Radically Happy

Category: Beliefs

  • Sensing a Hollow Canon: The Judas Gospels

    I’ve been trying to avoid all the hype about this lately, but I found a brilliantly readable analysis (in an unexpected place) by Donald Sensing, who finds the “Judas Gospel” A Yawner. In particular, he does a fantastic job of placing this within the historical context of canonization. [Read more]…

  • DiaBlogue: Ontologically Correct

    present arguments supporting the reality of a spiritual universe[Read more] for my attempt to provide a more rigorous case for spiritual truth, its relation to historicity, and other millennia-old puzzles.At the risk of being didactic, let me try to frame the question as a series of propositions, so we can…

  • DiaBlogue: The Universe, And Three Examples

    Having doubled back to double-check our ground rules, I am ready to answer the three questions Alan poses during Wait, Er, Check Please?: a. Ultimate reality I am a bit uncomfortable with “view[ing] this as a contest between different theories about the nature of ultimate reality”. Would it be assuming…

  • DiaBlogue: Double-Check

    I’m going to “waiter” on Alan’s last post for a bit while I revisit Alan’s claim check. I think I’ve managed to put my finger on the disconnect we had regarding what we each are trying to prove. I might summarize his apparent argument as: a. The Bible is not…

  • DiaBlogue: A Theory, Not A Law

    Alan drops a Claim Check on my Reality Check in the first of what promises to be several posts where he lays out his case against Christianity. He starts “with a list of arguments, without elaboration” upon which later he “will elaborate as it seems helpful.” While he is explicit…

  • DiaBlogue: Reality Check

    While commenting On History, Experience and Sundry Modelling Details, Alan took exception to my assertion in “Altimeters for Divinity*” that “Alan appears to evaluate Christianity in historical terms, whereas I judge it on empirical grounds.” In retrospect, I phrased that poorly, and I regret the misunderstanding. Please accept my apology…

  • DiaBlogue: Altimeters for Divinity?

    While I’ve been busy with my other blogs, Alan has provided several posts for me to chew on: * And Then There Were Three * Making Change * Belief Optimization * The Ugaritic Pantheon In my admittedly superficial review, I noted two interesting differences: one minor, the other major. The…

  • DiaBlogue: (EEE-III) Beneath Belief

    In the final part of my response to Alan’s EEE response to my epistemology, I want to address Alan’s concerns about specifics. First, in terms of specific, fleshed-out paradigms: Only (III), as far as I can tell, is concrete enough to be applied as a “truth test”. I wonder if…

  • DiaBlogue: (EEE-II) Context is King

    In part II of my response to Alan’s EEE response to my epistemology, I want to address Alan’s concerns about context: II. Knowledge is contextually accurate, paradigmatically-justified belief. I want to emphasize that my understanding of (II) is as a meta-definition of knowledge. I use “meta” here because specific definitions…

  • DiaBlogue: (EEE-I) Absolutely – Not?

    Since Alan raised several different but important points in his response to ‘take deux’ of my “Epistemology of Empirical Essentialism“, I’m going to tackle them in three parts. To start with, though he concedes EEE Is Not a Shoe Size, he does find my first assertion: I. Belief in truth…

  • DiaBlogue: Epistemology of Empirical Essentialism, Take Deux

    Though it did take me four blog posts: * Absolut Beliefs * Aristotle’s Spiral * To Good, Too, Be True * Brothers, Can Youse Paradigm? I feel pretty good about the resulting epistemology, which Alan apparently agrees with. I might summarize it here as: I. Belief in truth is inherently…

  • DiaBlogue: Brothers, Can Youse Paradigm?

    Despite the ominous title “Take It or Levitt” (possibly chosen for lack of a better pun :-), Alan’s post effectively highlights a number of issues that I concede I have not treated clearly enough: * How do community norms relate to “universally valid” knowledge? * What does it mean for…

  • DiaBlogue: To Good, Too, Be True

    My fellow DiaBlogguer Alan warns, “This Better Be Good” as we continue our attempt to build a mutually satisfactory epistemology. I at least am finding the process enjoyable and productive, though he half-seriously complains about my filibustering some of his questions. 😉 Of my five points: 1. Truth exists 2.…

  • DiaBlogue: Aristotle’s Spiral

    While “Heating a Red Porsche“, Alan kindly affirms the truth of my first two axiomatic principles in our new effort to define a mutually-satisfying epistemic framework: 1. Truth exists 2. Belief in Truth is Good However, he also raises an issue that appears to have long troubled him, which I…

  • DiaBlogue: Hard Truths vs. Hard Liqour

    In his post, Vodka Is Not A Belief System (a claim refuted by the renowned philosopher W.C. Fields 🙂 Alan describes his reaction to my invocation of my radical centrist manifesto: I thought he was talking about having to start with some kind of epistemological framework. But if I understand…

  • DiaBlogue: Absolut Beliefs

    In “Presumption, I Presume” my friend Alan has some fun with the suppositions of presuppositionalists. Like him, I haven’t read enough about them to know how much I agree, but I share some of his concerns about their circularity. That said, Alan himself both asks a question: What would it…

  • DiaBlogue: Does secularism = relativism = nihilism?

    One of the more provocative Christian blogs I follow is called “Dignan’s 75-year plan“, which had an interesting analysis of relativism vs. presuppositionalism (see [Read More]). While I don’t know enough about presuppositional apologetics to say how much I agree with it, I do think it presents an interesting critique…

  • DiaBlogue: Truth or Cons[ist]equences?

    In his “Tao Cow, Take Two” post Alan returns to the question of Truth vs. Consistency: In TTOH, Ernie enumerates a number of things that he believes, including a description of the Tao according to Ernie, the judgement that may await us, and possible examples of hell-worthy behavior. In HNTC,…

  • DiaBlogue: The Principle’s Office

    After an extended absence (due both to vacation and my misplacing my Purpose-Driven Life book :-), I’m back. While his hero debates naturalism vs. theism, I want to focus on Alan’s last post , particular his definition of norms: Ernie previously brought up the idea of a “universal, transcendent standard…

  • DiaBlogue: Coming Attractions?

    There is no content here. I just wanted to capture a few (IMHO) clever titles for possible future posts.