A P.S. on B.S.: Some Remarks on Humbug and Bullshit

While lies have attracted philosophical attention since antiquity, phenomena in the near area have generated considerably less interest. Lately, however, Max Black and Harry Frankfurt have visited a close relative: humbug or bullshit, as it's either more politely or more rudely called. In this article their views on humbug and bullshit are exposed, explained, critiqued, and, ultimately, rejected. An alternative view is then proposed and defended.     

Ivan P. Pavlov's view on vivisection.

Pavlov's points of view on vivisection are analyzed and compared with the modern ethical conception of carrying out experiments on animals. It appears that Pavlov's points of view are largely in accordance with modern ethical requirements for experimenting on animals.     

D. Z. Phillips on Christian immortality

D. Z. Phillips is widely assumed to have held that Christian immortality has no reality outside of language. The author challenges that assumption, demonstrating that Phillips wished to show that contemporary analytic philosophy distorts the reality that immortality has for believers. While most philosophical accounts of Christian immortality depend upon terms that have little religious significance, Phillips offered accounts that stress the centrality of that significance. The author gives an account of the sort of philosophical attention that Phillips gave to Christian immortality and demonstrates Phillips’ lament for both the lack of this sort of attention in contemporary philosophy as well as the loss of certain ways of living that exemplify a belief in eternal life with God.     

H. G. Wells and B. F. Skinner on the superorganism

In Skinner's Walden Two, the central character Frazier refers to the superorganism and how to build it, but without elaboration. An examination of some parallels between the work of H. G. Wells and B. F. Skinner, however, casts light on that reference and other aspects of Skinner's views, such as multiple selves. Both Wells and Skinner wrote in similar ways about what the composition of such a superorganism would be and the conditions for its development. In particular, attention is directed to the ways in which their forecasts of the conditions for producing the superorganism changed over time, from determinism-based conditions to more evolutionary or selection-based conditions.     

A note on E. B. Titchener and G. M. Whipple

In 1898, one of E. B. Titchener's graduate students, Stella E. Sharp, conducted an experiment on Alfred Binet and Victor Henri's theory and belief that mental abilities should be tested by means of complex mental processes. Her subjects were seven advanced students in psychology. She concluded that the findings were incommensurate with the effort required. That closed the subject as an area of research and instruction in the Cornell Department of Psychology until 1941, when the subject of test theory and uses was included in that department's course offerings. This continued until 1963. Currently, the subject is once again being actively pursued in the Department of Education.     

And so on . . . : reasoning with infinite diagrams

This paper presents examples of infinite diagrams (as well as infinite limits of finite diagrams) whose use is more or less essential for understanding and accepting various proofs in higher mathematics. The significance of these is discussed with respect to the thesis that every proof can be formalized, and a ??pre?? form of this thesis that every proof can be presented in everyday statements-only form.     

T.F. Torrance on Biblical Interpretation

T.F. Torrance's writing contains an account of theological interpretation of Scripture which is pregnant with insight but which has received little attention to date. Depth exegesis, as Torrance calls his program, takes its cue from a theological understanding of the Bible: the nature of the text determines the interpretive strategies readers should apply to it. Depth exegesis helpfully sketches out key aspects of the reader's situation, depicting the sense in which biblical interpretation is an encounter with God. Nevertheless, Torrance's view gives inadequate attention to the literary and historical side of interpretation and, relatedly, portrays the reader as altogether too passive. In spite of these weaknesses, reflecting on depth exegesis can be fruitful for future discussions of theological interpretation.