of thinkers, among whom luminaries such as Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor and Steven Pinker, claim that some problems will always remain ineffable “mysteries” to us, because our brains are just not equipped to understand them. Just… Lees verder »Are there “mysteries” that will forever baffle us?
Pure fallacies are a rare breed. You encounter examples of such arguments in textbooks of logic, but rarely in real life. Real-life fallacies generally bear some resemblance to valid forms of reasoning, which makes them hard to distinguish. Nevertheless, I found a genuine, 24-carat nugget of bad reasoning the other day. The historian Jeroen Bouterse was reacting to my essay… Lees verder »Whataboutery
For the past week or so I’ve been in Budapeston a study visit at the Central European University (CEU), where I’ve been doing some research on cultural evolution with the anthropologist Dan Sperber and his group. I wouldn’t normally be blogging about this kind of everyday academic excursion, but if you’ve been following the news at all closely for the… Lees verder »How to chase away a university
I received this letter from an Iraqi ex-Muslim studying at a Belgian university, among countless others, after publishing my piece on the invisibility of ex-Muslims. The author suggested sharing his letter, but he wishes to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. It is a powerful testimony that deserves to be read, especially by those on the Regressive Left who have betrayed… Lees verder »Letter from a Young Contrarian
How many people do you know who used to be Muslim, but no longer believe? […] I thought so. Me neither. I know plenty of ex-Christians, even ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses and former Reformed Protestants from the Dutch Bible belt. I also have a number of liberal Muslim friends, who believe in Allah and in the afterlife, but who read the Qur’an… Lees verder »Where are all the ex-Muslims?
I am rather fond of most of our freedoms. But one I’d like to get rid of is the freedom of religion. At best, that principle is completely superfluous, but in most cases it’s also discriminatory, arbitrary, and absurd. The principle of “freedom of religion” is enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights and the First Amendment of the U.S.… Lees verder »Abolish the freedom of religion!
Who wants to belong to a minority? Who wants to feel left out or marginalized, merely because you are different from the mainstream, or because your hold unpopular views? Who would want to wage a lonely battle against a crushing orthodoxy? Actually, it turns out that a lot of people would. Many of us cherish and celebrate minorities, and would… Lees verder »Why we all love minorities (and want to be one)
My dear liberal Muslim friends (I know you’re out there), the holy month of Ramadan is drawing to a close, and it has been the bloodiest in recent history. Some of the victims have been members of your own faith, but the perpetrators have not been the ones who hate Islam. They have been the ones who are fervently devoted… Lees verder »Letter to liberal Muslims (bis)
A man walking in the forest at night arrives at a house with lights burning inside. Looking through the window, he sees people jumping frantically and flailing about. Poor fellows, thinks the man: they are having seizures, or they must be terribly ill, or they have become insane. What the man doesn’t hear is the music playing inside. The people… Lees verder »Disbelief in belief