Climategate?

by Jason

The Telegraph (UK) is reporting that a hacker has broken into the computers at Hadley CRU and has taken confidential data that allegedly shows that the team at Hadley doctored the evidence in favor of anthropogenic global warming and tried to keep skeptics from publishing papers to the contrary.

I can't wait to see how this turns out.
--------------------------------------

Climategate: the final nail in the coffin of 'Anthropogenic Global Warming'?

The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet...

Aporia: Can You Consent to Your Own Murder?

by Jason

I recently heard of the case of Armin Meiwes, a German man made famous after he was arrested in December of 2002 for eating Bernd Jurgen Brandes (who consented to both his murder and the eating of his body).  Meiwes was originally tried for manslaughter, although the case was later reopened and he was found guilty of murder.

There are numerous questions raised in this case, but I want to focus on these:

- Is it murder if another man consents to you killing him?

- Do you have the right to consent to your own murder?

Although the answers amy seem easy at first, think about the questions and you shall see it is rather more complicated than it prima facie appears.  I'll post my thoughts on it on Saturday.

Sexual Etymology: Masturbation

by Jason

In a series I'm going to be calling "sexual etymology," I'm going to explore the origins of some of the words that are in our sexual vocabulary.  I'm going to do this once a week or so.  If you have any requests, make them in the comments and I'll add the word to the list of forthcoming articles.

The word of the week is: Masturbation.

Masturbation: (n.) manual stimulation of the genitals.  1766, in A. Hume's Onanism; borrowed from French masturbation (1570 in Montaigne) and probably derived from New Latin masturbationem (nominative mastubatio), from Latin masturbari, alteration, probably by influence of turbare (to stir up), of earlier *man-stuprare (manus hand + stupare defile), which would reinforce the connection of a form with the earlier form in English masturpration, 1621, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy.

(Reference: Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, 1988)

So, there you have it.  The etymological origin of masturbation is "self defilement by the hand."

As you shall see, many words that are in English now have very sex-negative roots.  Although some people would argue these words should be abandoned, I think it is more realistic to try and make them into positives, instead of abandoning the word altogether.  In this way, we won't have to make up new words and try to get them adopted and we will reclaim old negative words for good.

The Truth about Christianity

by Jason

I saw this poster on Tumblr (without attribution) and I couldn't resist putting it up here.

In case you can't read the poster, it says:

CHRISTIANITY: The belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. Makes perfect sense.

But to be fair, I think all religions based on faith are equally absurd.  Anyone who tries to justify a belief on the basis of faith is simply making the claim that because they wish something to be true, they are justified in believing that it is true.  Faith is nothing more than a spectacular example of a failure of reasoning.

Majority of Americans Against Governmental Healthcare

by Jason

In an amazing turn of events, and on the eve of the possibility of the governmental takeover of healthcare, the majority of Americans are now saying that they don’t want socialized medicine.  The news comes from the latest Gallup poll done on the issue of healthcare, which they release every November.  Even as late as last year, 54% of people thought that healthcare was the government’s responsibility (that the government should be in control of healthcare) while only 41% of people thought that it should not (note: polls do not always equal 100%).  This year, however, it is 50% against and only 47% in favor.  This is a gigantic change and the graph reflects how dramatic it really is.

So what happened between last year and this year?  I think that people have always felt generally entitled to healthcare and they abstractly thought it would be nice if the government were to provide them with it.  However, now that this is becoming more of a legitimate possibility, people are seeing it for the threat it really is:

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.” ~ Gerald Ford.

With the rise of a national debt that is beyond the scope of the human mind to even grasp and with the scope of government increasing every day, people are legitimately starting to wonder is the government isn’t getting too big and too much a part of our lives.  We all know how well the DMV is run and the thought of an equally efficient government healthcare program is enough to scare anyone away from their idealistic (and unconnected to reality) dreams of the government actually improving healthcare.

What will be interesting is to see whether our President and elected officials in Congress will listen to the voice of the people on this: after all, they have been using public opinion as the sole justification for their takeover of healthcare.  What will they do now that their popular support is gone?  Clearly, they have no constitutional support or even legal basis for their actions.  Now that they have no support left, will they abandon their plans or will they reveal that it has all been based on their lust for power?

I, personally, hope they heed the words of Thomas Paine and remember that:

"That government is best which governs least."

Eternal Recurrence

by Jason

Although I am a big fan of Nietzsche and I think he got many things right, I certainly do not endorse him entirely.  There is much to Nietzsche that just does not make sense.  As an example of this, he has a doctrine of "Eternal Return," whereby he asserts that all that is, has been before an infinite number of times, and will be again an infinite number of times.

The heaviest burden. – What, if someday or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: "This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and an innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have return to you all in the same succession and sequence [...] Would you not throw yourself down and gnash you teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him; "You are a God and never have I heard anything more divine." (from the Gay Science)

Taken literally, the doctrine of Eternal Return makes no sense and there is no evidence for it.  However, what if we take it metaphorically?  What if the doctrine of eternal return is only meant to force us to think about how we are living?  Viewed this way, the doctrine becomes a new lens through which to see our lives and helps us to gain a perspective on our actions.  Would you do the same things, if you knew you would have to do them an infinite number of times in the future?  Would you more carefully consider each decision and make each hour count?

Think about it. 

Dropbox

by Jason

If anyone is looking for a good free back-up and remote access application, try Dropbox.

I've been using it for a while now to keep my book backed up (it's actually redundant, since I also use Apple's Time Machine with Time Capsule) and to be able to access files when I'm not at my computer.  It's a really great program and it's FREE (for the basic service).

Check it out and if you download it from the link above, we both get free extra storage! ;)

The Significance of the Fall

by Jason

As the United States continues its descent into socialism, I'd like to take a minute and remind everyone about the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (11/9/09).  For those who don't know (and I sincerely hope this is a null class), the Berlin Wall was the wall that separated East (socialist) Berlin from West (capitalist) Berlin after WWII.

The lesson that I think we all need to remember from the Berlin wall is that while capitalistic West Berlin experienced an "economic miracle" and had a very high standard of living, socialist East Berlin was overrun with poverty.  The situation was so bad in East Berlin that thousands risked their lives to flee to the freedom and prosperity of the West.

Let us not forget history and the lessons we can learn from it, lest we are doomed to repeat them.

Happy 30,000!

by Jason

Today, Erosophia reached 30,000 hits!  This is big new for us!  To put it in perspective, in January of last year, we had only 879 viewers for the entire month.  Now, we average around 200 per day!

I want to thank all of our readers and encourage you to share Erosophia with your family, friends, acquaintances, random strangers, etc. Also, feel free to link to Erosophia or add us to your blogroll if you haven't yet.

If actually navigating to Erosophia.Blogspot.com is tedious for you, we also offer pretty much any kind of feed you'd like (RSS, ATOM, etc) in the sidebar to the right.  Also, Erosophia is available through the Facebook "networked blogs" application if you want to read it on facebook or via the Amazon Kindle for only .99 cents per month (with a free 14 day trial!).

Lastly,  I'd like to point out that Erosophia does take some work to keep going and every interesting essay I post here is time that I'm not using to right my book or make money.  So, if you'd like to see more essays and exciting commentary, please think about donating through the PayPal link to the right.  So far, we've had that button for over a year and we're received ZERO dollars (no pennies either).  Even $5 makes a big difference for us, especially if everyone were to do it, and it really helps us to keep blogging.    If you don't, or can't contribute, at least join our "followers" in the sidebar so we know who is reading and we have an idea of how many dedicated readers we have.

XKCD Waxes Philosophical

by Jason

XKCD is the best webcomic out there.  If you have never checked it out, do it now!

Personally, I'm not familiar with the contemporary personhood debates, but the analogical Lego argument seems convincing.

Book Update

by Jason

This is an update on the progress of my book Sexual Perfection, since I haven't officially mentioned it in over a year.

The book is coming along well and I expect to begin resubmitting it to publishers again within a week or two. My proposal is done (and in roughly 7th draft) and we'll be submitting it with Chapter 2 (which I'm trying to get into a good 2nd draft now).

I say "we'll" be submitting it because I've acquired an agent for the book, Mr. James Fitzgerald of the James Fitzgerald Agency in New York. James is one of the best selling agents in the country and I'm confident that he'll be able to help me get Sexual Perfection into a good publisher.

I've included a condensed outline below and I've also indicated which sections are done or in progress.

If you are in the publishing field and are interested in the book, write me at erosophia.blogspot (@) gmail.com or contact my agent via his website linked above. Anyone else, leave a comment! ;)

-------------------

Sexual Perfection:

Foundations of a New Sexual Ethic

Chapter 1: Sexual Ethics (Complete Draft)

Section 1: The Necessity of Sexual Ethics

a. The Broad View: Atrocity and Sexual Crimes

b. The Narrow View: Sex as Life Affirming

Section 2: The Foundations of Ethics

a. Death as the Fundamental Impetus of Ethics

b. The Right of Self-Interested Action

Section 3: Flourishing as the Goal of Ethics

a. Virtue as a Means to Happiness

b. Happiness: a Way of Living, not Simply a Feeling

Chapter 2: Emotions (Complete Draft)

Section 1: The Nature of Emotions

a. Defining Emotions

b. The Emotional Process

c. Sense of Life

Section 2: Philosophy and Emotions

a. Conscious Philosophy and Emotional Integration

b. The Integrated Passionate Life

Chapter 3: Relationships and Love

Section 1: Different Kinds of Relationships

a. Familial Love

b. Kinds of Friendship

c. Romantic Love

Section 2: Love and Romantic Relationships

a. Relationships and Love

b. The Bases of Intimate Relationships

c. Sexual Attraction and Long-term Love

d. The Purpose of Marriage

Chapter 4: Sexual Attraction and Fantasy

Section 1: Sexual Attraction

a. Paradigms of Attraction

b. The Delusion of Physical Attraction

c. Robust Attraction

d. Philosophy and Sexual Attraction (In Progress)

Section 2: Fantasy

a. The Purpose of Fantasy

b. Different Kinds of Fantasy

c. Moral Considerations

Section 3: Masturbation

a. Sexual Development and Fulfillment

b. Sexual Self-Sufficiency

Chapter 5: Sexual Identities

Section 1: Possible Identities

a. Heterosexuality (In Progress)

b. Bisexuality (In Progress)

c. Homosexuality (In Progress)

d. Asexuality?

Section 2: Masculinity and Femininity

a. Origin and Nature of Masculinity and Femininity (In Progress)

b. Redefining Masculinity and Femininity (In Progress)

c. The Actualization of Masculinity and Femininity (In Progress)

Section 3: The Categorization of Desire

a. Orientation: Defined by Action or Desire?

b. Fluid Orientations

c. Natural Bisexuality

Chapter 6: Sexual Perfection

Section 1: Sex

a. The Nature of Sex

b. Sexual Pleasure

Section 2: Union

a. Stages of Union

b. The Nature of Union

Section 3: Human Completion through Sex

a. Impetus for Perfection

b. Sex as the Missing Piece of Complete Happiness

Chapter 7: Applications

Section 1: Erotic Decadence

a. Perversion

b. Fetishism

Section 2: Problems

a. Abortion (In Progress)

b. Birth Control

c. Children and Eroticism

d. Gay Marriage

e. Prostitution

f. Pornography

A Non-Religious Wedding Ceremony

by Megan

A year ago when Jason and I were starting to think about planning our wedding we realized that we were going to have to write a ceremony ourselves if we wanted something that was non-religious and not philosophically objectionable in some other way. For us, writing our ceremony was a meaningful experience that prepared us for our marriage. For others, however, writing a ceremony may be an unwanted burden, and trying to plan a wedding without religion may be a frustrating process. So, I thought I would post something about our ceremony to help people who might be planning a wedding without religion (and for anyone else who might be interested in hearing about our wedding).

We ended up following the outline of a typical Christian wedding ceremony. My father, who is a Christian minister, was the officiant at our wedding, so we decided to stick with the general format that he was comfortable with since we were completely changing the content. We began with the typical entrance of the wedding party (although I decided to enter with both of my parents instead of just my father), followed by a welcome from the officiant. We included several musical interludes throughout the ceremony (of course we used non-religious music). We also had two readings, one written by me, and one by Jason. Originally we thought we would have readings from philosophical texts, but we were unable to find anything that we completely agreed with and thought was fully appropriate. So, we decided that we would each write something. Jason's essay was about the necessity of romantic love for happiness, and mine was about the meaning of marriage. We chose to have other people read them instead of reading them ourselves, which I thought was the best way to do it since we both ended up feeling so nervous during the ceremony. After the readings, we exchanged the following vows:

Because of the joy that you bring to my life,

I take you, (Megan/Jason)

To be my (wife/husband).

I promise to value you above all others,

To remain faithful to you,

To support, challenge and encourage you,

To hold sacred my love for you,

And to share with you

All the joys and sorrows that life may bring

As long as we both shall live.

Our vows were very meaningful to us because they expressed exactly what we wanted to promise to each other, and because they were spoken in a context in which our essays about what our marriage will mean had just been read. We thought it was very important to emphasize that the reason we were making these promises was the joy that we each bring to the other's life, which is something that is not usually emphasized in marriage vows. After the vows, we exchanged rings, my father presented us as a couple, and we recessed. The whole thing only lasted about twenty minutes, which seems pretty long when you are standing in front of a room full of people with your heart pounding in your chest.

Our wedding was actually the first non-religious wedding I have ever been to, so I have no idea what other people have done. But I really loved the explicit emphasis that we were being joined together solely by our promises to each other and not by any bond from a supernatural being. It just seemed so much more real; no mystical talk about two souls being joined into one by some deity, but simply two people making promises to each other in the presence of people who care about them and wanted to support them. The process of writing our own ceremony may have been challenging, but it was definitely worth it for the end result.

Note: I haven't been blogging for a while because I was focusing on school (I just started an MA/PhD program in philosophy this fall), but hopefully I'll be able to blog a bit more frequently now that I'm somewhat adjusted. Also, if anyone is planning a non-religious wedding and would like to see the complete outline of our ceremony, leave your email address in the comments.