re: #222 That’s Sarah Palin’s Science Advisor To You

Well, at first I told her to pronounce it “Bah- rook” but she kept saying “Bar Uch” so we just went with “Spinoza Dude” after a while.

We didn’t get much past that.

She does know that “Spinoza Dude” was expelled from his congregation (we just say “kicked out” because “expelled” and “anathamatized” are hard to write on your hand) for heresy. She also knows that Spinoza’s work was later accepted by most Jews and came to strengthen both their and christian faiths! that is why she likes Spinoza Dude.

Descartes, however, is a different matter.

Really, she likes Spinoza dude and dislikes Descartes… But isn’t the essence of her philosophy based on Cartesian Dualism? I mean, how can she be so ant abortion without assuming that a body which can not yet house an intellect, i.e. an embryo without a developed brain none the less has a soul distinct but linked to the body?