At the close of his 1967 book “God and Other Minds”, Alvin Plantinga argues that if theistic belief is to be dismissed as “irrational”, or in some sense “epistemically sub-par” on the basis that it lacks a rationally compelling argument, then likewise we should also reject belief in other minds, since the best argument for [...]
Entries from May 30th, 2011
In Defense of Reasonable Disagreement
May 30th, 2011 39 Comments
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Analogical argument · Disagreement · God and Other Minds · Rationality · Reformed Epistemology · Religious Epistemology · Richard Feldman · Theism · Theists
Auckland Bloggers Drinks – This Thursday
May 29th, 2011 2 Comments
The first Thursday of the month means Bloggers Drinks! The event for bloggers, blog trolls, blog groupies (bloupies) and blog readers who happen to be in Auckland. Past blogging celebrities in attendance include bloggers and blog readers from: 21st Century Renaissance, And All These Things, Annie Fox, As Yourself Hermitage, Barnsley Bill, Beretta, Blondie, Bowalley Road, The Fairfacts [...]
Tags: Bloggers Drinks · Galbraiths
Pacifism, the Bible and the Sin of Selfishness
May 27th, 2011 21 Comments
‘If someone wants something from us and we do not want to give it to them that is the sin of selfishness and the Bible condemns selfishness.’ This was one of the three points a Christian pacifist speaker made in defending his stance at the panel discussion on War Ethics that Matt mentioned in Pacifism and The [...]
Tags: Pacifism · Role of the State · War Ethics
Pacifism and The Golden Rule
May 26th, 2011 10 Comments
Last night I was part of a discussion panel looking at the Ethics of War; I defended classical just war theory. Speaking in defence of pacifism was one of the Waihope three who offered the argument that you cannot use force against an oppressor because of the Golden Rule, typically stated as: ‘do to others [...]
Tags: Golden Rule · Pacifism · Waihope Three · War Ethics
I’m so Objective about how You’re so Subjective
May 25th, 2011 19 Comments
One general objection to theistic arguments for God is that no such argument could be based on the subjective experience of one’s own cognitive processes, and that therefore it suggests delusions of grandeur to think that one can get from such a basis to God necessarily existing. But to deny that a sound argument could [...]
Tags: Atheism · Faith and Reason · Objectivism · Subjectivism · Theism
Just Think – Matthew Flannagan Speaking for ProLife NZ @ Waikato University
May 20th, 2011 No Comments
Student group ProLife NZ have launched a campaign entitled JustThink (you can read more about it at the link). To kick things off the Waikato branch has invited Matt to speak on their key messages: Is an unborn child a human being? Should it have a right to life? Should our views on abortion affect others? [...]
Tags: Abortion · Events · Feticide · Just Think · Pro Life NZ
Guest Post: One Less God
May 18th, 2011 92 Comments
Bethyada from True Paradigm writes: I have read a few posts on the ‘one less god’ proposition. Stephen F Roberts originally put it, “I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I [...]
Tags: Bethyada · Douglas Wilson · Guest Post · One Less God · Pluralism · Sam Harris · Stephen Roberts
Friday Fallacy: Affirming the Consequent
May 13th, 2011 1 Comment
In my last Friday Fallacy post, I looked at the fallacy of denying the antecedent. There I discussed conditional statements, statements of the form “if P then Q”. Examples would be statements such as “if it is raining then the grass will be wet” or “if the US had not shot Bin Laden then he would still [...]
Tags: Affirming the Consequent · Bin Laden · Fallacy Friday
We’re Going to San Francisco!
May 10th, 2011 15 Comments
Last year I was invited to present at the Annual Evangelical Philosophical Society Apologetics Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. This was a real surprise to me and an honour. Some of the best evangelical Christian scholars in the world presented at this conference; speakers included Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig, Paul Copan, Gary Habermas, Mike Licona, [...]
Tags: Apologetics · EPS · Evangelical Philosophical Society · San Francisco · SBL · Society of Biblical Literature
