Jim Clench was a fixture on the Canadian classic rock scene as a bass player and song writer for both April Wine and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Perhaps his best known song is April Wine’s perennial concert favorite “Oowatanite”. Not exactly Gershwin, but the song, and Clench himself, have earned a mention in the liner notes of modern arena […]
The Tentative Apologist
Surely you can’t be serious!
“Airplane” inexplicably did not win the Palme ‘d’Or at Cannes. Looking back, it is hard to believe that it was passed over when you have riveting scenes like this. But this discussion is not really about “Airplane”. Rather, it is about the fact that there are things people say to us to which we rightly respond “Surely you […]
Nancy Sinatra’s boots were made for walkin’, but what was she made for?
Nancy Sinatra topped the charts in 1966 by singing about the teleology of her go go boots. In short, they were made for walkin’. (And pretty soon they’re gonna walk all over you.) In terms of anthems for women’s liberation this figures in somewhere below Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman” but perhaps a notch above […]
Open house at Randalrauser.com
My new site has been up and running for a few weeks now and the blog has been going for about two weeks. With that in mind, I have worked hard to stage an open house and I’d like you to join us. So feel free to look around and make yourself at home. There are chips […]
Why Sam Harris should not go into retail
Imagine a store called “Harris Mart” which advertises great prices while proudly touting the slogan: “All our packages are made in the USA!” Anxious to shop American, support the local economy, and benefit from the quality of fellow American citizens, the locals all flock to Harris Mart. … until they discover that the advertising is, to say the least, […]
Sam Harris’ moral claims refuted, rebutted, and rejected
Let’s recap the case I present against Sam Harris in “The Sam Harris Sinkhole.” He purports to offer a scientific ground for ethics consistent with a naturalistic view of the world, but his whole argument depends on assuming that sentience is a morally norative criterion. Thus, he must assume the fact in order to explain it, a model […]
A cannibalistic serial killer enters retirement
A cannibalistic serial killer entering retirement reflects on his accomplishments. Trophies litter his cramped apartment — bloody panties in the living room and frozen fingers in the fridge — and he values them like the retiring company man values that Rolex watch given for thirty years of faithful service. He knows that others value those mundane things […]
Better than Antiques Road Show
I love watching the Antiques Road Show, for I’ve always had a thing for the discovery of hidden treasures. Every time somebody discovers that an old lamp they bought at a garage sale is a $20,000 Tiffany it brings a wistful smile to my eye. When I was younger I had a dream of discovering the […]
The Sam Harris Sinkhole
I don’t have time to read Sam Harris’ new book, but I do have time to watch him talk for twenty minutes, summarizing the main thesis in a TED talk. And so, thanks to Tory Ninja forwarding this link, I got a sense of the book’s thesis. But first a disclaimer: this is not a review […]
Torture Porn and Human Nature: An All Hallow’s Eve Meditation
This weekend “Saw 3-D” came out on top at the box office. No surprise. It is a well established horror film franchise. I’ve never seen any of the Saw films, but I get the general idea: line people up to be tortured and killed in a series of grisly, sadistic and extraordinarily creative ways. The Saw […]
Rape as objectively evil
In my last post I stated that rape is objectively evil and any worldview that cannot count for this fact suffers accordingly. Alexander responded with a refreshing dose of dramatic bravado: “Not so, Randal Rauser! According to Randy Thornhill, rape is actually an evolution of a ‘genetically advantageous behavioral adaptation’ and, in that context, not inherently evil.” This […]
Can rape be objectively wrong?
The problem of evil is often presented to Christians as the objection to the existence of God. Sometimes it is presented as a logical problem — the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God is logically inconsistent with the existence of evil — but more often these days it is presented as a matter of probabilities — […]
Mens Paired Figure Skating and Atheism
Jerry Rivard writes in the blog to offer a reprimand: “Much has been said on this blog and at CP about naturalism being the inevitable conclusion that follows atheism. Nonsense! A person can certainly believe that there are no gods, but that there are ghosts, for example. They may have an inconsistent world view as […]
When the scientific method comes to town
Randal (from an earlier post): “So what is naturalism? Is it a claim that only a particular kind of knowledge can be had (i.e. scientific)?” Brenda: “Yes. If you have another method besides the scientific method for determining objective facts about the world we’d love to heard about it.” Whoa! Now this is an interesting […]
