Here are some common sayings you might have heard: Follow your heart. If it feels good, do it. Your heart will tell you what to do. Now, if you are like most people in the world, you can think of some situations in which following advice like this is a very bad idea. For instance,… Continue reading Is “Follow Your Heart” Good Advice?
Here is a brief, tragic, and important history lesson, and it relates to your life today, I promise: In the mid-1800s, Ireland was struck by the now-infamous potato blight. It had devastating consequences on the Irish population. (You can find all of this information about the Irish Potato Famine and the immigration patterns associated with… Continue reading What the Irish Potato Famine and Weird Rumors Can Teach Us about Elections Today
This post is about something I call a My Guy Bias, which is a thinking problem anyone can develop personally or politically. It's really common and causes a lot of suffering. Our Attachments Human beings form strong emotional attachments to people. This trait can be good because it often helps us develop loving and loyal… Continue reading Do You Have a “My Guy Bias”? Is it Harming You?
Why Do People Even Think Socialism is a Good Idea? This is the second post in a series about socialism—what it is, why people are afraid of it, and whether they should be. You can read the first post in this series here. The question is why exactly some people are so favorable to socialism and even find it… Continue reading What is Socialism? Part #2
I am writing a series of posts on the ethics of abortion. This series is based on a unit I teach in my ethics class almost every semester. You can read the first part in the series here in which I describe what ethics is; why abortion can be an ambiguous ethical issue; and why… Continue reading The Ethics of Abortion, Part #2
I have a confession to make: At various times in my life, I have been biased and prejudice towards various people or groups. Bias and prejudice, generally speaking, aren't funny, but I do have a funny story to tell about the day I first understood bias and prejudice. When I was teenager, I went through… Continue reading My Pat Benatar Epiphany: How to Tell if You Possess Bias or Prejudice
People can behave morally and promote morality for immoral reasons. That is an odd claim, isn't it? After all, we generally think of morality as good, and we think of moral people as good people. So how could a person be moral for bad reasons? How would we even know if this was the case?… Continue reading Is Your Morality Motivated by Love or Tribalism?
My friend Justin has a really cool blog that explores spirituality, especially from a Celtic Christian perspective. He so kindly asked me to write a post for his blog this summer. It was right around the time I was teaching my class on play, so I wrote a post on play as a contemplative practice.… Continue reading Play as a Contemplative Practice
Are humans good or evil by nature? First, a Bit of Background At the small liberal arts college where I teach, I teach an introductory course called Foundations. It is a class that teaches freshmen the basics of reading, writing, and critical thinking, but it is also a lot more than that. The class focuses… Continue reading Are Humans Good or Evil by Nature?
In my last post and this post, I have been writing from the perspective of someone who is a Christian reflecting on some troubling things that I often hear other Christians say. So, I beg pardon of my non-Christian readers. I hope you might find these posts interesting or cathartic as well, but if you… Continue reading On the Saying, “The World is Just Going to Get Worse Until Jesus Returns, So There’s Nothing We Can Do to Make It Better”
