Category: Musings

Stereotypes and Statistical Generalizations

ByMarshall Thompson October 1, 2020 0 Comments
This post is an extended version of a piece which originally appeared at the Prindle Post. Let’s look at three different stories and use them to investigate statistical generalizations. Story 1 This semester I’m teaching a Reasoning and Critical Thinking course. During the first class, I ran through various questions designed to show that human thinking is subject to predictable and...

Faith and Climate Change

ByMarshall Thompson September 23, 2020 0 Comments
A while back a friend posted the following question on Facebook: “Can you criticize someone who doesn’t believe in climate change if you believe in God?Person A shows facts, stats, etc. to disprove God.Person B ignores it, says it is their faith and belief system which can’t be challenged by logic.Replace God above with Climate Change.Why do we criticize people who don’t believe in...

Judgment, Condemnation, and Historical Context

ByMarshall Thompson September 10, 2020 0 Comments
This post is an extended version of a piece which originally appeared at the Prindle Post. Is it right to condemn historical figures for moral beliefs that, while common during their time, are now known to be odious? Our attitudes toward historical figures matter. FIrst our attitudes bear on the question of what public honors should be bestowed on morally flawed historical figures. Second our...

The Politics of Imponderables

ByMarshall Thompson June 1, 2020 0 Comments
What follows is a reposting of an article originally appearing on the Prindle Post. As I glance over the front page (or, let’s be real, the home page) of various newspapers, nearly every story is about either COVID-19 or U.S. racial injustice. Here I want to pause and look not at the stories themselves, but at the discourse developing around both stories. I want to look at the moral outrage we...