In this week’s eSkeptic:
BIG NEWS!
Richard Dawkins is Coming to the Skeptics Conference at Caltech May 29–31, 2015!
We are thrilled to announce that the world’s most famous evolutionary biologist and atheist activist RICHARD DAWKINS will be participating in the Skeptics Society’s annual conference at Caltech Friday–Sunday May 29–31, joining our galaxy of science stars Jared Diamond, Esther Dyson, John McWhorter, Ian Morris, Carol Tavris, Greg Benford, David Brin, & Donald Prothero. On Friday night at the dinner at The Westin Pasadena, Richard will mingle and talk to guests plus do a dramatic reading of his “love mail” from his most ardent religious critics. On Saturday Richard will do a mid-day “In Conversation” with Michael Shermer on religion and the far future of humanity. On Sunday Richard will appear at a private fundraising dinner ($1000/plate) at the Shermer home for a small number of guests. This private dinner event is a fundraiser for the Richard Dawkins Foundation. Register online or call the office at 1-626-794-3119.
This is going to be our biggest conference ever that will sell out the Caltech auditorium, so be sure to REGISTER NOW for the Friday night dinner, the Saturday all-day lectures and discussions (meals included), one of the Sunday field trips, and evening private dinner with Dawkins.
NEW ON THE MORAL ARC BLOG
Why the Founding Fathers Wouldn’t Have Been Anti-Vaxxers
Visit the Moral Arc website for more information about the book, or click one of the following to order the book right now from Amazon, Shop Skeptic, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, iBooks, Kobo, and IndieBound.
Are you a vaccination skeptic? Or are you skeptical of the vaccination skeptics? Your answer will most likely depend less on science and more on political ideology. The science jury is in when it comes to vaccinations, as it is for climate change and evolution. Vaccinations work, climate change is real and evolution happened. But, though skepticism in all three cases tends to be the product of politics, to doubt science is to run up against the very heart of America’s political framework.
The founding principles of America were the product of 18th century Enlightenment thinkers who were inspired by 17th century scientists such as Galileo and Newton. (This is an argument I make in my new book, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom.) The experimental methods and analytical reasoning of science that these Enlightenment thinkers consciously applied to solve social, political and economic problems created the modern world of liberal democracies, civil rights and civil liberties, equal justice under the law, free minds and free markets, and prosperity the likes of which no human society in history has ever enjoyed.
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Visit the Moral Arc website for more information about the book, or click one of the following to order the book right now from Amazon, Shop Skeptic, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, iBooks, Kobo, and IndieBound.
Arcing Toward Morality
SKEPTICALITY EPISODE 248
In this episode of Skepticality, Derek has a conversation with Dr. Michael Shermer about his recently released book, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom. Find out more about how a shift in society which led to the Enlightenment, abstract reasoning and skepticism, have moved humanity toward a more just and moral world.
