Suggested Reading:

Rationally Speaking N. 8, March 2001: "Game Theory, Rational Egoism and the Evolution of Fairness"

Is it rational to be ethical? Many philosophers have wrestled with this most fundamental of questions, attempting to clarify whether humans are well served by ethical rules or whether they weigh us down. Would we really be better off if we all gave in to the desire to just watch out for our own interests and take the greatest advantage to ourselves whenever we can? Ayn Rand, for one, thought that the only rational behavior is egoism, and books aiming at increasing personal wealth (presumably at the expense of someone else's wealth) regularly make the bestsellers list.

Rationally Speaking N. 7, February 2001: "The Greatest Democracy in the World and the Unfairness of American Elections"

The United States of America is the self-professed greatest democracy in the world. Besides the obvious offensiveness of such claim to countries that are equally democratic and that can claim a longer history of civil liberties than the US can, the very idea flies in the face of the actual structure of the American electoral system. This has been painfully demonstrated by the recent squabble between George Bush and Al Gore on who really won the election.

 

Rationally Speaking N. 6, January 2001: "Split-brains, paradigm shifts, and why it is so difficult to be a skeptic"

The human brain is a funny machine. Imperfectly designed by natural selection, it finds itself in an environment that has little resemblance with the one it evolved in. Gone is the savannah in which our ancestors had to guard themselves from fierce creatures. Instead, we live in a complex and ever expanding social milieu, our neighborhood now encompassing the whole planet. Is it any wonder that our poor brains are not doing so well in this brave new wired world? 

Rationally Speaking #5

N. 5, December  2000: "Intelligent Design - the Modern Argument"

Let's face it: creationists dont have an easy time claiming academic superiority over their opponents. As much as they call themselves "scientific" creationists (essentially an oxymoron), and despite the existence of the Institute for Creation Research (whatever that is), and even of creationist museums, anybody can see that the credentials of most creationists are as good as those of a car salesman. Yet, there is a group of creationists (who don't actually like being labeled as such) that is trying-with some success-to make headway in the academic world, or at least with the media and some relatively high ranking politicians. Meet the Intelligent Design (ID) movement, perhaps the most sophisticated attack on modern science mounted so far.

Rationally Speaking #4

N. 4, November 2000 - "Intelligent Design - the Classical Argument"

"In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone and were asked how the stone came to be there, I might possibly answer that for anything I knew to the contrary it had lain there forever. ... But suppose I had found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place, I should hardly think of the answer which I had before given, that for anything I knew the watch might have always been there."

Rationally Speaking #3

A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci
Department of Botany, University of Tennessee

N. 3, October 2000 - "Whence Natural Rights? - A Dialogue"

HYPATIA: Hello, Simplicia, where are you going in such a hurry so early in the morning?

SIMPLICIA: Hello, my friend! I am to join a demonstration in favor of our fundamental rights we hold as human beings.

H: Oh, and what rights could anybody possibly have that are so indisputable?

S: Surely you are jesting. Have you not heard of the Declaration of Independence? Do you not recall that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?"

H: I also recall that the man who uttered those words made plenty of exceptions for women and men of colors other than his own when it was most convenient for him.

 

Rationally Speaking #2

A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci
Department of Botany, University of Tennessee

N. 2, September 2000 - "The Place of Science"

"Science bumps the ceiling of the corporeal plane.... From the metaphysical point of view its arms, lifted toward a zone of freedom that transcends coagulation, form the homing arc of the 'love loop' They are science responding to Eternity's love for the productions of time." This grandiose bit of poetical nonsense concludes a chapter of Huston Smith's Forgotten Truth dedicated to put science in its place.

 

In God We Trust

If you're looking for the greatest, grandest figure in the complete American mythos -- fact or fiction -- you might as well go straight to the top -- to God. The great American orator of the 19th century, Robert Ingersoll, once wrote, "An honest god is the noblest work of man" (Ingersoll 13). But just how honest is our idea of God?

 

Rationally Speaking #1

A monthly e-column by Massimo Pigliucci
Department of Botany, University of Tennessee

N. 1, August 2000 - "The Rationalistic Fallacy"

If you are of the lot who is stubbornly trying to improve critical thinking skills around the world and feels a bit frustrated by the wave of nonsense that regularly hits the airwaves, you are not alone. If you insist in thinking that all you need to do is to explain things just a little bit better and people will see the light, you are committing what is known as the "rationalistic fallacy."