Rhetoric about People "Who Look Like Me" April 2, 2023863 words (~4 minutes) Tags: editorial first-person On several occasions I have encountered admonitions against those who do not understand what it is like to grow up not seeing people who “look like you.” This article is a response.
Approval of Induced Abortion is Conservative March 22, 2023892 words (~4 minutes) Tags: editorial reproductive responsibility induced abortion third-person Advocacy of induced abortion as a method of fertility control is a conservative viewpoint.
Induced Abortion is Common March 21, 20231,023 words (~5 minutes) Tags: review of research reproductive responsibility induced abortion third-person Induced abortion is common, though challenging to estimate. This article reviews sources for estimates of the prevalance induced abortion.
A History of Ideas about Induced Abortion March 20, 20235,631 words (~28 minutes) Tags: history reproductive responsibility induced abortion third-person Advocacy of induced abortion as a method of fertility control is ancient. This article explores ideas about induced abortion from the 5th century B.C.E. to the 20th century C.E.
Induced Abortion is Controversial March 19, 2023716 words (~3 minutes) Tags: original research public opinion reproductive responsibility induced abortion third-person The empirical evidence of the Gallup Social Series' annual poll on Values and Beliefs shows that induced abortion is one of if not the most controversial moral issue in the United States.
Essentialism January 7, 20231,627 words (~8 minutes) Tags: philosophy first-person In this article, the philosophical position of essentialism is contrasted with that of nominalism, and examples of how essentialists' assertions are frustrating to nominalists are explored.
Study Enough Philosophy to Know Not to Study Philosophy December 31, 2022752 words (~3 minutes) Tags: editorial philosophy first-person This is a preface to a series of articles on philosophical positions with which I disagree that explains the rationale for the series.
Top Four Needs for Future Contraceptive Technology July 24, 20223,266 words (~16 minutes) Tags: editorial reproductive responsibility birth control third-person Methods both long-acting and reversible, non-hormonal methods, methods for men, and intrinsically more effective methods are urgent needs for contraception.
"They," "Them," "Those People," and the Fallacy of Partisan Demagoguery June 14, 20223,190 words (~15 minutes) Tags: fallacies first-person Characterizations of partisan factions lead to the Straw Man Fallacy and to a kind of No True Scotsman Fallacy, and they empower polarized viewpoints at the expense of independent thinkers.
Discussion about Disagreement on the Rationally Speaking Podcast June 3, 20225,226 words (~26 minutes) Tags: book, article, or podcast review first-person Two interviews from Rationally Speaking about disagreement are reviewed: John Nerst’s discussion of low resolution abstraction, and Buster Benson’s learnings from arguments with friends and family.
Use of Contraception in the United States Reported in the 2017-2019 National Survey of Family Growth April 28, 202216,060 words (~80 minutes) Tags: original research reproductive responsibility birth control NSFG third-person Original research on the number of persons using and not using contraception in the United States, the contraceptive methods being used, and motives for using or discontinuing contraceptive methods.
The Fallacy of Generic Thinking March 4, 20225,531 words (~27 minutes) Tags: fallacies statistics psychology philosophy third-person Generic thinking is unquantified belief about large populations of individuals, a profound and terribly mistaken fallacy that has little use other than prejudice.
Kwame Anthony Appiah's Criticism of “Cultural Appropriation” Criticism January 26, 20222,490 words (~12 minutes) Tags: book, article, or podcast review philosophy third-person Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah argues that “cultural appropriation” is based on a mistaken mental model of what “culture” denotes and that there are other, better criticisms.
How to Scrutinize a Statistic January 18, 202216,214 words (~81 minutes) Tags: fallacies statistics second-person When encountering a statistic, you should inquire about its provenance, its scope of inference, its practical significance, and the estimation error associated with it.
Category-Based Prejudice November 26, 20215,322 words (~26 minutes) Tags: fallacies third-person Properties of a population are not properties of individuals, and categorization is arbitrary. Therefore, category-based prejudice is more costly, less accurate, and more ambiguous than direct measurement.
Anecdotes Are Not Evidence January 31, 20217,817 words (~39 minutes) Tags: fallacies statistics psychology third-person Anecdotal evidence has flaws that make it useless for inferences about populations or about cause and effect. Valid uses of anecdotes exist, but anecdotes should be scrutinized even in such cases.
Moral Skepticism December 28, 20204,869 words (~24 minutes) Tags: philosophy third-person Searching for moral knowledge is delusional. Differences between descriptive and normative mental models imply that truth and falsity do not apply to morality and that moral constructs are fictions.
Selection Bias and the Fallacy of Listing Examples December 7, 20203,320 words (~16 minutes) Tags: fallacies statistics third-person Advocating a belief by finding supporting examples and listing them is fallacious because of selection bias; examples are selected because they illustrate the belief and contradictory cases are ignored.
Political Rhetoric as Shibboleths July 4, 20201,830 words (~9 minutes) Tags: editorial third-person Slogans of political rhetoric function as shibboleths – markers of tribal allegiance devoid of content – and so promote conformity, superficiality, and exclusion of non-binary viewpoints.
Margaret Sanger on Abortion in Her Own Words November 11, 201812,820 words (~64 minutes) Tags: history reproductive responsibility birth control induced abortion third-person Birth control pioneer and Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger felt that abortion was “taking life” and had the explicit goal of ending the use of abortion for family limitation.
