Recent Responses
Most atheists presumably believe that there is insufficient evidence to justify belief in God. What I want to ask is: is there ANY evidence? Or none at all? Is there anything that the panelists might point to and say, "this counts as evidence that God exists"?
Allen Stairs
May 31, 2008
(changed May 31, 2008)
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I didn't respond earlier mainly because it was that time of year when college teachers are worried about grading exams and such. But I'm with Richard on this one: I find many of the discussion of evidence around this question not altogether helpful. There is, of course, evidence for God's existence,... Read more
Most atheists presumably believe that there is insufficient evidence to justify belief in God. What I want to ask is: is there ANY evidence? Or none at all? Is there anything that the panelists might point to and say, "this counts as evidence that God exists"?
Allen Stairs
May 31, 2008
(changed May 31, 2008)
Permalink
I didn't respond earlier mainly because it was that time of year when college teachers are worried about grading exams and such. But I'm with Richard on this one: I find many of the discussion of evidence around this question not altogether helpful. There is, of course, evidence for God's existence,... Read more
Is happiness really all that important? A lot of people think so, but that being happy just for happiness' sake is a waste. If there was a "happiness pill" that could make me happy for the rest of my life, I wouldn't take it. Because if I did, I'd get lazy and wouldn't accomplish anything. It seems like the pill would be cheating. But on the other hand, I'm not so sure I'd want to be the most successful person in the world if it meant I could never be happy. So I have to wonder: is it happiness or the things that make us happy that we should value?
Sally Haslanger
June 11, 2008
(changed June 11, 2008)
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On this topic, I have always been intrigued by Simone de Beauvoir's comments in the introduction to The Second Sex. She says:
But we do not confuse the idea of private interest with that ofhappiness, although that is another common point of view. Are not womenof the harem more happy than women... Read more
Most atheists presumably believe that there is insufficient evidence to justify belief in God. What I want to ask is: is there ANY evidence? Or none at all? Is there anything that the panelists might point to and say, "this counts as evidence that God exists"?
Allen Stairs
May 31, 2008
(changed May 31, 2008)
Permalink
I didn't respond earlier mainly because it was that time of year when college teachers are worried about grading exams and such. But I'm with Richard on this one: I find many of the discussion of evidence around this question not altogether helpful. There is, of course, evidence for God's existence,... Read more
What's your take on the idea that there are "laws" of the universe? Calling something a law implies that there is an enforcer. Isn't this just another anthropocentric paradigm that uses the concept of God in order to place human beings at the center of meaning? I'm agnostic, but even if there is a God hasn't all the revision and tweaking of these so called laws over the ages been evidence that they should be considered as, at best, merely "suggestions"?
Gabriel Segal
May 30, 2008
(changed May 30, 2008)
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Are you talking of scientific laws? If so ....
Calling something a scientific law doesn't imply that there is an enforcer. It just requires that there be some kind of regularity - constancy - in the universe. Philosophers dispute what kind of regularity. But they don't typically go for a regul... Read more
Are philosophers generally less religious than the general population? I'm not talking about the old-school ones, just the ones that are still alive.
Richard Heck
May 29, 2008
(changed May 29, 2008)
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This is a thorny topic, and I doubt there is any detail concerning philosophers per se. But for some data, see the Harris Poll on Americans' Religious Beliefs, which found that people with post-graduate degress are somewhat less likely to believe in God. But the difference isn't very impressive: 85%... Read more
Are philosophers generally less religious than the general population? I'm not talking about the old-school ones, just the ones that are still alive.
Richard Heck
May 29, 2008
(changed May 29, 2008)
Permalink
This is a thorny topic, and I doubt there is any detail concerning philosophers per se. But for some data, see the Harris Poll on Americans' Religious Beliefs, which found that people with post-graduate degress are somewhat less likely to believe in God. But the difference isn't very impressive: 85%... Read more
What are some real-life examples using reason (deductive or inductive) in a sound and valid manner and coming up with a false statement of reality? In other words, I'm trying to prove that reason is not always a reliable way of knowing.
Allen Stairs
May 28, 2008
(changed May 28, 2008)
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It might help to start with some definitions. As philosophers and logicians use the term "valid," a piece of reasoning is valid, roughly, if it's impossible for the premises to be true unless the conclusion is also true. That means that any argument with true premises and a false conclusion is autom... Read more
How can one rationally show that life is of supreme value and that killing should be disallowed in all instances, without relying on religious axioms such as that life is "sacred" or "god given?" It appears that, without resorting to such a religious axiom, it is impossible to rationalize complete prohibition of killing, especially considering social situations which we already know necessitate taking of life, e.g. war or self-defense. If that is true, can one conclude that the prohibition of killing as it stands in modern criminal law is induced by religious motivation and not a genuine society engineering concern, and as such contradicts reasoning?
Allen Stairs
May 26, 2008
(changed May 26, 2008)
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I think you've answered most of your own question. You pointed to self-defense and war as potential cases of acceptable killing. But the law in every country I know of allows for self-defense, and also allows for legislatures or rulers to declare war. We might add: for better or worse (worse , in my... Read more
Since normal mental function is determined by mere statistics--that is to say, the concept of sanity is based on the way most people behave--is it morally acceptable to treat people with what are perceived to be mental problems?
Allen Stairs
May 26, 2008
(changed May 26, 2008)
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Let's leave mental health aside for the moment and ask: would it make sense to imagine a situation in which a solid majority of people were physically ill? The answer seems pretty clearly to be yes. For example: we can imagine a pandemic flu infecting a majority of all humanity. Or for that matter,... Read more