Auteur archief:davidtemp

A lot of right wing voices in the political debate, especially in the deeply religious United States, love to call anything associated with leftism, socialism or government intervention in general ‘ungodly’, ‘unchristian’ or any term with a similar meaning and connotation. I would argue that this name calling is not only immature and  lacks argumentativeMeer lezen over “Ungodly leftism?”

Last week, in this blog I have argued based on the example of Maimonides that we should be cautious to accept claims of absolute truth about the universe. I have argued that there is no shame to being in doubt about the big questions and that there are so many different contradicting answers to theseMeer lezen over “Beware of people who claim to be completely rational”

At the end of the twelfth century, the Jewish philosopher Maimonides wrote his famous Guide for the Perplexed. In this work, Maimonides tried to help people who were confused about their beliefs in God and the world by explaining how religious texts should be interpreted not literally. By doing this Maimonides tried to establish onceMeer lezen over “Beware of any guides for the complexed”

The medieval ages are often seen as a backwards period full of intolerance, superstition and different religious groups slaughtering each other. Because of this, the unflattering nickname of ‘The Dark Ages’ has proven to be persistent. Although I would by no means bagatilize the religious violence of the medieval ages, I believe that this imageMeer lezen over “What medieval Judaism and Islam can teach us on tolerance”

In his famous The inconsistencies of the philosophers, El Ghazali showed how the Aristotelian tradition of medieval philosophers, and Avicenna in particular, contradicted itself. Because of this, El Ghazali is sometimes blamed for a perceived subsequent decline of Arab Philosophy. This has given El Ghazali the reputation of an anti-philosopher and a boogeyman for philosophersMeer lezen over “Why El Ghazali should be an example (and not a boogeyman) for philosophers today”

The Corona crisis will show whether Avicenna was right The Arab philosopher Avicenna, who is often seen as of the greatest philosophers in world history, famously proclaimed that he stopped learning at the age of eighteen. With this, the self taught Avicenna tried to provoke people to teach themselves. For Avicenna was a big proponentMeer lezen over “The Corona crisis will show whether Avicenna was right”

Many of the greatest contributions to science have been made by polymaths, people that mastered several areas of study. It is therefore unfortunate that today the polymath seems to have become an endangered species. In part this is simply because the total amount of knowledge today is much larger than say a thousand years ago,Meer lezen over “Do we need a revival of the madrasa?”

Everything I say is a lie. You are all awful human beings.      The sentence above is an example of a formulation of one of the most famous paradoxes in history: the liar’s paradox. By claiming that everything I say is a lie, I am also claiming that my claim that everything I say isMeer lezen over “Turning Point USA: The modern liar’s paradox”

Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius had all the wealth, power and comfort a man could hope for. As master of the offices, he was one of the most powerful men in the Roman Empire and had he turned a blind eye to the corruption in the Empire, he would likely have remained in this comfortable positionMeer lezen over “The whistleblower: a modern Boethius”

Men and women are historical beings. Religion has dominated our thinking for the great majority of history, so it would be foolish to discard its influence on our thought today. Nevertheless, nowadays we see a tendency by some to overestimate this remnant of religious influence. Some have even argued that the only reason we feelMeer lezen over “Baby genocide: why not?”