Month: July 2017

Revised Comments Moderation Policy

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I recently announced a comments moderation policy which included this: 5. This blog has a philosophical focus; the editors and authors aren’t interested in debating with readers who think philosophy is worthless or cannot understand the value of clearly defined terms. Comments along those lines will be blocked. UnitedAndy objected: I guess the biggest objection I … Revised Comments Moderation Policy

Dissatisfaction with Many Arguments for and Against Dualism

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Victor Reppert recently posted on his blog the following quotation of Susan Blackmore: How can objective things like brain cells produce subjective experiences like the feeling that ‘I’ am striding through the grass? This gap is what David Chalmers calls ‘the hard problem.’ …It is a modern version of the ancient mind/body problem – but … Dissatisfaction with Many Arguments for and Against Dualism

Christian Emotional Coercion

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Steve Hays at Triablogue writes: I don’t owe transgender soldiers any more gratitude than I owe squeegee bandits. Don’t do something I didn’t ask you to do, want you to do, or approve of, then pretend you were doing it for me. Don’t attempt to put me in your debt against my will. Your emotional … Christian Emotional Coercion

New Comments Moderation Policy in Effect

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In order to maintain a high quality of discussion in the comments box, I have made the executive decision to moderate all comments on all posts.  This decision is effective immediately. The following policies are in effect.

Why the moral argument fails

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Of all the arguments for the existence of God, there is one argument (or one style of argument) that I have never had any sympathy with and never understood why anyone has any sympathy with, and that is the moral argument. It seems to me and has pretty much always seemed to me (at least … Why the moral argument fails

What Atheists Do Not Believe

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In a recent discussion here at SO one commentator posted some claims about what atheists must believe. These claims are commonly made, not just by this particular individual, but by many theists, including some who should know better. I quote some of the claims from those posted comments below, in bold, and reply by stating … What Atheists Do Not Believe

Podcast 5: How Should We Evaluate the Christian Worldview?

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In Podcast 5, I briefly review some key points from Podcast 3 and Podcast 4, and then I discuss how to evaluate the Christian worldview: http://thinkingcriticallyabout.podbean.com/e/podcast-5-how-should-we-evaluate-the-truth-of-the-christian-worldview/ Some key points in Podcast 5: There is a PowerPoint (in a PDF) available with the content of the podcast: http://thinkingcriticallyabout.podbean.com/e/powerpoint-for-podcast-5-pdf/ My previous podcasts are available here: Thinking Critically About: Is Christianity … Podcast 5: How Should We Evaluate the Christian Worldview?

Hinman’s REMEC Argument: DOA

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Joe Hinman has (allegedly) posted a second argument for the “existence of God”: http://christiancadre.blogspot.com/2017/07/bowen-hinman-debate-existence-of-god-my.html Although Hinman believes that the claim “God exists” is NOT literally true (but is only “metaphorically true”, whatever that means), he has included the phrase “existence of God” in the title of this latest post, implying that his second argument is … Hinman’s REMEC Argument: DOA

God’s nature does not make his commands non-arbitrary

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Many modern defenders of the divine command theory frequently claim that God’s commands are not arbitrary because they flow from his essential nature. Their argument is bad. That a commander issues consistent commands based on his/her own character does not mean that those commands are not arbitrary. Whether a command is arbitrary depends on whether … God’s nature does not make his commands non-arbitrary