Stephen Law, professor of philosophy at Oxford, discusses his "evil god challenge" to theists: prove that God is not perfectly evil. That challenge, we will see, is surprisingly difficult to meet. Check out Stephen's paper outlining the evil-god challenge, as well as Mooney and Hendricks paper critiquing the challenge.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:06 The evil-god challenge
00:11:03 The versions of the challenge
00:17:02 Does the moral argument break the parallel?
00:24:28 Skeptical theism will not undercut the challenge
00:34:07 Does skeptical theism lead to skepticism about everything?
00:46:30 The neutral-god challenge
00:53:13 Theodicies won't undercut the challenge, either
00:59:39 Would Jesus' resurrection break the parallel?
01:07:57 Is an evil god logically incoherent?
01:16:47 What are you most uncertain about?
Graham Oppy and Brian Cutter join me to debate philosophy's newest argument for God: the argument from psychophysical harmony. We talk about epistemic probability versus metaphysical possibility, the relevance of thought-experiments to determining possibility, whether mental states are identical to brain states, and what we ought to infer if we found John 3:16 in binary code in the digits of pi.
Check out Cutter and Crummet's paper defending the psycho-physical harmony argument, my previous interviews with Graham and Brian.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:34 Cutter opening statement
00:18:14 Oppy opening statement
00:27:59 Moderated discussion
01:48:33 Cutter closing statement
01:50:07 Oppy closing statement
Mhairi Tait, my friend and fellow DPhil student at Oxford, sits down with me to discuss whether Ted Bundy's mother was right to stand by her son, whether you could ever love the same person forever, whether you should "trade up" if you find someone with better qualities than your current beloved, and whether one still ought to be loved even if one were a worm.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:52 Is the best kind of love unconditional?
00:14:10 Is it okay to not love everyone?
00:20:00 Should we "trade up" if we find a better romantic partner?
00:21:21 Is love ever unjustified?
00:24:07 Is love for an abuser real love?
00:30:14 The possibility of love at first sight
00:40:30 What IS love, exactly?
00:45:04 Do you, Miles, think love has created value in you
00:55:11 Ted Bundy's mother loved him to the very end
00:59:28 Ethical non-monogamy?
01:01:15 Does love require free will?
01:04:20 Is there a single concept the unifies all our uses of the word "love"?
01:06:39 Does analytic philosophy do damage to love?
01:11:50 Realist vs. anti-realist accounts of love
01:14:17 Could you love the same person forever?
Dr. David Enoch, author of "Taking Morality Seriously: A Defense of Robust Realism," joins me to discuss moral realism versus anti-realism, objections from the moral error theorist, and my personal sticking points in affirming the existence of irreducible moral facts: moral disagreement across cultures and evolutionary explanations for our moral beliefs.
Buy David's book defending robust moral realism.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:07:23 Naturalism vs. non-naturalism
00:19:23 Why should we reject moral error theory?
00:32:32 The revisionary costs of error theory
00:43:34 Intuition as our only ground for moral realism?
00:47:45 The connection to ethical intuitionism
00:51:19 Objection #1 - Moral disagreement
01:03:18 Moral skepticism
01:06:20 Objection #2 - Evolutionary debunking arguments
01:16:16 Is God required to explain objective morality?
01:20:45 Are most philosophers moral realists?
Dr. Dan Linford breaks down Einstein's theory of special relativity, its consequences for our understanding of time, and whether there are any ways to reconcile relativity with the view that past events are no longer real, and future events are not yet real. In particular, he examines William Lane Craig's attempt to rehabilitate a neo-Lorentzian theory of relativity.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:10 What is special relativity?
00:11:30 Of trains and absolute simultaneity
00:15:31 Time dilation and length contraction
00:25:08 Three "interpretations" of special relativity
00:27:14 Theory #1 - Einsteinian relativity
00:29:11 Theory #2 - Minkowskian relativity
00:35:11 Theory #3 - neo-Lorentzian relativity
00:47:09 What do physicists think of neo-Lorentzian relativity?
00:59:50 Can we integrate special relativity with presentism?
01:10:06 Neo-Lorentzianism applied to cosmology
Sociologist and professor Dr. Christian Smith discusses his recent book, "Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America". We discuss the reasons for the decline of faith in a traditionally Christian nation, the seeming recent revival of faith among the younger generation, and what these developments mean for the future of religion in America.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:13 How do we define religion?
00:05:44 In what sense has religion gone obsolete?
00:09:13 Why has religion gone obsolete?
00:18:52 Is religion trending downward worldwide?
00:21:20 The internet's role in undermining religion
00:25:43 The "cringy-ness" of online religious outreach
00:28:11 The legacy of the New Atheists
00:32:01 The role conservative politics has played
00:37:33 Does this mean Americans are atheists?
00:46:50 The advance of science did not cause religious decline
00:50:26 The negative impact of creationism
00:54:01 Homosexuality and abortion as the ride-or-die issues
01:02:09 A revival of faith among American youth?
01:10:20 Does religion have a future?
Astrophysicist Niayesh Afshordi and science communicator Phil Halper return to the channel to discuss their new book, Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins. We discuss inflationary theory, the BGV theorem, how space and time might not exist at the fundamental level of reality, and so much else besides. This was one of my favorite interviews so far.
Make sure to check out Phil and Niayesh's book, and follow Phil on YouTube.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:13 Does the Big Bang theory feature a bang?
00:07:53 What is an FLRW spacetime? What is the Lambda-CDM model?
00:18:39 Is a singularity unscientific?
00:25:05 Singularity theorem #1: Hawking-Penrose
00:33:04 Singularity theorem #2: Borde-Guth-Vilenkin
00:39:23 What is "classical" spacetime?
00:52:40 Singularity theorem #3: Generalized second law of thermodynamics
00:57:54 The quantum eternity theorem
01:01:10 String-theoretic models of the universe
01:05:56 A fundamental limit to what we can know?
01:09:10 Is a cosmic beginning scientifically unsatisfying?
01:15:17 Teaching science as a story
01:19:35 Embrace uncertainty
Dr. Dan Linford and I discuss the causal principle, that everything that begins to exist has a cause. We look at William Lane Craig's oft-repeated three reasons for affirming the premise: something cannot come from nothing, if something could come from nothing, then anything and everything should come from nothing, and an inductive generalization supports the causal principle.
Check out Linford's paper discussing neo-Russellian analyses of causation, "Without microphysical causation, not just anything can begin to exist just anywhere".
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:58 Different types of "causes"
00:05:49 Premise (1) of the KCA
00:10:19 First argument for CP: An inductive generalization
00:23:56 Metaphysics should be continuous with physics
00:34:27 Is science our only source of knowledge?
00:38:32 Second argument for CP: Something cannot come from nothing
00:42:16 Is neo-Russellianism just too counter-intuitive?
Dr. Tomas Bogardus discusses contemporary philosophical analysis of sex and gender, defending a traditional understanding of these terms.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
EPISODE CHAPTERS00:00:00 Introduction
00:32 What are the main views about gender?
17:03 What's the difference between sex and gender?
27:52 Why think sex terms are social constructions?
35:29 Societal consequences for biological realism regarding sex
39:05 Intentional revision of sex terms?
44:35 Dr. Bogardus: What is a woman?
45:04 Woman: Adult human female
55:24 Can trans-women be women on this account?
01:12:38 But still, should we revise the meaning of our terms?
Dr. Matt Lutz defends moral error theory, the two-part thesis that (i) our moral claims are capable of being true or false, but (ii) because there is no objective morality, all of them are false.
Check out all of Dr. Lutz's publications.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:13 What is moral error theory?
00:03:46 Non-cognitivism in ethics
00:19:32 Motivation for non-cognitivism
00:25:00 Ethical naturalism vs. non-naturalism
00:54:30 Is there an objective morality?
00:58:21 Epistemological objections to realism
01:11:00 Miles' two responses to arguments for error theory
Joe Folley and I discuss our philosophical differences regarding fine-tuning, the problem of evil, skeptical theism, pragmatic justification for God, apatheism, and much else besides.
Check out Joe's excellent YouTube channel.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:15 The fine-tuning argument
00:12:30 Can the constants really vary?
00:18:41 What is "possibility"?
00:34:54 Is probability just frequency?
00:48:16 Is there common ground between theist and atheist?
00:58:04 We should not be apathetic about God's existence
01:10:38 There are more options besides theism and naturalism
01:19:50 Skeptical theism
01:28:29 Does evil disprove God?
01:32:04 Philip Goff's limited God
01:43:55 Life is better if you believe in God
01:53:40 Should we take the red pill?
01:58:59 Problems with moral realism
02:12:50 What motivates you in running a YouTube channel?
Dr. Tim Maudlin returns to the channel to discuss the fine-tuning of the universe, the beginning of the universe, and whether these facts might be reasonably suggest that a creator God exists.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:56 How do science and philosophy relate?
00:11:33 The fine-tuning argument
00:22:35 Is the universe fine-tuned for rocks?
00:27:39 Does evil disprove God?
00:31:04 Of multiverses and Boltzmann Brains
00:35:45 How does the multiverse explain fine-tuning?
00:47:39 Do we know we're not Boltzmann Brains?
00:50:59 God and the beginning of the universe
00:58:24 The Borde-Guth-Vilenkin theorem
01:01:49 Does everything that begin to exist have a cause
01:08:02 Are theistic philosophers acting in good faith
01:11:56 Are atheists acting in good faith?
01:16:59 What is Tim's favorite color?
01:17:29 Will physics ever explain consciousness?
Dr. Randal Rauser, himself a Christian apologist, joins me to critically examine some of the mistakes and excesses of Christian apologetics as it is commonly practiced - on YouTube and within broader academic discourse as well.
Check out Randal's YouTube channel.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:15 What is apologetics?
00:05:52 What is a 'tentative' apologist?
00:14:25 Mistake #1 - Not giving weight to moral experience.
00:36:09 How do we determine what the Bible teaches?
00:38:02 Mistake #2 - Thinking every question must be answered.
00:45:49 Mistake #3 - Simplifying enormously complicated issues.
00:50:50 If saving souls isn't the right motive for apologetics, what is?
00:57:03 Mistake #4 - Mixing apologetics with politics.
01:01:36 Debating vs. discussing controversial issues.
Dr. Michael Huemer and I discuss the evils of factory farming, the strengths and possible drawbacks of a vegan and vegetarian diet, whether animals have rights, if humans are the pinnacle of intrinsic value, and whether already having severe dietary restrictions justifies eating meat (it doesn't).
Check out Dr. Huemer's book, "Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism".
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:33 What goes on in factory farms?
00:10:45 Do we have to argue that animals have rights?
00:17:26 Do animals have rights?
00:25:02 Can we hunt animals?
00:27:24 Are all animals sentient?
00:29:01 The Shrimp Welfare Project
00:36:54 Why does it seem normal to eat meat?
00:41:08 Nutritional deficiencies in a vegan diet?
00:47:25 Plant farming kills animals too!
00:55:06 Are we heading for a vegetarian-only world
01:02:30 The role of ethical intuitions
01:09:04 BONUS CONTENT - The inconsistencies of moral anti-realists
Dr. RT Mullins discusses his view that God is literally identical to time. We also discuss and critique William Lane Craig's proposal that God is, in a sense, both temporal and timeless.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:12 What's the point of philosophical theology?
00:11:00 Mullins' definition of time.
00:21:14 An absolutist theory of time.
00:23:39 Is this pantheism?
00:30:49 The idea that God is time.
00:39:35 William Lane Craig's view - God creates time.
00:52:50 Is God's timelessness logically prior to His temporality?
01:04:48 Does time have a beginning?
01:14:07 Do scientists know anything about time?
Dr. Daniel Rubio graciously agreed to come on the channel to discuss and critique a paper I wrote examining four lesser-discussed hypotheses that lie somewhere between theism and atheism: the simulation hypothesis, cosmopsychism, axiarchism, and new laws of nature.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:12:13 Option #1 - We're in a simulation.
00:32:26 Option #2 - The universe designed itself.
01:05:31 Option #3 - Goodness requires that the universe exist.
01:29:01 Option #4 - Laws of nature guide the universe towards life.
Dr. Graham Priest explains his views on dialetheism, the view that some contradictions are true, while also discussing the relationship between Buddhism and modern science, the cosmological and fine-tuning arguments, and how Christians can avoid refutation by embracing paradox.
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:12 What is dialetheism?
00:06:09 Paradox #1 - The liar
00:14:54 Paradox #2 - The law
00:29:37 Paradox #3 - Theology
00:38:15 Why Christianity can't possibly be true
00:40:46 Does dialetheism support Buddhism?
00:49:01 The relationship between Buddhism and modern science
00:49:25 Support #1 - The impermanence of all things
00:51:54 The cosmological argument for God
00:56:26 The fine-tuning argument for God
01:55:44 Support #2 - The nature of consciousness
Dr. Klaas Kraay explains that the multiverse, rather than serving as an alternative to God, actually supports belief in God by undermining two atheistic arguments: the problem of evil and the problem of no best world.
Check out Klaas' paper explaining the theistic multiverse, "Theism, Possible Worlds, and the Multiverse."
Also see my paper looking at the relationship between theistic multiverses and modern science, "Does science undermine the theistic multiverse?"
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:07 Multiverses in cosmology
00:06:36 The problem of no best world
00:13:15 The wine analogy
00:19:44 Two versions of the problem
00:24:20 Theistic multiverse solution
00:32:10 Objection - Duplication
00:37:27 1st response - Limit the multiverse to kinds
00:43:53 2nd response - More is not always better
00:49:50 What's more valuable, God or the multiverse?
00:58:39 The problem of evil
01:18:30 What got Klaas into philosophy?
01:20:11 Does philosophy make progress?
Dr. Robyn Faith Walsh, professor of New Testament at the University of Miami, explains the gnostic gospels, their significance, and their relationship to the canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and whether Jesus' earlies disciples would recognize the theology of the earliest Christian creeds.
Check out Dr. Walsh's book, "The Origins of Early Christian Literature."
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EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:06 What is gnosticism?
00:10:43 The historical value of the gnostic gospels
00:24:12 Are the canonical gospels less legendary than the gnostic ones?
00:31:11 The gospels as literature rather than history
00:35:58 The Gospel of Thomas
00:48:35 Do the gnostic gospels go back to the first century?
00:53:28 Does the Apostles' Creed reflect earliest Christianity?
01:01:55 Would the apostles recognize modern Christianity?
01:07:14 The gospels writers borrowed from Paul
01:14:25 Are evangelical NT scholars taken seriously?
01:25:56 Confirmation bias in NT scholarship
Philip Goff joins me to discuss panpsychism, cosmopsychism, and how these theories of consciousness have the potential to explain one of the most striking discoveries of modern science: the fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life.Check out Philip's book, Why?: The Purpose of the Universe.
To support the channel, do please oh please consider donating via PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee.
Feel free to follow me on Instagram or Twitter.EPISODE CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:05 What is panpsychism?
00:14:46 Panpsychism vs. idealism
00:17:49 Why we should be panpsychists
00:34:35 The combination problem
00:40:12 From panpsychism to cosmopsychism
00:48:40 The fine-tuning of the universe
00:56:28 Cosmopsychism vs. theism
01:10:45 What is the purpose of the universe?
01:16:40 Debating William Lane Craig