Category Archives: Scepticism

We’ve Given the Word “Mob” a Bad Name…

Posted on January 20, 2019 by bsixsmith

One of my favourite quotes from The Simpsons, and I have many, comes from when the dastardly Mr Burns whips up a mob to reclaim his teddy bear from young Maggie Simpson. Maggie weeps when the bear is seized from … Continue reading →

Posted in America, Scepticism | Leave a comment

What is Scientism, And Why Is It Bad?

Posted on March 17, 2018 by bsixsmith

The charge of scientism is both unreflectively made and unreflectively dismissed; wielded by cranks and bores and brushed off by the smug and the superficial. Given this, its meaning, and its significance, is unclear. Some believe, indeed, that it has … Continue reading →

Posted in Rationalism, Scepticism, Science | 3 Comments

Frankly, Rationalists Should Be Less Aspirational…

Posted on April 9, 2017 by bsixsmith

Scott Alexander writes with some frustration on smug critics of the “rationalist” movement, who, for him, criticise its supposed utopianism and arrogance without acknowledging its efforts to avoid such errors. I think there is value in their attempts to objectively … Continue reading →

Posted in Rationalism, Scepticism, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

On Pinkglossianism

Posted on February 3, 2017 by bsixsmith

Steven Pinker is not wrong to say that some things have got better – or even that some things are getting better. We live longer. We have more food. We have more medicine. We have more free time. We have … Continue reading →

Posted in Scepticism | 4 Comments

Seven Signs of Bad Conspiracy Theories…

Posted on December 12, 2016 by bsixsmith

I’m very open to a bit of conspiracy theorising. Yes, I know my MKUltra from my COINTELPRO. I still doubt that Megrahi did the Lockerbie bombings. World Trade Center 7 did look weird as it came down. I even suspect … Continue reading →

Posted in America, Scepticism | 2 Comments

In Praise of Bias…

Posted on October 30, 2016 by bsixsmith

We sometimes talk as if “bias” is a bad thing. It can be. If I want to answer a purely factual question, for example, bias may be an impediment. Yet the fact that we are biased suggests that it has … Continue reading →

Posted in Rationalism, Scepticism | 2 Comments

More Fun With New Atheists…

Posted on October 12, 2016 by bsixsmith

More astonishingly unintentional new atheist humour comes from the biologist Jerry Coyne. Coyne is known for reviewing books he has not read and now attacks a conference that has yet to take place. Not only is Coyne’s hostile judgement based … Continue reading →

Posted in Rationalism, Religion, Scepticism, Science | 2 Comments

More on Middlebrow Epistemology…

Posted on October 4, 2016 by bsixsmith

A while ago I wrote on “middlebrow epistemology”… that form of argumentation that has the essential qualities of a pub argument – the factoids, the simplifications, the argumentum ad passiones – but decently covers them with a figleaf of rationality. … Continue reading →

Posted in Rationalism, Scepticism, Science | Leave a comment

The Virtues of Staying Quiet…

Posted on June 12, 2016 by bsixsmith

“Whereof one cannot speak,” wrote Wittgenstein in Tractatus, “Thereof must one be silent.” The immediacy and excitement of social media and online journalism have encouraged people to ignore this and hold forth on everything. Mouthing off with insufficient knowledge of … Continue reading →

Posted in Rationalism, Rhetoric, Scepticism | Leave a comment

On Middlebrow Epistemology…

Posted on June 10, 2016 by bsixsmith

The social critic Dwight Macdonald coined the term “Midcult”: a pejorative name for that middlebrow culture which, he claimed, apes mass culture, reproducing “the formula, the built-in reaction [and] the lack of any standard except popularity” but “decently covers them … Continue reading →

Posted in Rationalism, Rhetoric, Scepticism | 2 Comments