Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Rationality and the Belief in a Greatest Prime – with Side Trips to the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Kavka’s Poison

A puzzle current in some philosophical circles involves an eccentric billionaire who offers you a million dollars if you come to believe that there is a greatest prime number. This is, of course, a little challenging for you, knowing as you do Euclid’s proof that there are infinitely many primes.

Monday, May 9, 2016

Doctrinal Adam & Eve and Genetic Adam & Eve

Many of those who believe that the Book of Genesis is divinely inspired also believe in evolution, and, in particular, in the descent of humankind from earlier species going all the way back to the unicellular. “God behind evolution” and “guided evolution” are popular ways of expressing their view. Most of these believers take the Adam and Eve story to be a myth, albeit a myth bearing important spiritual truth. Some, however, take Adam and Eve to be actual, particular persons, even though they had biological parents. How well does this sit with the science of human pre-history?