Post modernism explained?

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

Obviously simplistic, but ripe for comment!

Posted in Media Articles, Cartoons, Philosophy of Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

Philosophy of Religion website

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

A wonderfully organised overview of the classic philosophy of religion issues, arguments and problems.

http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/

Posted in Philosophy of Religion, Web links | Tagged | Leave a comment

What’s logic got to do with it? – Some of the greatest flashes of scientific inspiration were sparked by utterly illogical thinking.

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

POPULAR belief has it that science is the preserve of logical Mr Spocks. A great scientific discovery must surely spring from a series of logical steps, each taken coolly and calmly, in the rational order. But take some time to leaf through the pages of history and you will find the surprising truth. Some of the greatest discoveries in science were only made because logic fell by the wayside and some mysterious intuition came into play.

From New Scientist magazine.

What’s logic got to do with it (pdf)

Posted in Booklets, Handouts and Worksheets, Media Articles, Cartoons, Philosophy of Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

Top Ten Evolution Myths – and how we know it really happened (pdf)

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

Often misunderstandings about evolution are really misunderstandings about how science operates.  This document deals with both rather nicely.  Philosophy of Science. From the Skeptics Society.

  

Top Ten Evolution Myths (pdf)

Posted in Booklets, Handouts and Worksheets, Critical Thinking, Philosophy of Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

Hooked on Horoscopes (pdf)

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

We may not be able to persuade people that astrology and graphology are nonsense, but psychology, with the help of a showman, reveals why they are so popular.  The Barnum effect.  Psychology and critical thinking.

Hooked on horoscopes (pdf)

Posted in Booklets, Handouts and Worksheets, Critical Thinking | Tagged | Leave a comment

Banning Religion – An interesting hypothetical

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

Posted in Philosophy of Religion | Leave a comment

Richard Feynman on the nature of science

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

A beautiful analogy between science and chess.

Posted in Philosophy of Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

More on Critical Thinking from Qualiasoup

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

Posted in Critical Thinking, PowerPoints, Video and other Media | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Consciousness – science tackles the self (pdf)

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

We know that we are aware of ourselves. But we don’t know how. And we are not even sure why. The answers may lie in the physical processes of consciousness

01 April 1989 by SUSAN BLACKMORE New Scientists Magazine issue 1658.

Science tackles consciousness – click to download pdf
Click here for original site 

Posted in Booklets, Handouts and Worksheets, Philosophy of Mind - Consciousness, Philosophy of Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

Critical Thinking beautifully explained

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

Posted in Critical Thinking, Philosophy of Science, PowerPoints, Video and other Media | Leave a comment

Philosophy in Senior Schools

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

(From my appearance on ABC Radio National’s ‘Philosopher’s Zone)

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/philosopherszone/stories/2007/1911312.htm

Philosophy is about asking childlike questions – how do we know the world exists? How do we know it hasn’t just started existing? Why can’t we go back in time? So why not teach philosophy in schools? It doesn’t happen much in this country (it doesn’t much happen anywhere) but it does go on in Queensland, and this week we talk to a Queensland teacher who’s teaching philosophy to high school children. Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Deductive Logic, Ethics and Moral Philosophy, Media Articles, Cartoons, Philosophy of Mind - Consciousness, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of Science, Social and Political Philosophy | Leave a comment

Some important tools of critical thinking

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

(from my Ockham’s Razor appearance on the ABC’s Radio National)

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2010/2975629.htm

 Robyn Williams: And now, the bad news. No, don’t run off – this is interesting – even Quite Interesting, as Stephen Fry might say.

Here I’ll quote directly from a statement put out by FASTS, The Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies. They have found, together with the Australian Academy of Science that ‘a snapshot of 1,500 Australians shows that a third of them believe humans were around at the time of the dinosaurs’. Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Deductive Logic, Ethics and Moral Philosophy, Media Articles, Cartoons, Philosophy of Mind - Consciousness, Philosophy of Science | Leave a comment

Logic in conversation

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

Why knowing deductive logic is not always an advantage..  Another Dilbert classic.

Posted in Deductive Logic, Media Articles, Cartoons | Leave a comment

Meat without slaughter: ‘6 months’ to bio-sausages – science-in-society – 31 August 2011 – New Scientist

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Peter Ellerton

Meat without slaughter: ‘6 months’ to bio-sausages – science-in-society – 31 August 2011 – New Scientist.

Posted in Media Articles, Cartoons, Philosophy of Science | Leave a comment

Danger in toxic discourse

Posted on August 21, 2011 by admin

Q: DO we take our democracy for granted? TWO weeks ago I noticed a billboard advertisement not far from where I live. Continue reading →

Posted in Media Articles, Cartoons | Tagged | Leave a comment

Anarchy is a law unto itself

Posted on August 21, 2011 by admin

Q: IS there a political obligation to obey the law? EVENTS in England this past week bring to mind that old starting point of political philosophy: the state of nature. This is the hypothetical condition of humanity before the establishment of society. Ask the Philosopher by Tim Soutphommasane in The Australian August 13, 2011

anarchy-is-a-law-unto-itself (pdf)

(Uploaded by Katherine Cheng.)

Posted in Media Articles, Cartoons | Tagged | Leave a comment

Religion is not a state obligation

Posted on August 21, 2011 by admin

Q: SHOULD the federal government be funding school chaplains in state schools? Ask the Philosopher Column by Tim Soutphommasane in The Australian August 20, 2011

religion-is-not-a-state-obligation (pdf)

(Uploaded by Katherine Cheng.)

Posted in Media Articles, Cartoons, Philosophy of Religion | Tagged | Leave a comment

Philosophy Rationale

Posted on July 4, 2011 by admin

Uploaded by Richard Tweedie. Continue reading →

Posted in Syllabus and Course Outlines | Leave a comment

Dilbert Confirmation Bias

Posted on July 3, 2011 by admin

Fallacies of reasoning confirmation bias.

Posted in Media Articles, Cartoons | Leave a comment

Humanist Society of Queensland presentation

Posted on May 28, 2011 by admin

HSQ

HSQ presentation (pptx)

Posted in PowerPoints, Video and other Media | Leave a comment