Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

I'm a member of a facebook group devoted to the discussion of global warming. It was probably a mistake to join, since the discussion is quite jejune. Here is an example. A poster writes:  "Prove that God is not responsible for global warming." Really? Assume theism [of some fairly traditional peoples-of-the-book sort] for the sake of discussion here. Now abstract a bit and consider ANY statement of the form "why is X happening?" where X  is some observable event in time and space. Either you believe that "God so decreed" is an adequate answer or you don't. If you do believe that to be an adequate answer, then you have rejected empirical science altogether, because science is all about assigning observable causes to observable effects. On the other hand, if you do not believe that to be an adequate answer, and you press on for a better one, then you have accepted the scientific enterprise, and the challenge of the form "Prove th...

The Hartford Courant is reporting on the word of unspecified sources apparently involved in the police investigation that the Sandy Hook school shooter was in fact motivated by a spirit of rivalry with other mass murderers. Where have I heard that idea, now confirmed as fact? Where did I hear it first? Oh, yes, I remember. In the hours after the shootings, this is the view of the matter that became affixed to the name " Morgan Freeman." It seems to have disappeared from discussion after Freeman himself disowned it . Let us at least learn a lesson here about the invalidity of discrediting any argument by virtue of where it does or doesn't come from.

As I noted in yesterday's entry in this blog, Morgan Freeman wasn't the author of the essay that circulated madly about in Facebook last week after the Newtown shootings. Here is the essay that was attributed to Freeman: " You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why. "It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? "Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody. "CNN's article says that if the body count 'holds up', this will rank as the second deadliest s...

I'm thinking about the actor Morgan Freeman these days. It isn't that I've ever been a big fan,but he has crossed my radar lately in two ways that may be related. So let's talk about Freeman, in this post and in the next. Regular readers of my blogs know that I'm a devotee of the animated show South Park , the wisdom of which I have cited on issues like literary fraud and Ritalin. Anyway, the day after out recent presidential election South Park ran an episode called "Obama Wins!" Despite the simplicity of that title, the episode was a complicated one, involving stolen ballot boxes, a Chinese General, and Disney's recent purchase of the intellectual property of Star Wars . At a couple of points in the convoluted plot, an animated version of Morgan Freeman shows up to explain things to the regular characters in the series. Indeed, one of the regular characters comments on how Freeman does exactly this in his movie roles. Does he? Maybe s...