Swinburne’s Cosmological and Teleological Arguments – Part 2
Like many other liberals, I’m delighted and mesmerized by Bridgegate and various other Chris Christie scandals from the fine state of New Jersey. I cannot wait for my daily dose of Rachel Maddow dishing the latest dirt on Christie and his idiotic crowd of corrupt New Jersey hooligans. What does this have to do with … Swinburne’s Cosmological and Teleological Arguments – Part 2
Swinburne’s Cosmological & Teleological Arguments
I’m not going to try to fully explain and evaluate Swinburne’s Cosmological and Teleological arguments for God here. That would be way too much to tackle in one or two blog posts. There are just a couple of doubts or concerns about these arguments that I would like to express and explore. Swinburne’s inductive cosmological … Swinburne’s Cosmological & Teleological Arguments
Richard Carrier Responds to Uncommon Descent on Atheism and Suicide
LINK Your name Your email Subject Your message (optional)
John Shook Enters the Fray on Defining “Atheism”
As I read him, John Shook’s approach can be summed up in three, related propositions. 1. One can be an atheist without believing that atheism is true. 2. Following the OED, an atheist is “One who denies or disbelieves the existence of a god.” 3. Atheism is the belief that “Believing that no god exists … John Shook Enters the Fray on Defining “Atheism”
Playing The Mystery Card (incl. McGrath vs Dawkins) from my book Believing Bullshit
PLAYING THE MYSTERY CARD Suppose critics point out that not only do you have little in the way of argument to support your particular belief system, there also seems to be powerful evidence against it. If you want, nevertheless, to convince both yourself and others that your beliefs are not nearly as ridiculous as … Playing The Mystery Card (incl. McGrath vs Dawkins) from my book Believing Bullshit
Best of All Possible Persons – Part 2
What do you get if you cross ‘the best of all possible worlds’ (from Leibniz) with ‘the being than which none greater can be conceived’ (from Anselm)? You get: the best of all possible persons, which is another way to conceive of God. Here are two proofs of the non-existence of God, based on this … Best of All Possible Persons – Part 2
Slicing Up the Metaphysical Pie
One basic question in metaphysics is this: How many gods exist? Atheism can be defined as the view that there are 0 gods. Monotheism is the view that there is just 1 god. Polytheism is the view that there are 2 or more gods. Thus all of the various answers to the metaphysical question above … Slicing Up the Metaphysical Pie
Best of All Possible Persons
Now this supreme wisdom, united to a goodness that is no less infinite, cannot but have chosen the best… If there were not the best among all possible worlds, God would not have produced any. (Gottfried Leibniz, Theodicy, translated by E.M. Huggard, 1951, p.128) According to Anselm, God is the being than which none greater … Best of All Possible Persons
One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 6
In Chapter 3 of Handbook of Christian Apologetics (hereafter: HOCA), Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli present twenty arguments for the existence of God. The very first argument is one of the Five Ways of Aquinas. This is not surprising, since Kreeft is a Catholic: The universe is the sum total of all these moving things, … One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 6
One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 5
Here is a creationist argument for the existence of God: 1. If God exists, then it is very likely that the basic kinds of plants and animals all began to exist at the same time. 2. If there is no God, then it is very unlikely that the basic kinds of plants and animals all … One Man’s Modus Ponens…Part 5