Today’s post is a bit more philosophy-rich than I am usually comfortable with and, thus, than I would normally post. But, as I was reading the book named below (and stretching my brain cells), I realized that the topic and observations are at least as, if not even more, relevant today than when written almost […]
Part 4: Three Ways to Argue Meanwhile, at the clinic… Client (Michael Palin): “Aha! If you’re arguing, I must have paid.” Mr. Barnard (John Cleese): “Not necessarily. I could be arguing in my spare time….” OK, if you aren’t a Monty Python fan (and I am only marginally) and you don’t understand the above quote, […]
Part 3: Logical Suicide and Staying on TRACK “Without good support, not only is it a ‘bad argument’, it’s merely opinion.” — me Welcome back! (Or, just “Welcome!”, if this is the first part you read in this series.) So far, we’ve been learning some fundamental ideas in what is known as “informal logic”. We […]
Part 2: Propositions and Logical Relationships “Having, then, once introduced an element of inconsistency into his system, he was far too consistent not to be inconsistent consistently, and he lapsed ere long into an amiable indifferentism which to outward appearance differed but little from the indifferentism….” — Samuel Butler, iconoclastic Victorian author Despite what you […]
Part 1: Firm Foundation “I yam what I yam, and that’s all what I yam.” — Popeye, the sailorman Given the subjects that I usually read and write about on this blog, critical thinking really comes in handy. Not that I’m some great logician or anything. Far from it! But, over the last few years, […]
Hi, there! Yes, it has been more than two weeks since my last post. (I try to average one per week.) Beyond not feeling particularly “inspired” to write on anything for awhile (despite the two party conventions and various “silly season” topics), now that I’m back in school (part-time), I have less time to research […]
Let’s get right to it… In previous posts, I’ve explained how all evidence indicates that, when a human male and female conceive, the unborn zygote/blastocyst/embryo/fetus is not only a living, individual entity distinct from the woman — either biological mother or gestational surrogate — carrying it, but a fully human one, at that. (The same […]
“I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother.” — Mitt Romney, in an op-ed piece in The Boston Globe (7/26/2005) In “The Pro-Life Position: Just One Question”, I argued that if the unborn is indeed a member […]
“From the moment of conception, the unborn has a human nature. That he cannot yet speak, reason, or perform personal acts means only that he cannot yet function to the degree we can, not that he lacks the essential nature that makes those functions possible in the first place.” — Scott Klusendorf, in The Case […]
“The abortion controversy is not a debate between those who are pro-choice and those who are anti-choice. It’s not about privacy. It’s not about trusting women to decide. It’s not about forcing one’s morality. It’s about one question that trumps all others.” — Scott Klusendorf, Life Training Institute It has taken me awhile, but I […]
