In my post on Assessing Arguments I noted that a valid argument is one where it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. I gave the following example: Premise: All men are under 10 feet tall; Premise: John is a man; Conclusion: John is under 10 feet tall. This argument […]
Entries from April 16th, 2011
Friday Fallacy: Equivocation
April 16th, 2011 14 Comments
Tags: Equivocation Fallacy · Fallacy Friday · Luke Muehlhauser · Walter Sinnott-Armstrong · Wes Morriston · William Wainwright
Undesigned Coincidences in the Gospels – Tim McGrew
April 14th, 2011 28 Comments
If we have a question on the historicity of the resurrection, Timothy McGrew is our first port of call; there is no one we would turn to before him on the subject. Tim is also highly regarded for his work on probability theory and on miracles – he is the author of “Miracles” for the […]
Tags: Faith and Reason · Historical Apologetics · Lydia McGrew · MP3 · Timothy McGrew
Debate Review: Sam Harris and William Lane Craig on Divine Command Theory Part I
April 13th, 2011 54 Comments
Last week Sam Harris and William Lane Craig debated the question: “Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural?” at the University of Notre Dame. Given my interest in divine command meta-ethics I found the debate and the subsequent online discussion concerning it extremely interesting. I was particularly interested in how the ‘new atheist’ movement would […]
Tags: Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural? · Notre Dame · Philip Quinn · Robert Adams · Sam Harris · William Lane Craig
Fallacy Friday Podcast on Apologetics 315: Division and Composition
April 13th, 2011 Comments Off on Fallacy Friday Podcast on Apologetics 315: Division and Composition
Apologetics 315 are producing an audio version of Matt’s Fallacy Friday series. The Fallacy Friday Podcasts are released every Friday on Apologetics 315. You can subscribe using: • RSS Feed • iTunes • One-Click The Mp3 of Division and Composition is here. To navigate the series in print, use the Fallacy Friday tag, to navigate MP3 series use […]
Tags: Apologetics 315 · Fallacy Friday Podcast · MP3 · Podcast
Ethical Naturalism and the Euthyphro Dilemma
April 12th, 2011 10 Comments
Some people argue that moral obligations can be grounded in scientifically verifiable facts about human wellbeing and flourishing. This view is a form of ethical naturalism. For these people moral rightness is just the property of promoting or enhancing human flourishing. Plato refuted this argument over 2,000 years ago in his famous dialogue The Euthyphro. The […]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · Ethical Naturalism · Euthyphro Dilemma · God and Morality · Humour · Plato
Unbelievable? Is God a Moral Monster? Paul Copan & Norman Bacrac
April 11th, 2011 7 Comments
Paul Copan recently debated Norman Bacrac on the topic “Is God a Moral Monster?” on a recent episode of Unbelievable? on the UK station Premier Christian Radio. Matt and I just listened to it and we both thought it was worth sharing as Copan really handled himself well and very clearly articulated his position on the […]
Tags: Canaanites · Christian Premier Radio · Is God a Moral Monster? · Justin Brierley · Norman Bacrac · Old Testament Ethics · Paul Copan · Richard Dawkins · Unbelievable?
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
Aslan is Not a Tame Lion: The Christchurch Earthquake Beyond Our Questions
April 16th, 2011 14 Comments
In the aftermath of the second Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand, “official” Christian spokesmen were exercised to assure people that God, the Living God, had nothing to do with earthquakes. They defalcated. Their theodicy was that their god was absent. In the face of likely outrage, church officials revealed that they worship, in fact, the […]
Tags: Aslan · Chris Trotter · Christchurch Earthquake · Problem of Evil