In a recent speech to the Grattan Institute in Melbourne, Federal Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey argues why he’s a true believer in individual rights but wont support a Bill of Human Rights in Australia (extract from the Australian here). What struck me most upon reading this was the inherent contradiction in his position, a [...]
Philosophy
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Logical fallacies abound in the business and self-help literature. Perhaps it is the way we humans are biologically programmed that makes us fall for voodoo, pseudo-science and other quackery, but I still find it amazing how supposedly smart people (even those with Ph.D after their names) still make these basic yet fundamental mistakes. One of [...]
Problems with Probability
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
One of the often used justifications for inductive reasoning, especially in science, is probability theory. If all observed swans in the past have been white, then there is a high probability that the next observed swan will be white. David Hume quite rightly criticised this reasoning in Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding, but today I’d like [...]
Anselm’s Ontological Argument for God
Friday, October 16th, 2009
I’m going through a number of ‘proofs of God’ at the moment and am really impressed with the logical ‘sleight of hand’ employed. I have to admit, I find it difficult to believe that anyone has come up with a sound a priori argument, otherwise the dominance of atheism in modern philosophy would not be [...]