John Loftus’s new book: why religious philosophy should be deep-sixed

November 14, 2016 • 9:00 am

A philosopher friend who read John Loftus’s new book in draft recommended it to me highly, saying it was “spot on”. The image is below, and you can get to the Amazon store to order it by clicking on the screenshot:

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I like the cover image, though it’s a bit gruesome, but yes, I think the philosophy of religion is a useless endeavor (unlike real philosophy). I’ve read a lot of it and it’s all based on the assumption that God exists. Since we have no evidence for that, the rest is commentary on a nonexistent being and its wishes, more or less like building a philosophy on Santa Claus.

Here’s the book’s description from Amazon. Based on my experience, it’s an accurate description of the philosophy of religion, which is rife with confirmation bias.

Just as intelligent design is not a legitimate branch of biology in public educational institutions, nor should the philosophy of religion be a legitimate branch of philosophy. So argues acclaimed author John W. Loftus in this forceful takedown of the very discipline in which he was trained. In his call for ending the philosophy of religion, he argues that, as it is presently being practiced, the main reason the discipline exists is to serve the faith claims of Christianity. Most of philosophy of religion has become little more than an effort to defend and rationalize preexisting Christian beliefs. If subjects such as biology, chemistry, physics, and geology are all taught without reference to faith-based supernatural forces as explanations, faith-based teachings should not be acceptable in this discipline either. While the book offers a fascinating study of the fallacies and flaws on which one whole field of study rests, it speaks to something much larger in the ongoing culture wars. By highlighting the stark differences between faith-based reasoning and evidence-based reasoning, Loftus presents vital arguments and lessons about the importance of critical thinking not only in all aspects of study but also in life. His conclusions and recommendations thus resonate far beyond the ivory towers and ivy-covered walls of academic institutions.

While I think the philosophy or religion is an academic dead end, perhaps some readers disagree. If so, weigh in below. Although I vowed to read no more theology, this book, a critique of that endeavor, will be one I do read.

Hong Kong: more food and travel

November 14, 2016 • 8:00 am

I will be in Hong Kong two more days (including today), heading home on the 16th. The time has flown by on this trip, but it’s been immensely enjoyable and I’ve learned a lot about an area of the world of which I was largely ignorant. I’m using my last two days to see the island of Hong Kong and surrounding areas (today I head for Macau), so posting will be spotty until I’m back and settled on the 17th. In the meantime, a few photos from Hong Kong. (Some of the photos of other food experiences, especially formal banquets, will be forthcoming.)

First stop: Kam’s Roast Goose, an unprepossessing but famous place (but not a dive) that has one Michelin star–for its justly renowned roast goose. We went on Sunday, and even at about 11:45 a.m. the line was already down the block. It was an hour wait to get in, but that was okay as I chatted with Winnie, my genial friend who lives here and speaks Chinese, and who has taken me around the city the last couple of days.

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The roast geese aren’t visible in this photo, which shows the variety of BBQ meat you can get, but the geese are sourced from mainland China and roasted locally.

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The prized dish: a quarter goose with drumstick. They had a few left. It was without doubt the most delicious fowl I’ve ever put in my mouth.

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The goose came with a soup containing veg, goose broth, and big rice noodles. You eat the soup and dip the roast goose in a special sauce they provide:

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Winnie ordered goose-liver sausages, which she loved but I found a bit too gamey (I don’t relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls):

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We also split a plate of pork roasted two ways:

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On the street I saw my first shop cat. He had a docked tail, which makes three out of three cats I’ve seen here and in Hong Kong that had stumps for tails. I’m now pretty sure that they do this deliberately—for some reason I can’t fathom. We asked the shop owner what the cat’s name was, and he said it was something like “Bal Zoi”, meaning “little ball” (singular). Bal Zoi was very friendly and came out of the shop, meowing for petting.

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We then repaired to the Peak: the top of the island that overlooks it all, giving a 360° view. At the top, typical of new Hong Kong, is a big shopping mall. And, also typical, the sterilization procedures (a remnant of SARS) that are prominently posted on doors and in rest rooms:
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Winnie also found out the location of one of the “lucky cat”  (maneki neko) stores in Hong Kong, which sell the cat statues, usually with one paw raised, said to bring luck. They have been culturally appropriated from the Japanese.  the cats’ color, the items they carry, and which paw is raised all convey what they’re supposed to bring: prosperity, good luck, love, health, and so on. Here are a few:

Look at all those lucky cats! The most traditional one is the calico, but there are black ones too.

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A lucky cat.  Traditionally one one paw is raised, though there’s a difference between the meaning of the left and right that I can’t recall. The two-paws-raised version, below, supposedly originated during the world financial crisis, when both paws had to be raised for extra luck:

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A very fancy lucky cat with ancillary cats:

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A lucky cat piggy bank:

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A lucky cat spoon that came with a matching bowl. I was tempted to buy it, but confined myself to purchasing two smallish maneki nekos:

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My store!

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The south and southeast side of the island are largely undeveloped, a real change from the towering skyscapers of Hong Kong’s north side and Kowloon across the harbor:

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The city itself enveloped by mist. Foreground: Hong Kong proper (the “central” area), with Kowloon and its tallest building (the financial center) across the harbor. The combination of mist and cloud made, I think, for a lovely picture:

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And so on to Macau today.

 

 

A new version of the café wall illusion

November 14, 2016 • 7:20 am

by Matthew Cobb

This popped in my tw*tter feed – RT’d by one of my lecturers from 40 years ago, Graham Davey…

I had to stare at this very hard to be sure it was an illusion. Science blogger and lecturer in Psychology, @PeteEtchells, pointed out that it’s a version of the Café Wall illusion. (If you remove the horizontal lines from the graph above, with the exception of the X-axis, you’ll destroy the effect). The illusion was named by the late, great, Richard Gregory, whose book, Eye and Brain is a must-read for anyone interested in such things. (One of my fellow psychology students at Sheffield in the 1970s wrote a whole essay about Gregory’s work, referring to it throughout as ‘Iron Brain’. I guess he hadn’t actually read it…)

Pete pointed my to the relevant Wiki page, which includes this great picture of Gregory next to the original cafe wall where he noticed the effect. This was taken on St Michael’s Hill in Bristol, in February 2010. Gregory died three months later.

Photo by Steven Battle. Taken from here.

Monday: Hili dialogue

November 14, 2016 • 6:30 am

by Grania

Good morning!

Yes, it’s a supermoon. No, it looks nothing like what some of your more gullible friends on Facebook have been posting.

Today is the anniversary (1851) of the publication of Moby Dick, and today in 1889 intrepid Nellie Bly set off on her round the world trip in a real life imitation of Jules Verne’s novel.

It’s also the birthdays of not-so-famous composers with deceptively famous names: in 1719  Leopold Mozart (the father of Wolfgang Amadeus) and in 1805 Fanny Mendelssohn (older sister of Felix Mendelssohn), evidently a talented composer who stood little chance of professional success as a woman given the era she lived in.

In Poland Hili is incensed as winter continues uncontested.

Hili: Why is nobody doing anything?
A: What with?
Hili: With all of it.

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In Polish:

Hili: Dlaczego nikt nic nie robi?
Ja: Z czym?
Hili: Z tym wszystkim.

Her friend Leon is equally serious, but about a very different matter.

Leon: I will wait here, maybe my friend, Choco, will come back.

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Sunday: Hili dialogue

November 13, 2016 • 6:30 am

by Grania

Good morning!

Today we wish Ayaan Hirsi Ali a happy birthday. She is still a figure of controversy to some, but she remains a tireless fighter for the right to equality for Muslim women. If you’ve never read anything by her, I encourage you to try Infidel or Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now.

Today has also been a musical day in the annals of Disney. Fantasia was released in 1940 and in 1997 The Lion King opened on Broadway.

People did not know what to make to Fantasia when it was initially released being as it was a feature-length series of animated sequences set to classical music, and was seen by some as a masterpiece while others complained bitterly about the musical arrangement, the sound quality, the price and the “grotesque” animation of some sequences. It has not been without its controversies too, although is now largely seen as groundbreaking.

The Broadway version of The Lion King is probably not nearly as widely known as the cartoon, which is understandable given the limitations of theatre as opposed to film, but it is superior in almost every way.

Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, it has snowed for the first time. Hili doesn’t like it one bit, and will soon be looking for the Door to Summer:

Hili: Is this the whole winter?
A: No, just an introduction.
Look at that face!
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In Polish:
Hili: Czy to już jest cała zima?
Ja: Nie, to tylko zapowiedź.

Anne-Marie sent us a photo of Linux Bernie, here with Ariel to the left.

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Look at those faces!

And Jerry (this has to be a first!) sent in a picture of a d*g. Yes, you read that correctly.

A cute d*g–honorary cat–in Stanley, Hong Kong. It was TINY, as you can see from the first photo. I’m not sure what breed–owners said it was a Papillon–but it was furry and very catlike. It is full grown–ten years old–and the owners told us that when it was a puppy it was HALF the size of their palm. Everyone gave it a lot of attention.

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Hong Kong food: Dim sum at Maxim’s

November 12, 2016 • 11:30 am

Most of you probably know what dim sum is, but just in case you don’t, here’s the definition from Wikipedia:

Dim sum /ˈdimˈsʌm/ (simplified Chinese: 点心; traditional Chinese: 點心; pinyin: Diǎnxīn; Sidney Lau: dim2sam1) is a style of Chinese cuisine (particularly Cantonese but also other varieties) prepared as small bite-sized portions of food served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Dim sum dishes are usually served with tea, together formed a full tea brunch.

The day after I arrived in Hong Kong, a group of people from the Hong Kong skeptics took me to dim sum at a famous dim sum palace in the Central district, Maxim’s Palace City Hall Restaurant (see here and here for reviews). Hong Kong is arguably the best place on Earth to get dim sum, although I had a mean dim sum in Dongguan, China (pix to come), and some say that Vancouver is no slouch at the tea lunch, either.

Maxim’s is crowded, and we showed up an hour before it opened to get in line, being second after an Australian regular named Kim, who eats there nearly weekly. She gave us the skinny on the best dishes while we were waiting.  And here’s what it looks like—both the ambiance and the fare.

The line snaked down the stairs and onto the next floor by the time the place opened:

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Inside: a sumptuous banquet hall with chandeliers and fancy tablecloths:

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The dim sum is wheeled around on carts, so you can look at everything and choose what you want.

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Some of the carts have labels on them so you don’t have to guess, and some even have videos!

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Shrimp dumplings (I think):

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Pork dumplings with vegetable wrapper:

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Beef balls with scallion:

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Bao, or steamed barbecued pork buns, one of my eternal favorites:

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Soup dumplings, which are made by filling the inside with jelly that turns to soup when they’re steamed. They’re scrumptious, and must be consumed in one bite lest they squirt everywhere. You can see some of the soup leaking out.

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Fried shrimp dumplings:

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Interior of the same, showing the big hunks of shrimp:

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I forgot what these are; perhaps a savvy reader can tell us:

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We had two big plates of the house speciality: barbecued pork (recommended by Kim). Oy, was it good!

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Another cart listing its wares:

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This is how the bill is totted up: each time you get a dish, they stamp the right box. Again, a Chinese-speaking reader can enlighten us about the meaning of the rows and columns:

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Three of us, completey sated, in a postprandial shot. Left to right: Michael Bigelow, me, and David Young. Photo is by Andrew Davidson. All four of my hosts are associated with the Hong Kong Skeptics, founded by David about five years ago.
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Now THAT was a meal. We also had dim sum in mainland China; pictures soon.