Month: September 2025

Philosopher of Mind and Language John Searle Has Died

Philosopher of Mind and Language John Searle Has Died

Published by Jenni Sidey

At Daily Nous, Dustin Sigsbee reports, Philosopher John Searle, well-known for his work on philosophy of mind and philosophy of language, has died. John Searle wrote extensively consciousness and the mind, intentionality, and speech act theory. He is especially well known for his Chinese Room Argument on artificial intelligence. “John Searle (1932-2025), September 28, 2025” He wrote a number of books, including Minds, Brains, and Science, Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind, Speech Acts, and The Rediscovery of the Mind. But his Chinese Room thought experiment, an argument for why computers can seem clever without having minds, was what he was probably best known for: Edward Feser’s comments on his significance Fellow philosopher Edward Feser offers a tribute: Searle was one of the true greats of contemporary philosophy, having made huge and lasting contributions to several of its subdisciplines, but especially to philosophy of mind and philosophy of language. His work had an enormous influence on me in my undergrad and graduate student years. “John Searle (1932-2025)”, September 28, 2025 That, in itself, is quite interesting because …

Studies Reveal That Regular Church Attenders Are Happier – OpentheWord.org

Studies Reveal That Regular Church Attenders Are Happier – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

Credit: Nathan Mullet, unsplash.com In an article for the Daily Signal, Carrie Sheffield discussed several studies that revealed people who regularly attend church are happier than those who don’t. What was particularly intriguing was an analysis of Pew Research surveys conducted by Washington University professor, Ryan Burge. He noticed that it didn’t matter where you fell on the political spectrum, if you attended church you were happier than those who didn’t. Burge found among Liberals born in 1980s and 1990s only 20% who regularly attended church described themselves as being ‘very happy’. This compared to the 49% of the same political leaning who regularly attended church and stated they were ‘very happy.’ The percentages were similar for those who classified themselves as conservatives. Only 27% of non church attenders considered themselves to be ‘very happy’ compared to 45% who did. The same held true with those who were politically in the middle. If they did not attend church, only 17% considered themselves to be ‘very happy’ compared to 33% of those regularly attended houses of …

We must stop religious misogynists exploiting our charity sector

We must stop religious misogynists exploiting our charity sector

Published by Sam Flores

We should take pride in how far women’s rights in the UK have progressed in the past century. Within those 100 years, we saw women gaining the right to vote in general elections; the right to sit in the House of Lords; the right to own and control property when married; the right not to be discriminated against in work, education and training; and the right not to be raped by their husbands (incredibly, marital rape was only criminalised in 1995). The UK is now one of the best countries to be a woman. We are ranked fourth most equal in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025. Sadly, this progress cannot be taken for granted. Human rights need constant defending, and women’s rights are no exception. Threats to women’s equality are emerging from several fronts, not least the rise in online ‘incel’ culture. But as our new report Mission and Misogyny reveals, one of these threats is coming from a truly shocking place: religious charities registered in the UK. Many people expect …

Why the Soul Doesn’t — and Can’t — Weigh Anything

Why the Soul Doesn’t — and Can’t — Weigh Anything

Published by Jenni Sidey

What weighs 21 grams? Various sources suggest 21 paper clips, 21 cigarettes, five nickels, or one average mouse. It’s about 3/4 oz. The reason anyone cares about that weight is that in 1907, Dr. Duncan MacDougall (1866-1920) put dying patients on a sensitive scale to try to capture the weight of their souls, by weighing the body before and after death. That was the figure he arrived at and, of course his experiments attracted much publicity, then and since. In 2014, David Goudsward wrote about the affair in Wavelengths a publication based in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where Glasgow-born MacDougall lived and died: In 1901, he decided to prove scientifically that the soul does exist. He transferred a terminally ill patient onto a cot placed on the scale and during the final hours of life, he measured the exact weight of the living person and adjusted for minute weight changes due to perspiration evaporating. When the patient died, he noted a sudden, unexplained weight drop. It was slight, but measurable. Encouraged by his results, he recruited several …

Monday Micro Softy 46: Three Loving Brothers in New York State

Monday Micro Softy 46: Three Loving Brothers in New York State

Published by Jenni Sidey

Mario lives in Brooklyn, New York. He has two married brothers, Luigi and Bob, who lived in Schenectady and Buffalo. Every Saturday Mario, who is single, would take an Uber to Grand Central Station in New York City and catch a train to see one of them. To save money, he used the ride share option where the Uber driver could pick up one to three additional passengers to take to the same train station. Sometimes Mario was the only passenger and the commute was quick. Sometimes the car carried with four passengers plus the driver so the trip took longer. Thus ride share resulted in different arrival times at the train station. Mario had never met most of the extra riders he shared the Uber with. But that was okay with him because trains left for Schenectady and Buffalo every twelve minutes. He left it up to chance which brother he would visit. When he arrived at the train station, he bought a ticket for whichever train left next.   After a year, brother …

Personhood: What it really means to be human

Personhood: What it really means to be human

Published by Jenni Sidey

In the latest episode of the Mind Matters podcast, host Robert J. Marks and co-editor Brian Krouse spoke with psychologist Dr. Eric Jones of Regent University about his chapter in Minding the Brain (2023), “A Case for the Relational Person.” The discussion explores two competing models of personhood: the traditional “atomistic individual,” and Jones’s alternative, the “relational person.” The conversation raised questions about psychology, philosophy, and even artificial intelligence, all centering on what it really means to be human. Two contrasting views of the person The atomistic view sees people as self-contained units. Jones compares this to a Lego brick: it can connect to others, but remains essentially unchanged whether alone or in a group. This model fits neatly with a materialist and individualistic culture, especially in the United States, where independence and self-sufficiency are highly valued. In contrast, the relational view treats people as inseparable from the systems they live in. Jones uses the example of a hand cut off from the body. A hand still looks like a hand, but no longer functions …

Elderly Couple Avoids Widowhood by Assisted Suicide

Elderly Couple Avoids Widowhood by Assisted Suicide

Published by Jenni Sidey

Wesley J. Smith September 29, 2025 2 Ethics, Medicine and Health The British couple sent emails to announce their decision to end their lives at a Swiss clinic Wesley J. Smith September 29, 2025 2 Ethics, Medicine and Health This article is republished from National Review with the permission of the author. Once we decide that killing is an acceptable answer to suffering, the kind of suffering that qualifies us to be made dead continually expands. Now, an elderly British couple have committed joint assisted suicide at a Swiss termination clinic to avoid future widowhood and increasing fragility — in other words, to eliminate future suffering. From the Daily Record story: A devoted couple who “couldn’t bear to be apart” have died together at a Swiss assisted dying clinic after sending emails to their relatives to let them know. Neither Michael Posner, 97, nor his wife Ruth, 96, had a terminal illness, but had made the decision to die together because they were desperate not to be apart after 75 years of marriage. This is far from the first such case as euthanasia consciousness has …

Music is NOT for the Ears! — Part 1 – OpentheWord.org

Music is NOT for the Ears! — Part 1 – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

By Katharine Abrahams Power in Music Music is NOT for the Ears!: Part 1Part 2Part 3 For much of the period of my musical training I held an inherent suspicion or intuition that there is power in music — power that in music-college is infrequently discussed or even acknowledged. A power that may be used either constructively or destructively and thus begins to define purposes for music outside the world of the concert platform.  While in my final year at London’s Royal Academy of Music during the course of writing a paper on rhetoric, I read many treatises and other works from both the Classical orators and Baroque musicians.   The oxford dictionary defines rhetoric as “the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing“.  I was amazed to discover that music rhetoric has been acknowledged since ancient times and has been remarked upon by authors separated by many centuries, as well as by language, culture and area of expertise.  I would like to begin by presenting a sample of illustrations that bear witness to this …

What is Going on in the United Kingdom?

What is Going on in the United Kingdom?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Free speech, the constitutional right most of us Americans take for granted, is dying in the United Kingdom. Perhaps it never held the same station as it does in the United States, but it’s nonetheless shocking to see a Western nation suddenly resemble the likes of North Korea. Videos across the internet depict British police officers arresting ordinary citizens for creating certain “unlawful” social media posts. That’s right. Social media posts, also known as “speech,” now make people criminally liable. According to an article from The New York Post, up to 30 people a day are being arrested for “speech crimes.” Chadwick Moore writes, Maxie Allen, a radio producer in Hertfordshire, was on a Zoom call at home when he saw police standing over his shoulder from the camera view on his screen. Six officers came knocking — his partner Rosalind Levine, who answered the door, thought their disabled daughter had died — to haul the couple off over comments they posted in a private WhatsApp group for parents at their children’s school. Reports like these seem …

NSS report: Religious charities promoting misogyny with impunity

NSS report: Religious charities promoting misogyny with impunity

Published by Sam Flores

Charities are promoting violence against women – including marital rape – under the guise of ‘advancing religion’, the National Secular Society has said in a new report. A new report warns charity law needs ‘urgent’ review as charity regulators are ‘failing’ to tackle religious charities which promote misogyny. The report, ‘Mission and Misogyny’, was published today by the NSS, which campaigns for reform of charity law. Charities given “advice and guidance” for condoning marital rape In one example, a preacher at An-Noor Masjid in Birmingham said in a sermon last year that a man can “hit” his wife if she refuses to have sex. The Charity Commission responded by giving the charity “advice and guidance” but apparently took no further action. The preacher then went on to give sermons at another local Islamic charity, Green Lane Masjid – which had also previously been given “advice and guidance” from the commission after an imam at the charity said a wife cannot refuse sex. The Scottish charity regulator OSCR has repeatedly refused to penalise religious charities promoting …