Explore the big questions in philosophy, history
and science from a rational perspective.

Thank you for visiting our new web site. We are currently uploading essays, reflections and reviews, so please check back often. The latest essays uploaded are:

Can Utilitarianism Ground Human Rights?
Are universal human rights real? How do we resolve conflicts between them? Leslie Allan seeks to show how the moral theory of utilitarianism provides a neat and satisfying solution.

Bayes' Theorem and Theory Appraisal
Can the failed subjective interpretation of 'probability' by Bayesians be replaced with an objective view that more adequately quantifies the degree of support offered by evidence for a scientific theory?

Propositional Logic – A Primer
This tutorial is for beginners wanting to learn the basics of propositional logic; the simplest of the formal systems of logic. Learn about the nature of arguments, formal proofs, logical operators, rules of inference and more.

Problems with God's Attributes
Read a summary listing of the logical paradoxes generated and conflicts between the perfection-making divine attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnibenevolence, immutability.

A Case Against Omniscience: Fallibility
Leslie Allan sets out an argument showing how any being that thinks himself all-knowing may be either deluded or deceived. Omniscience is, therefore, impossible.

A Case Against Omniscience: Infinite Regress
In two independent arguments, Leslie Allan tries to show how the concept of omniscience leads to an infinite regress that ultimately leads to self-contradictions.

Book Review: A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Science
Leslie Allan summarizes and reviews Professor Losee's tracing of the history of the philosophy of science from its beginning with Aristotle to the work of contemporary philosophers.

Hoffman's Conscious Realism: A Critical Review
Neuroscientist Donald Hoffman's Conscious Realism proposes all that exists are conscious agents. Do physical objects really disappear when no one perceives them?

Essay Review: Two Concepts of Rules by John Rawls
Leslie Allan walks through Rawls's seminal essay, highlighting his key defences of utilitarianism and reflecting on his legacy.

Why I Am a Humanist – Critical Thinkers Forum Public Lecture
Leslie Allan shares how his early experiences shape his humanist outlook and how the three core principles underlying humanism illuminate the good life.

Toward Democratic Eco-socialism as the Next World System
Hans A. Baer outlines the transitional steps required for shifting human societies or countries toward democratic eco-socialism.

Can We Be Free-Willing Robots? – Atheist Society Public Lecture
Leslie Allan addresses the Atheist Society on the question of whether advances in physics and neuroscience dispel the notion that human beings possess free will.

Also, check out the latest additions to our philosophy glossary and science glossary.