March 27th, 2014 | by Harmonist staff
Mathematics is indispensable to scientific theories describing our universe. And yet there are many mathematical concepts — from esoteric numerical systems to infinite-dimensional spaces — that we don’t currently find in the world around us. In what sense do they exist
March 17th, 2014 | by Harmonist staff
The average believer\'s search for meaning and understanding is any less rigorous or valuable—it just ends with a different conclusion: that God exists
March 10th, 2014 | by Harmonist staff
In order to get a more complete picture of this great endeavor to share the Good News, we must explore the rich gift of cultural witness, prayer, and personal holiness that the monastic orders have given to the Church throughout history down to the present day
February 10th, 2014 | by Harmonist staff
We don’t have to explain why creatures desire to be alive. Life is an end in itself. And if what being alive actually consists of is having powers—to run, jump, fight, fly through the air—then surely the exercise of such powers as an end in itself does not have to be explained either. It’s just an extension of the same principle
January 25th, 2014 | by Harmonist staff
Are you all matter? Or, let\'s phrase it in a different way, a little less controversial and more amenable to a scientific discussion: how does the brain, a network of some 90 billion neurons, generate the subjective experience you have of being you
December 27th, 2013 | by Harmonist staff
Put plainly, our brains think that acquiring new stuff will make us happy, but we\'re not entirely sure why our brains work this way
December 10th, 2013 | by Harmonist staff
By Christopher Bergland A new study has confirmed that humankind’s capacity for love and friendship sets us apart from all &hellip
December 5th, 2013 | by Harmonist staff
Many have argued that studying philosophy is learning how to die. If that’s true, then we have entered humanity’s most philosophical age. The rub is that now we have to learn how to die not as individuals, but as a civilization
November 18th, 2013 | by Harmonist staff
Two scientists have formalized a theorem regarding the existence of God penned by mathematician Kurt Gödel. But the God angle is somewhat of a red herring
October 6th, 2013 | by Harmonist staff
Bottom-up causation says that, given an inventory of the smallest stuff and the rules for their interactions, you can explain everything from crystals to cells to your own sweet sense of consciousness. Bottom-up causation is, at this moment in the history of physics, the dominant view. Some aren\'t buying it
June 6th, 2013 | by Harmonist staff
\"Researchers don\'t know why a plant-based diet seems to have a protective effect, but one likely reason is the nutrient profile of vegetarian diets, which tend to be higher in fiber and lower in saturated fat.\"
November 29th, 2012 | by Harmonist staff
A grassroots movement has recently emerged in which a number of scientists, philosophers, ethicists and legal experts have rallied together in support of the idea that some nonhuman animals are persons
