The Irrelevance of Naturalistic Metaethics to Arguments from Evil Against God’s Existence
Consider the following exchange between Christi, a Christian, and Natty, a naturalist, on the problem of evil. Natty: If God exists, then why is there so much evil and suffering in the world? Christi: Well, if God exists, it’s logically possible that so much of the evil and suffering in the world is due to … The Irrelevance of Naturalistic Metaethics to Arguments from Evil Against God’s Existence
Craig, Koons, and Divine Command Theory
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Taylor Carr republished on The Secular Outpost with permission. The original post may be found on his blog, The Godless Skeptic. In a recent episode of the Reasonable Faith podcast, William Lane Craig offers his thoughts on a 2012 paper by Jeremy Koons, Can God’s Goodness Save the Divine Command Theory from Euthyphro? Koons’ paper is another … Craig, Koons, and Divine Command Theory
A Moral Argument for God which Begs the Question against Theists
Reposting a comment I left on fellow Patheos blogger Bob Seidensticker’s blog, Cross Examined. Bob was writing about Geisler’s and Turek’s book, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. Bob quoted this passage from their book: If the atheists are right, then we might as well lie, cheat, and steal to get what we want … A Moral Argument for God which Begs the Question against <I>Theists</I>
Kai Nielsen on Natural Law and Divine Command Theory
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Taylor Carr republished on The Secular Outpost with permission. The original post may be found on his blog, The Godless Skeptic. It’s common to hear theists make the claim that there cannot be a moral law without a moral law-giver. C.S. Lewis, Ravi Zacharias, and several other prominent defenders of the Christian faith … Kai Nielsen on Natural Law and Divine Command Theory
Link: “Humanism, Moral Relativism, and Ethical Objectivity” by John Shook
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Charles Pidgen on the So-Called “Naturalistic Fallacy” in Meta-Ethics
A common objection to reductive moral naturalism (aka ‘ethical naturalism’) is the so-called “naturalistic fallacy.” This fallacy comes into flavors: logical and semantical. The Logical Form This version of the naturalistic fallacy is normally referred to as the is-ought fallacy, the fact-value fallacy, or, in honor of its author, Hume’s Law. The source of this form … Charles Pidgen on the So-Called “Naturalistic Fallacy” in Meta-Ethics
Another Christian Apologist Tears Down a Straw Man of Atheist Morality
My friend Wintery Knight (WK) has written another blog post on the topic of morality. Like so many other theists (and a few atheists), he manages to completely botch the topic of atheist morality. Who Speaks for Atheists, Anyway? If you want to determine Christian beliefs about something, you can see what the Bible and various representatives of … Another Christian Apologist Tears Down a Straw Man of Atheist Morality
A Primer in Religion and Morality
My recent interview for the Atheistically Speaking podcast inspired me to compile this quick primer in religion and morality, in order to help clarify the many different concepts at play when we talk about morality with and without God. I consider this a work-in-progress so any constructive criticism would be appreciated. Update (5 May 2015): I have revised … A Primer in Religion and Morality
Not this Again!
John Mark Reynolds, Provost of Houston Baptist University, has posted an essay reasserting the old canard that atheism is the cause of mass murder. Reynolds commits all the usual fallacies of those who make this claim. For instance, though he notes that correlation is not the same thing as cause, here is what he says … Not this Again!
A Very Rough Sketch of an Objection to Quentin Smith’s Argument for Moral Realism
In his book, Ethical and Religious Thought in Analytic Philosophy of Language, Quentin Smith defends an argument for moral realism which he calls the argument from veridical seeming. In this post, I’m going to sketch a brief objection to (4) based on what I will call “naturalistic evolution.” According to this objection, naturalistic evolution furnishes naturalistic … A Very Rough Sketch of an Objection to Quentin Smith’s Argument for Moral Realism