Hi gang,

Thanks to the 9 who showed up last meeting for a good discussion about the validity of mystical experience.

For April 14, we can discuss the topic of an upcoming debate at Harvard Law School, "Should criminal law be reconsidered in light of advances in neuroscience?" The debate itself is April 7, 6pm at Harvard Law School, Pound Hall room 213, free and open to the public. There's a flyer about it here. The participants are cutting edge thinkers in the field, all basically naturalists but with very different ideas about how a naturalistic understanding of ourselves might impact criminal justice. How come, one wonders? Hope to see you at the debate, then at Z Square a week later.

best,

Tom

twc at naturalism.org
617-480-8846

General description of what we're about (this bit doesn't change from month to month):

Allies of Naturalism welcomes those interested in exploring a science-based, humanistic and progressive naturalism that can make a difference in our lives. To see what's involved in being a humanistic and progressive naturalist (more or less), check out Naturalism.Org, centerfornaturalism.org and the Guide to Naturalism at http://www.centerfornaturalism.org/descriptions.htm.

Essentially, naturalism shows our full connection to the world and others, leads to an ethics of compassion, and gives us far greater control over our circumstances. We don't need anything supernatural either above us or inside us to lead moral and meaningful lives: nature is enough. Naturalism is a viable alternative to faith-based worldviews such as traditional religions and new age philosophies, offering a set of ideas with positive personal and social consequences.

The meetings offer a chance to meet fellow naturalists in an informal, relaxed setting, but with at least some structure. That's to say that we'll try to have one or two topics suggested in advance for people to think about, and then discuss when we get together. Ultimately the focus and format of the meetings will be determined by participants, but will certainly include time for socializing and networking. Watch the discussion board for topic announcements and other details. Hope to see you there!

Hi gang,

Thanks to those (6) who showed up for our January meeting, we had a typically animated discussion about whether people can handle the naturalistic truth about themselves.

For February, we won't have our regular meeting, but instead will join forces with other local secular groups in celebrating science on the occasion of Darwin's birthday, 7-11 pm Tuesday Feb 12 at Redline in Harvard Square. There will be free appetizers and cake, more details at www.naturalism.org/darwinday.htm . Hope you can make it, should be fun. If anyone would like to help put up decorations at 6 pm, be in touch.

best,

Tom

twc at naturalism.org
617-480-8846

General description of what we're about (this bit doesn't change from month to month):

Allies of Naturalism welcomes those interested in exploring a science-based, humanistic and progressive naturalism that can make a difference in our lives. To see what's involved in being a humanistic and progressive naturalist (more or less), check out Naturalism.Org, centerfornaturalism.org and the Guide to Naturalism at http://www.centerfornaturalism.org/descriptions.htm.

Essentially, naturalism shows our full connection to the world and others, leads to an ethics of compassion, and gives us far greater control over our circumstances. We don't need anything supernatural either above us or inside us to lead moral and meaningful lives: nature is enough. Naturalism is a viable alternative to faith-based worldviews such as traditional religions and new age philosophies, offering a set of ideas with positive personal and social consequences.

The meetings offer a chance to meet fellow naturalists in an informal, relaxed setting, but with at least some structure. That's to say that we'll try to have one or two topics suggested in advance for people to think about, and then discuss when we get together. Ultimately the focus and format of the meetings will be determined by participants, but will certainly include time for socializing and networking. Watch the discussion board for topic announcements and other details. Hope to see you there!

Thanks to those (9) who showed up for our November meeting, we had a typicaly animated discussion about brain science and responsibility.

December Topic: Time and Free Will

A Radio Lab production with science reporter Robert Krulwich called "Against Time," the section on "No Special Now," explores the somewhat discomfiting implications of the Einsteinian 4-dimensional "block universe" for free will. Courtesy of physicist Brian Greene, who questions the idea that the future is open, and neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran, who discusses the famous Libet experiments on the timing of readiness potentials, Krulwich discovers that he isn't perhaps quite "in charge" the way he thought he was. Greene is sympathetic to Krulwich's concerns, but can't honestly reassure him about free will, and tries to distract him with multi-verse cosmology. But Krulwich doesn't buy it; he wants his free will back. Ramachandran is trenchantly definitive: the unconscious readiness potential precedes the conscious choice to move one's finger by .5 seconds, so consciousness can't be in control the way we thought. No solace for Krulwich.

Green talks about time in his terrific book The Fabric of the Cosmos, chapter 5, "The Frozen River," and chapter 15, "Teleporters and Time Machines," (see pp. 451-8 re free will). Each moment we experience as flowing from future to past is actually "an eternal and immutable feature of spacetime," so past, present, and future co-exist in the block universe. Time as a dimension is simply there, just as up/down, left/right and forward/back are all there, laid out in front of us. This means all our past, present and future actions co-exist as well, strange as it may seem. But this can be understood as a time neutral re-statement of what science, from our (illusory) time-bound conscious perspective, describes as causal relations over time. The way one moment effortlessly gets transformed into the next ? no hindrance or obstacle, just a smooth transition ? suggests the next moment was (is) simply there, waiting for the mind to experience. Naturalist attorney Bob Gulack explores time and free will in one of his talks for the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, New Jersey, see link below.

Tom

twc at naturalism.org
617-480-8846

Radio lab episode on time: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2005/03/04

re block universe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternalism_(philosophy_of_time)

Bob Gulack's paper on time: http://www.ethicalfocus.org/index.php?mpage=33/land_of_now.htm

Google "block universe Einstein" and see the book excerpt from "Space, time and Einstein" by Kennedy

General description of what we're about (this bit doesn't change from month to month):

Allies of Naturalism welcomes those interested in exploring a science-based, humanistic and progressive naturalism that can make a difference in our lives. To see what's involved in being a humanistic and progressive naturalist (more or less), check out Naturalism.Org, centerfornaturalism.org and the Guide to Naturalism at http://www.centerfornaturalism.org/descriptions.htm.

Essentially, naturalism shows our full connection to the world and others, leads to an ethics of compassion, and gives us far greater control over our circumstances. We don't need anything supernatural either above us or inside us to lead moral and meaningful lives: nature is enough. Naturalism is a viable alternative to faith-based worldviews such as traditional religions and new age philosophies, offering a set of ideas with positive personal and social consequences.

The meetings offer a chance to meet fellow naturalists in an informal, relaxed setting, but with at least some structure. That's to say that we'll try to have one or two topics suggested in advance for people to think about, and then discuss when we get together. Ultimately the focus and format of the meetings will be determined by participants, but will certainly include time for socializing and networking. Watch the discussion board for topic announcements and other details. Hope to see you there!

Thanks to those (9) who showed up for our September meeting, good discussion.

Note the date: October 15, since the Monday the week before is when Columbus Day is observed, so people might not be around.

Location: We'll be meeting at Z Square, 14 JFK St. in Harvard Square, downstairs in the corner alcove with the round table. We have it reserved for 2 hours, 7-9 pm, on the understanding that everyone who shows up agrees to spend $10 (or more). I hope that's agreeable to everyone since after all we have to make it worthwhile for the restaurant.

Topic: For October, we'll consider the the status of values in the natural world. Are they objective or real in any sense, other than being the contingent product of culture and evolution?
Here are some readings:

NYTimes article on Haidt: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/science/18mora.html?_r=1&ref=science

EO Wilson: http://webpages.charter.net/dwhitlo2/wilson1.html

Hope to see you there, and please RSVP.

best,

Tom

General description of what we're about (this bit doesn't change from month to month):

Allies of Naturalism welcomes those interested in exploring a science-based, humanistic and progressive naturalism that can make a difference in our lives. To see what's involved in being a humanistic and progressive naturalist (more or less), check out Naturalism.Org, centerfornaturalism.org and the Guide to Naturalism at http://www.centerfornaturalism.org/descriptions.htm.

Essentially, naturalism shows our full connection to the world and others, leads to an ethics of compassion, and gives us far greater control over our circumstances. We don't need anything supernatural either above us or inside us to lead moral and meaningful lives: nature is enough. Naturalism is a viable alternative to faith-based worldviews such as traditional religions and new age philosophies, offering a set of ideas with positive personal and social consequences.

The meetings offer a chance to meet fellow naturalists in an informal, relaxed setting, but with at least some structure. That's to say that we'll try to have one or two topics suggested in advance for people to think about, and then discuss when we get together. Ultimately the focus and format of the meetings will be determined by participants, but will certainly include time for socializing and networking. Watch the discussion board for topic announcements and other details. Hope to see you there!

Thanks to those who showed up for our July discussion on the ethical implications of Darwinism, which had people arguing about whether a definite human nature exists and how quickly it evolves, perhaps under cultural pressure. We didn't agree on any particular ethical implication of Darwinism, except the fact that if we're naturalists then ethical norms obviously derive from human nature and culture. There are no external foundations or moral benchmarks.

For our next meeting, I thought the following question posed by philosopher Shaun Nichols in a recent paper (url below) might provide food for thought:

"If people came to believe in determinism, would this lead to major changes in our everyday lives? Should it lead to major changes?"

In particular, Nichols asks if moral anger is still justified (p 12), and if so, on what grounds? It's an interesting paper, so check it out and see what you think. Let's try to focus on moral anger, but of course feel free to raise your own favorite ideas about how things might change if determinism were widely accepted. This seems to me one of the major implications of naturalism: that some things might indeed change were people to accept it.

http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~snichols/Papers/AfterIncompatibilism3r.pdf

Please RSVP, and I hope you can make it. Any ideas for future meetings most welcome (can include discussions, outings, movies, etc).

best,

Tom

ps: Red Line is sometimes over air-conditioned, so dress accordingly.

General description of what we're about (this bit doesn't change from month to month):

Allies of Naturalism welcomes those interested in exploring a science-based, humanistic and progressive naturalism that can make a difference in our lives. To see what's involved in being a humanistic and progressive naturalist (more or less), check out Naturalism.Org, centerfornaturalism.org and the Guide to Naturalism at http://www.centerfornaturalism.org/descriptions.htm.

Essentially, naturalism shows our full connection to the world and others, leads to an ethics of compassion, and gives us far greater control over our circumstances. We don't need anything supernatural either above us or inside us to lead moral and meaningful lives: nature is enough. Naturalism is a viable alternative to faith-based worldviews such as traditional religions and new age philosophies, offering a set of ideas with positive personal and social consequences.

The meetings offer a chance to meet fellow naturalists in an informal, relaxed setting, but with at least some structure. That's to say that we'll try to have one or two topics suggested in advance for people to think about, and then discuss when we get together. Ultimately the focus and format of the meetings will be determined by participants, but will certainly include time for socializing and networking. Watch the discussion board for topic announcements and other details. Hope to see you there!