“The Goal of Science is understanding lawful relations among natural phenomena. Religion is a way of life within a larger framework of meaning.”–Ian Barbour
Episode 167: Hume on Intelligent Design (Part Two)
Continuing on David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), with guest Stephen West. We get further into what’s wrong with the design argument and why Hume thinks that it’s merely a verbal dispute whether we want to say that God designed the orderly universe or just say that the universe is orderly. Also, the problem of evil!
Listen to part 1 first, or get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
End song: “Shittalkers” by Ken Stringfellow, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 39.
Check out the St. John’s College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.
Episode 167: Hume on Intelligent Design (Part One)
On David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779). How should the scientifically minded argue for God’s existence? Is the order and complexity of nature enough to prove an infinite God of the traditional sort? With guest Stephen West.
Don’t wait until next week for part 2; get the rest of the discussion now with your ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
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Episode 167: Hume on Intelligent Design (Philosophize This! Crossover) (Citizen Edition)
On David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779). How would a scientifically minded person argue for the existence of God?
In Hume’s dialogue, a character named Cleanthes argues from this point of view for God’s existence based on the complexity and order apparent in nature: It looks designed. But how good is that argument, and is it enough to prove an infinite God of the traditional sort? With guest Stephen West.
End song: “Here Comes the Flood” by The Security Project. Listen to Mark’s interview with Trey Gunn on Nakedly Examined Music #21.
Hume on Religion: A Video Introduction to PEL Ep. 167
Watch a video introduction to David Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion where he considers the argument from design. Does experience ground the inference from the orderliness of nature to a divine creator?
Episode 166: Spinoza on Politics and Religion (Part One)
On Benedict de Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 12–20 and the Tractatus Politicus (1677).
What’s the relationship between ethics and political power? Given that religious factions tend to create strife, what’s the optimal role of the government in mitigating that damage? Is theocracy in any way a good idea?
Don’t wait for the rest of the discussion! Get the ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition right now.
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Episode 166: Spinoza on Politics and Religion (Citizen Edition)
On Benedict de Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 12–20 and the Tractatus Politicus (1677).
What’s the relationship between ethics and political power? Given that religious factions tend to create strife, what’s the optimal role of the government in mitigating that damage? Is theocracy in any way a good idea?
End song: “Shittalkers” by Ken Stringfellow, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 39.
Episode 165: Spinoza on Biblical Criticism (Part Two)
Continuing on the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 1–11. We go more into natural laws vs. ordinances; does it make sense to say that God makes rules for people? Also, how does Spinoza deal with alleged miracles given that natural laws are absolute regularities?
Continued from part 1, or get the ad-free Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!
Get The Rise and Fall of Dodo at nealstephenson.com.
Episode 165: Spinoza on Biblical Criticism (Part One)
On Benedict de Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 1–11.
For Spinoza, the Bible was a political issue, and he was interested in a way to read it that didn’t lead to people fighting wars and persecuting each other. Spinoza argues that a respectful reading is one that looks for the central message and doesn’t paper over many places where the text was tailored to its original audience’s prejudices, or where for historical reasons we can’t now really know what it meant to them.
Episode 165: Spinoza on Biblical Criticism (Citizen Edition)
On Benedict de Spinoza’s Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), ch. 1–11.
For Spinoza, the Bible was a political issue, and he was interested in a way to read it that didn’t lead to people fighting wars and persecuting each other. Spinoza argues that a respectful reading is one that looks for the central message and doesn’t paper over many places where the text was tailored to its original audience’s prejudices, or where for historical reasons we can’t now really know what it meant to them.
End song: “Spinoza’s Dream” (2016) by Dave Nachmanoff, as discussed on Nakedly Examined Music ep. 20.
REISSUE-Ep. 24: Spinoza on God and Metaphysics
Discussing Spinoza’s Ethics (1677), books 1 and 2. God is everything, therefore the world is God as apprehended through some particular attributes, namely insofar as one of his aspects is infinite space (extension, i.e. matter) and insofar as one of his aspects is mind (our minds being chunks or “modes” of the big God mind). A 2010 discussion with a new intro by Dylan and Mark.
Get ep. 25 that continues this discussion by becoming a PEL Citizen, a $1 subscriber at patreon.com/partiallyexaminedlife, or publicly sharing the post from our FB page for this episode.
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Ep 134/135 Aftershow on Hegel’s “Logic” feat. Chris Yeomans
Host Danny Lobell joins Mark to welcome Purdue’s Chris Yeomans for a discussion of our two episodes (starting with 134) on G.F.W.’s Science of Logic and Encyclopedia Logic. PEL listeners on the call include Alan Cook, Michael Burgess, Carey Hillman, and Preston Price.
Episode 129: Is Faith Rational? (Part Two)
Continuing on the the reasonableness of religious belief with many short readings and guests Nathan Gilmour and Rob Dyer.
Episode 129: Is Faith Rational? (Part One)
Nathan Gilmour (Christian Humanist podcast) and Rob Dyer (God Complex Radio) join Mark and Wes for to discuss the reasonableness of religious belief reading Antony Flew’s “The Presumption of Atheism,” Norwood Russell Hanson’s “The Agnostic’s Dilemma,” Steven Cahn’s “The Irrelevance of Proof to Religion,” Alvin Plantinga’s “Is Belief in God Properly Basic?” Merold Westphal’s “Sin and Reason,” Basil Mitchell’s “Faith and Criticism,” Peter van Inwagen’s “Clifford’s Principle,” William Alston’s “Experience in Religious Belief,” Richard Swinburne’s “The Voluntariness of Faith” and “The World and Its Order,” and Paul Helm’s “Faith and Merit.”
Episode 129: Is Faith Rational? (Citizen Edition)
Nathan Gilmour (Christian Humanist podcast) and Rob Dyer (God Complex Radio) join Mark and Wes for to discuss the reasonableness of religious belief reading Antony Flew’s “The Presumption of Atheism,” Norwood Russell Hanson’s “The Agnostic’s Dilemma,” Steven Cahn’s “The Irrelevance of Proof to Religion,” Alvin Plantinga’s “Is Belief in God Properly Basic?” Merold Westphal’s “Sin and Reason,” Basil Mitchell’s “Faith and Criticism,” Peter van Inwagen’s “Clifford’s Principle,” William Alston’s “Experience in Religious Belief,” Richard Swinburne’s “The Voluntariness of Faith” and “The World and Its Order,” and Paul Helm’s “Faith and Merit.” Learn more.
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End song: “Let Us Meet” by Mark Lint, setting an old poem by Kim Casey Linsenmayer.
Topic for #129: Is Religious Faith Rational?
Nathan Gilmour (Christian Humanist podcast) and Rob Dyer (God Complex Radio) joined Mark and Wes for a wide-ranging discussion on the reasonableness of religious belief, covering short articles by Alvin Plantinga, Antony Flew, Richard Swinburne, and others.
Plato and the God of the Gaps
In Plato’s view, we perceive God not in the fulfillment of the promises of our ordinary knowledge, but in its absence.
Ricoeur on the “Second Naïveté”
How is it that we’re supposed to approach a difficult text in a childlike manner after going through some rigorous process of hermeneutical examination of the text and ourselves?
Episode 112: Ricoeur on Interpreting Religion (Citizen Edition)
On Paul Ricoeur’s “The Critique of Religion” and “The Language of Faith” (1973), with guest Law Ware. How can we apply hermeneutics to the Bible?
End song: A live 1998 cover of Elvis’s “Suspicious Minds” by Mark Lint and the Fake.
Episode 112: Ricoeur on Interpreting Religion
On Paul Ricoeur’s “The Critique of Religion” and “The Language of Faith” (1973), with guest Law Ware. How can we apply hermeneutics to the Bible?
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