The Idaean Cave. Minoan and Greek Worship

The grounds of worship

Although worship has a pivotal place in religious thought and practice, philosophers of religion have had remarkably little to say about it. In this paper we examine some of the many questions surrounding the notion of worship, focusing on the claim that human beings have obligations to worship God. We explore a number of attempts to ground our supposed duty to worship God, and argue that each ...

Minoan weights

Hero worship

This month, as the surest route to public embarassment, I decided to write about scientific heroes. Today’s world is full of talk of mentoring. Graduate students are told to find supervisors who will intellectually nourish them, emotionally support them, and teach them networking and grantspersonship. As I tap away, I can almost hear Uncle Syd muttering that the world is going to the dogs. In h...

Celebrity worship, addiction and criminality

Two studies assessed the relationship between celebrity worship and (i) addiction (n 1359) and (ii) criminality (n 2158). Overall Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) scores correlated positively with Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQ-R) Addiction and Criminality sub-scale scores. In further support of the absorption addiction model of celebrity worship (McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002...

Climate change and the demise of Minoan civilization

Climate change has been implicated in the success and downfall of several ancient civilizations. Here we present a synthesis of historical, climatic, and geological evidence that supports the hypothesis that climate change may have been responsible for the slow demise of Minoan civilization. Using proxy ENSO and precipitation reconstruction data in the period 1650–1980 we present empirical and ...