Arguing about the existence of God (2) – unkleE’s guidelines
I started my previous post with the observation that the internet is full of discussions between believers and unbelievers, and not all of them are civil, respectful and constructive.
Tag: Philosophy
Arguing about the existence of God (1)
Arguing about the existence of God seems to be a major part of the internet. But I wonder how much it achieves.
Reality used to be a friend of ours?
The purpose of science and philosophy is to explain difficult facts. If our current philosophy or science cannot explain some facts, we consider a new hypothesis or vary the current hypothesis. But one aspect of reality is proving impossible to reconcile with current science and philosophy, which creates tensions.
Who needs a crane? (Sceptics or believers?)
Philosopher Daniel Dennett used the metaphor of cranes and skyhooks to contrast different ways of arriving at knowledge, whether in science or in philosophy. Skyhooks are approaches that require a jump from what we know (science) to some explanation that isn’t science-based (like God). He argued that we should only use approaches that build from […]
Reasons to believe: one person’s meat is another’s poisson!
Victor Reppert is a philosopher. His book, CS Lewis’s Dangerous Idea discusses the theistic argument from reason. His blog, Dangerous Idea has long been a source of information and ideas for me, and many others. Recently he responded to the argument that there is no evidence for God, and summarised his reasons for believing in […]
Sean Carroll’s non-cosmological arguments against God
In a recent internet discussion of fine tuning, I was referred to a 2014 debate between Sean Carroll and William Lane Craig, where Carroll made a number of criticisms of the fine-tuning argument used by Craig. He also included some other statements he regarded as showing that the universe looks like one NOT created by […]
Objections to the theistic argument from fine-tuning
Last post I presented evidence that indicates that the scientific evidence shows that the universe is indeed “fine-tuned” – i.e. of all the possible universes allowed by theoretical physics, very, very few would have allowed life to evolve. This post I consider objections to using this scientific evidence to argue that God exists.
Choosing our religion (3): how people make choices
I reckon most of us like to think we make good decisions about what we believe – that is, ones that are based on good evidence and good reasoning, and which lead to true beliefs. Trouble is, there are people with quite different beliefs about God, morality and politics to what you or I believe, […]
Choosing our religion (2): can we choose what we believe?
People argue over religious belief and disbelief. Christians generally say everyone should believe in Jesus, and will be judged by God according to whether they believe or not. Non-believers criticise, and sometimes mock, believers for their belief. But can we choose what we believe? I discussed last post the question of whether we have free […]
Choosing our religion (1): do we have free will to choose anything?
Can we choose our beliefs? Can we choose anything, or are we prisoners of the electro-chemistry in our brains? How do we choose? Pondering these questions can change the way we think, and how we understand ourselves and others. I am beginning a series of posts on these questions. This post looks at free will […]