Applying Theocentric Posthumanism to Curriculum Theory

Humanistic presuppositions about individual and social development have provided the rationale for education since as early as Western culture’s Renaissance period. The belief that the individual could be reformed through education, to the end of bettering the condition of society as a whole, carried a practical kernel of humanism that sprouted into an explicitly anthropocentric… Continue reading Applying Theocentric Posthumanism to Curriculum Theory

The Derivatively Anthropocentric Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity

I have previously argued, in this blog, that our universe is derivatively anthropocentric. That is, firstly, that the universe is theocentric in being directly and unqualifiedly determined by the divine will. Secondly, that this divine determination favours the developing flourishing and knowledge of humanity, despite there being nothing in the physical constitution, structure and laws… Continue reading The Derivatively Anthropocentric Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity

Interstellar, Tenet and Nolan’s Secular Faith

*****WARNING – SPOILERS FOR INTERSTELLAR AND TENET****** *****WARNING – SPOILERS FOR INTERSTELLAR AND TENET****** *****WARNING – SPOILERS FOR INTERSTELLAR AND TENET****** *****WARNING – SPOILERS FOR INTERSTELLAR AND TENET****** Apart from showcasing Christopher Nolan’s impressive vision and exacting execution when bringing a science fiction premise to fruition, his latest offering in Tenet confirms a secular conviction… Continue reading Interstellar, Tenet and Nolan’s Secular Faith

Posthumanism and Ockham’s Razor

Ockham’s Razor is the principle that we should not multiply entities beyond necessity. What that means has various weaker and stronger versions. One on the weaker side merely advises us, when coming up with a theory of the fundamental kinds of things (or stuff or structures) in the universe, or in any smaller domain, to… Continue reading Posthumanism and Ockham’s Razor

A Draft Introduction for a Possible Article on the Philosophy of Religion

The history of Western modernity has been the history of humanism, and more particularly, the history of a shifting of the universal centre of potential progress and value, from God to humanity, theocentrism to anthropocentrism. Without initially diminishing an entrenched commitment to theism, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment witnessed the gradual displacement of the external… Continue reading A Draft Introduction for a Possible Article on the Philosophy of Religion

Against Telos Regarded as Intrinsic Proper Function or Similar

I am an anti-essentialist in many respects, though there are some ideas denoted by some senses of the term to which I would not give assent. For example, I believe in a primitive kind of individual essence that explains the persistence of identity through change. However, I certainly do not believe in robust generic essences… Continue reading Against Telos Regarded as Intrinsic Proper Function or Similar

Optimism in the Face of the Irreconcilably Alien (COVID 19 Edition)

The two feature films directed by Alex Garland, Ex Machina (2014) and Annihilation (2018), have something in common that intrigues me, beyond the obvious similarity of their sci-fi genre. Mild ***SPOILERS*** follow. Mild ***SPOILERS*** follow. Mild ***SPOILERS*** follow. Mild ***SPOILERS*** follow. Mild ***SPOILERS*** follow. Mild ***SPOILERS*** follow. Mild ***SPOILERS*** follow. Mild ***SPOILERS*** follow. Mild ***SPOILERS***… Continue reading Optimism in the Face of the Irreconcilably Alien (COVID 19 Edition)

Bearing the Divine Image and Harmonising with the Universe

The exclusive humanist’s exceptionalist dogma of humanity’s peculiar importance, our central place in the universe, is defeated by realisations grasped in our posthumanist age concerning the contingency of the species’ essential or conceptual boundaries, the functional similarity between us and actual or possible non-human life forms, and the ultimate indifference of physical and chemical laws… Continue reading Bearing the Divine Image and Harmonising with the Universe

Staying with the Trouble

Having recently read Donna Haraway’s text, Staying with the Trouble (Duke University Press, 2016), I now offer some thoughts in response. Haraway is best known for her seminal essay, ‘The Cyborg Manifesto’, first published in 1985, in which she explores the idea that humanity has always been constituted as a process of species becoming that… Continue reading Staying with the Trouble