On Pi Day, Puzzling Over the Most Famous Transcendental Number
Depending on how you look at it, Pi Day is a festival of nerds, a…
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5 Reasons That Cartoons Are the 21st Century’s Great Metaphysical Playground
Could we be living in a simulation created by an advanced civilization? Philosopher Nick Bostrom argues that…
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Francis the Jesuit: a Philosopher-Pope?
Amid the clamor to figure out who Pope Francis might be, observers never failed to mention that he is the first Jesuit pope. But what does that really tell us and, more importantly, as his decisions begin to come down the pipeline, what is most important to know about his Jesuit worldview?
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Death Without Religion
Many (obviously) look to religion for answers. Not me. Even if I consider myself somewhat religious, I have a hard time accepting the life-after-death claims of my own religion, Judaism. The dilemma is not uncommon: Although 80-90% of Americans believe in God, some 25-50% do not believe in life after death (the numbers depend on the study). So when considering death, many of us turn to less spiritual pursuits. Two recent books attempt exactly that: to explore the nature and meaning of death without religious filters. Shelly Kagan’s Death uses philosophy to define mortality and how best to live with the knowledge of it; Dick Teresi’s The Undead explores how science and technology is changing how we define death—and not for the better.
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