Blogs Posts on "Bad Reasoning"

Contra Mundum: “Bigoted Fundamentalist” as Orwellian Double-Speak by MandM on Nov 1, 2009I am a Theologian with a strong background in Philosophy; apart from Philosophical Theology, my particular area of interest is Ethics. Given this, I often publish my thoughts and reflections on moral issues, of various persuasions, in various media.

Contra Mundum: What’s Wrong with Imposing your Beliefs onto Others? by MandM on Aug 31, 2009The assumption that ‘it is wrong to impose your moral beliefs onto others’ is almost unilaterally accepted in society. Everyone knows this, only zealous religious types seem to believe that it is acceptable to try to foist their morality onto oth...

Contra Mundum: What's Wrong with Imposing your Beliefs onto Others? by MandM on Aug 31, 2009The assumption that ‘it is wrong to impose your moral beliefs onto others’ is almost unilaterally accepted in society. Everyone knows this, only zealous religious types seem to believe that it is acceptable to try to foist their morality onto oth...

Jim Evans Decisively Smacks John Roughan by MandM on Aug 5, 2009On Saturday the NZ Herald's John Roughan demonstrated why journalists should not engage in legal interpretation in his widely criticised piece on the smacking referendum, "Sinister undertones to referendum instigator."At the time I struggled to ascer...

With God Anything can be Permitted: Another Bad Argument against Theistic Morality by MandM on May 4, 2009Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov's famously contended that if God does not exist then anything is permissible. Ken over at Open Parachute disagrees and goes one step further and argues that the shoe is on the other foot. Ken maintains that theistic acco...

Divine Commands and Intuitions: A Response to Ken Perrott by MandM on May 4, 2009Ken Perrott from Open Parachute has asked me some questions about my views on morality and divine commands. Views I have repeatedly expressed on this blog. Given that others have from time to time asked me similar questions, and given the length of m...

With God Anything can be Permitted: Another Bad Argument against Theistic Morality by MandM on Apr 27, 2009Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov's famously contended that if God does not exist then anything is permissible. Ken over at Open Parachute disagrees and goes one step further and argues that the shoe is on the other foot. Ken maintains that theistic acco...

How to Judge a Beauty Pageant: Political Views more Important than Looks by MandM on Apr 24, 2009Apparently being an underweight and skeletal, having a BMI outside the healthy weight range, is an irrelevant factor for a beauty pageant judge to take into account when assessing who is the fairest of them all but a candidate's opinion on gay marria...