I try to write for a general audience, but "general" for me may mean something different. I wish to challenge readers to think for themselves, and always welcome disagreement so long as it is civil.

For most students of philosophy in English, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) is a stern figure, as imposing as his name. Just to mention him calls to mind the cliché of the droning professor declaiming at his podium, indifferent to the students around.
 From the little I had read of him up till now, my preju... continue reading

I am predisposed to like Christopher Hitchens. He is a witty and erudite writer. His view's on everything from Orwell to religion are often perfectly in tune with my own (though his ignorance of Nietzsche is unforgivable). It is because of these great correspondences that his advocacy of the war in Iraq is all the more... continue reading

The word Catholic comes from the Greek meaning "universal". Now more than four centuries after time and the Reformation has proved the lie, I choose to use papist as the word that best characterizes this defunct and medieval appendage, as it circumscribes its power behind the walls of the Vatican where it belongs. When... continue reading

At the start of the Renaissance the abbot and occultist Johannes Trithemius wrote a book entitled In Praise of Scribes. In it, he attacked the recent invention of printing and celebrates the superior qualities of the pen. How did he get the word out? In print of course. Even Trithemius could see the writing uh, printin... continue reading

I want the life promised me in the movies. A life of drama and adventure, of true love and the happily-ever-after. It is not hard to see why Plato banished the poets from his Republic, movies and television offer us grand expectations with no guarantees of attaining them.
For much the same reason the Puritans banned ... continue reading

Salman Rushdie in an interview with Bill Moyers made the comment that: “atheists are obsessed with God”. I knew just what he meant.
Few people come to such an unpopular concept without spending a lot of time examining theism and its claims. Personally I find religion fascinating because of the passion it ignites, pas... continue reading

I learn something about myself every day, unfortunately, much of it is merely relearning what I had learned before and forgotten. This is a habit of all thoughtful people but is always more productive when shared with friends. We discuss with them so often the highlights of our lives that our patterns of thought and ou... continue reading