Tag: Philosophy

6. I think, therefore ……. ?

The story so far We have been looking at different aspects of our common experience as human beings that are hard, if not impossible, to explain if our universe is no more than physical. Most neuroscientists find it hard to see why our consciousness, our unique sense of ourselves, would evolve in a purely physical […]

5. Are some things really right and wrong?

Almost everyone has a sense of right and wrong, however warped it may be, but where does it come from? Are some things really right and wrong, or are ethics just arbitrary?

4. Freedom of choice

The story so far ….. We have seen that it is hard to explain the fact that the universe exists without some sort of cause and hard to explain its apparent design apart from a designer. Then we saw that it is also difficult to explain human consciousness on purely naturalistic terms. This post, we […]

3. Who am I?

We have looked at how the universe gives us strong clues that God exists. Now it is time to come closer to home, and examine how humanity offers clues to God. We know everything else in the universe from the outside, but we know ourselves from the inside. That inside knowledge raises some perplexing questions. […]

2. Was the universe designed, or random?

People tend to take a lot for granted. The sun keeps shining, the earth is full of useful minerals and gravity keeps us from flying off into space. We don’t think about it much, but what if things were different? What if gravity repulsed rather than attracted? What if we couldn’t sit on a chair […]

1. Why does the universe exist?

When thinking about possible evidence for the existence of God, it seems logical to start with the big picture, and work our way down to the more personal. So we start by considering the universe and the explanation of its existence. What is the universe? This may sound like the dumbest of questions, for we […]

12 reasons to believe in God

It’s an age-old question. Is there really a God? What can we reasonably believe? But it’s also a modern question. Most cultures have evolved with a religion. For those living in that culture, believing in that religion was part of life. Not really to be questioned all that much. But in modern western cultures at […]

Free will and determinism: are they compatible?

This page in brief …. Neuroscientists tend to conclude that the processes in our brains follow known physical laws, and so our thinking is determined by physics – meaning we don’t have genuine free choice. But our experience is that we do indeed make choices and they seem to be free most of the time, […]

Can you tell me why you believe?

I sometimes get asked for the reasons why I believe. Sometimes it is curiosity, sometimes people are desperate to know why they should believe. Occasionally people ask what sort of reasons are good, with the implication that some reasons are somehow inappropriate. So here’s the results of many years of thought and reading …..

Susan Blackmore: there’s no ‘me’!

Have you ever wondered: if the cells in our bodies change every 10 years or so, am I still the same person I was 40 years ago?