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 […]
Entries Tagged as 'Ethical Theory'
Debate Review: Sam Harris and William Lane Craig on Divine Command Theory Part I
April 13th, 2011 54 Comments
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
Hear Matt Speak on Divine Command Theory @ Auckland Uni
January 17th, 2011 4 Comments
The Auckland Reason and Science Society have invited Matt to speak on Divine Command Theory at an upcoming meeting: What: Divine Command Theory with Dr Matthew Flannagan Date: Friday 4 February 2011 Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm Location: Auckland University – Room to be advised From the Facebook event page: “Venturing back into ethics and […]
Tags: Events · Reason and Science Society
A Response to The Dunedin School’s “Thinking in Tatters: Moral Relativism and So-Called ‘Counter-Examples’”
January 2nd, 2010 9 Comments
In my previous post, A Response to The Dunedin School’s “Thinking in Tatters: Moral Relativism and Hidden Objectivist Assumptions”, I addressed some criticisms levelled at a talk I gave on moral relativsm by Deane from The Dunedin School (TDS) blog. In a follow up post, which, once again, I cannot link directly too as TDS […]
Tags: Bad Reasoning · Deane Galbraith · Relativism · The Dunedin School
A Response to The Dunedin School’s “Thinking in Tatters: Moral Relativism and Hidden Objectivist Assumptions”
December 29th, 2009 7 Comments
A while ago I did a series of semi-popular posts on moral relativism beginning with Cultural Confusion and Ethical Relativism I. These posts grew out of a talk I gave in Tauranga in 2008. Later I presented essentially the same talk at Laidlaw College for Thinking Matters Auckland which was posted on You Tube and […]
Tags: Bad Reasoning · Deane Galbraith · Relativism · The Dunedin School
Sunday Study: The Virtue of Judging – Jesus was not a Relativist
June 23rd, 2009 3 Comments
About a year ago I gave a talk on moral relativism for Thinking Matters Tauranga. During that talk I noted that relativism entails that one cannot apply the moral principles you (or your culture) accepts to the practices of other people (or cultures). I was critical of this position arguing that it suffers from all […]
Tags: Judging · Relativism · Sunday Study · Theology

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.





The NZ Herald on Cactus Kate and Priorities in Journalism Ethics
November 17th, 2009 8 Comments
There is an interesting story unfolding in the blogosphere. Cactus Kate published extracts of APN News and Media’s guidelines for publication on her blog in, APN Chicken Out, and inserted her own commentary and spin on them based on email correspondence from staff members working for APN’s publications. Where it gets really interesting is that […]
Tags: Cactus Kate · Journalism Ethics · New Zealand Herald