step42.com

It’s always interesting when I run across things on the internet that jolt me back into a philosophic mood.  I never thought that such a thing would happen from coming across something like that from the blog of an intelligent design proponent.  This post brought into focus my pet peeve of intellectual honesty.  If there’s one thing I can’t stand when people try to make arguements, it’s intellectual dishonesty.

After doing a bit of reading about this author, he seems to be pretty well recognized as an ID supporter that actually adheres to some standard of intellectual honesty.  I know a few people reading this will have instantly though “ID supporter? he must be retarded,” but that is exactly the type of intellectual dishonesty that this guy tries to avoid.  Specifically take a look at #1 and #7.

Intellectual honesty was a concept that had fallen to the back of my mind.  When I first saw that title of the post in my reddit feed all of the thoughts I’ve had about it in the past, while taking philosophy classes, came rushing back.  More than anything else, I respect people for being intellectually honest, not matter which way they’re leaning.

It seems that intellectual honesty is a rare thing in this day and age.  From simple advertisements, to the travesty that is Fox News, the world at large seems to be quite an intellectually dishonest wasteland.  So much so that I am extraordinarily refreshed by the rare occurrences of honesty that I come across.  Even amongst people I talk to every day, I can pick out inconsistencies and double standards on a regular basis.  Hell, often I catch myself doing it.