Concluding our coverage of The Vocation of Man (1799), Books II and III. This discussion continues part one. We start out with a bit more wondering about how we build objects with our mind, in particular about whether this entirely uniform because we all have the same psychology as humans, or whether it might seriously vary according to your cultural group or individual Continue Reading …
Ep. 270: Classical Indian (Vedanta and Nyaya) Design Arguments for God (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On the new book God and the World’s Arrangement: Readings from Vedanta and Nyaya Philosophy of Religion, which presents two takes on the argument that God must exist because the world is a "product." The first is excerpted from the Brahma-sūtra (a.k.a. the Vedānta-sutra, compiled ca. the 2nd Continue Reading …
Ep. 270: Classical Indian (Vedanta and Nyaya) Design Arguments for God (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on God and the World’s Arrangement: Readings from Vedanta and Nyaya Philosophy of Religion after the departure of our guest, Stephen Phillips. Wes grills Seth and Mark on what's really new here philosophically: We're all familiar with the design argument, so why wade through all these unfamiliar schools and archaic formulations? So we talk more about Continue Reading …
Ep. 270: Classical Indian (Vedanta and Nyaya) Design Arguments for God (Part One for Supporters)
On the new book God and the World’s Arrangement: Readings from Vedanta and Nyaya Philosophy of Religion, which presents two takes on the argument that God must exist because the world is a "product." The first is excerpted from the Brahma-sūtra (a.k.a. the Vedānta-sutra, compiled ca. the 2nd century C.E.) verses 2.2.1-2.2.10 with commentary from Śaṅkara (710 C.E.) and Vācaspati Continue Reading …
Ep. 267: Avicenna on God and Soul w/ Peter Adamson (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode. Listen to a preview. Hear this part ad-free. On selections and commentary about Avicenna's argument from around 1020 C.E. for the existence of God (including arguments to prove that God has the person-like properties that Islam imputes to him) and his "flying man" argument for the soul's essential independence from matter. Featuring Continue Reading …
Ep. 267: Avicenna on God and Soul w/ Peter Adamson (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on Avicenna's argument for the existence of God and on the "flying man" argument for the soul's immateriality. We start by drilling more into Avicenna's metaphysical picture via his concept of necessity, and how we know that the mind is necessarily (essentially, according to its nature a.k.a. quiddity) different than the body. When you know Continue Reading …
Ep. 267: Avicenna on God and Soul w/ Peter Adamson (Part One for Supporters)
On selections and commentary about Avicenna's argument from around 1020 C.E. for the existence of God (including arguments to prove that God has the person-like properties that Islam imputes to him) and his "flying man" argument for the soul's essential independence from matter. Featuring Mark, Dylan, and our guest Peter Adamson from the History of Philosophy Continue Reading …
Ep. 253: Leibniz on the Problem of Evil (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing on Gottfried Leibniz’s Theodicy (1710). We get further into the weeds: What is the metaphysical necessity for evil? Leibniz says God doesn't actually cause evil; it's just that his optimal creation will necessarily have some evil in it. Just the fact that he's necessary and infinite, and his creation is contingent and finite means that creatures involve some lack, Continue Reading …
Ep. 253: Leibniz on the Problem of Evil (Part One)
Subscribe to get Part 2 of this episode, or listen to a preview. Citizens can get the entire second part here. On Gottfried Leibniz’s Theodicy (1710), as considered by Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Why does God allow so many bad things to happen, from diseases and other natural afflictions to violence insane and premeditated? This question is often used as a challenge to the Continue Reading …
Ep. 253: Leibniz on the Problem of Evil (Part One for Supporters)
On Gottfried Leibniz’s Theodicy (1710), as considered by Mark, Wes, Dylan, and Seth. Why does God allow so many bad things to happen, from diseases and other natural afflictions to violence insane and premeditated? This question is often used as a challenge to the existence of a good God as offered by traditional religion. If He's all-powerful and all-knowing, He could Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 23: #SimulatorShowdown
The twenty-third and final installment of an ongoing series about the intersection between religion and technology. The previous essay is here. Welcome to the final installment of our series, Saints & Simulators. All along we've been exploring the overlap between modern high technology, traditional religion, and all the contested philosophical battleground in between. Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 22: #ThePerennialPhilosophy
The twenty-second installment of an ongoing series about the intersection between religion and technology. The previous essay is here; the next essay is here. As we sink deeper and deeper into the realm of religion, we find ourselves forced to face up to a core religious dilemma of the modern, globalized world, the same dilemma glossed over by Pascal in his wager: In a world Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 21: #TheProblemOfEvil
The twenty-first installment of an ongoing series about the intersection between religion and technology. The previous essay is here. (Last time, we looked at ancient Greek philosopher Plato, and the Neoplatonic interpretation of his work as focused around illuminating the nature of a single divine ideal.) The reason Plato believes the Great Good Thing exists, and the Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 20: #theOne
Twentieth in an ongoing series on the nexus between religion and technology. The previous essay is here; the next essay is here. Out of the two objections we raised against the concept of God as the "Lonely Dungeon Master" (at the end of our last segment), the conceptual complexity of the Dungeon Master’s world is perhaps the easier one to address. In our outline of the Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 19: #TheLonelyDungeonMaster
Nineteenth in an ongoing series on the nexus between religion and technology. The previous essay is here. In the last essay, we talked about the eerily godlike role played by the simulator in Nick Bostrom's theory that posits we all exist only within a computer simulation, and the fact that, even so, it would be unknowable what kind of god the simulator might be. But is it Continue Reading …
Saints & Simulators 18: #Gaia
Eighteenth in an ongoing series on the nexus between religion and technology. The previous essay is here; the next essay is here. The reason, perhaps, that Professor Nick Bostrom’s demonstration of the probability of God’s existence has received so little attention and notice (especially as compared to the stir and commotion caused by his demonstration of the probability Continue Reading …
Saints and Simulators 17: #PascalReloaded
Seventeenth in an ongoing series about the interface between religion and technology. The previous episode is here. Last week we discussed Newcomb's Paradox, a thought experiment about the rational response to an omniscient being, and also Roko's Basilisk, the frightening digital boogeyman the paradox spawned in the minds of those who pursued the train of thought too far. It Continue Reading …
Science, Religion, and Secularism, Part XXXV: Justin L. Barrett—Why Would Anyone Believe in God? Part C
In our last two articles, we've explored one book in the exciting new field of cognitive science of religion. And we've seen how one of the findings in this area is that belief in God, or something like God, is natural to us, given the types of minds we have. Of course, this doesn't show that one ought to believe in God—that would be to commit the naturalistic fallacy. After Continue Reading …
Science, Religion, and Secularism, Part XXXIV: Justin L. Barrett—Why Would Anyone Believe in God? Part B
In our last article, we explored some recent findings in the cognitive science of religion (CSR). We saw how current research suggests that belief in God, or something like God, comes naturally to most human beings, most of the time, in virtue of the types of brains we have. I'd like to explore Justin L. Barrett's arguments on this front in a bit more depth in this Continue Reading …
Science, Religion, and Secularism Part XXXIII: Justin L. Barrett—Why Would Anyone Believe in God? Part A
In the last four articles, we explored two sides of the theist/atheist debate. On the atheist side, we explored Antony Flew's argument that we start from a position of atheism, as a default, and that the onus is on the theist to persuade us otherwise. We also heard from William Kingdon Clifford, who contended for a strong evidentialist position—i.e., that we must have Continue Reading …