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 'Philip Quinn'
Debate Review: Sam Harris and William Lane Craig on Divine Command Theory Part I
April 13th, 2011 53 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
The Separation of Church and Self: Rethinking Separationism
December 16th, 2010 119 Comments
Is it just for a pluralistic society to ground its public policy on religious premises? What role should religion play in such a society? Debate over questions like these has figured in theology, philosophy, political science, jurisprudence and popular culture for centuries. In contemporary Western pluralistic society the debate continues. Even for those unfamiliar with [...]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Coercion Test · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Endorsement Test · Freedom of Religion · Gerald Gaus · James Madison · John Rawls · Jürgen Habermas · Justice Scalia · Law Studies · Lee v Weisman · Lemon Test · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Devine · Philip Quinn · Philosophy of Religion · Political Philosophy · Religion in Public Life · Richard Rorty · Robert Audi · Separationism · Stephen Carter · Terence Cuneo · Vincent Phillip Muñoz
God, Morality and Abhorrent Commands: Part III Philip Quinn
November 29th, 2010 5 Comments
In this three-part series I look at some different ways of adjudicating conflicts between apparent divine commands and moral beliefs. I started with Immanuel Kant, I then looked at Robert Adams’ defence of Kant’s position. Now I will complete the series by exploring Philip Quinn’s alternative view. In “God, Morality and Abhorrent Commands: Part II [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Kant · Philip Quinn · Robert Adams
God, Morality and Abhorrent Commands: Part II Robert Adams
October 19th, 2010 7 Comments
In this three-part series I will look at some different ways of adjudicating conflicts between apparent divine commands and moral beliefs. I started with Immanuel Kant, now I will look at Robert Adams’ position. In “God, Morality and Abhorrent Commands: Part I Kant” I mentioned Phillip Quinn’s observation that theists can face a particular dilemma, [...]
Tags: Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · James Rissler · Kant · Philip Quinn · Raymond Bradley · Religious History · Robert Adams · Selection
God, Morality and Abhorrent Commands: Part I Kant
October 13th, 2010 185 Comments
In this three-part series I will look at some different ways of adjudicating conflicts between apparent divine commands and moral beliefs starting with Immanuel Kant. In “Commonsense Atheism and the Canaanite Massacre“ I addressed a question put to me by Luke from Commonsense Atheism, “If Matt did think these events happened literally as described in the [...]
Tags: Canaanites · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · Kant · Luke Muehlhauser · Old Testament Ethics · Philip Quinn · Religious History · Robert Adams
Matthew Flannagan’s Opening Statement: Bradley v Flannagan Debate
August 7th, 2010 11 Comments
On Monday 2 August at the University of Auckland Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Dr Raymond Bradley and Dr Matthew Flannagan (of this blog) debated the topic “Is God the Source of Morality? Is it rational to ground right and wrong in commands issued by God?” For the benefit of those who could not be there, who [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Canaanites · Capital Punishment · Chris Tucker · Debates · Divine Command Theory · God and Morality · J J Finkelstein · Joe M Sprinkle · K Lawson Younger · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Quinn · Raymond Bradley · Raymond Westbrook · Robert Adams · Walter Kaiser
There’s Probably No God? Fisking Atheist Billboards
July 12th, 2010 401 Comments
On the way back from Bloggers drinks we drove past one of the controversial atheist advertising billboards, put up by NZ Atheist Campaign, The Humanist Society and NZARH, which have appeared around Auckland. This appears to have come on the back of the Richard Dawkins inspired bus advertising that made headlines earlier this year. It [...]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Bad Reasoning · Christopher Hitchens · John Hare · NZ Atheist Campaign · NZARH · Paul Kurtz · Philip Quinn · Richard Dawkins · Robert Adams · Stephen Layman · The Humanist Society · William Lane Craig
Contra Mundum: Secularism and Public Life
June 1st, 2010 63 Comments
Legal scholar Stephen Carter stated, One good way to end a conversation – or start an argument – is to tell a group of well educated professionals that you hold a political position (preferably a controversial one such as being against abortion or pornography) because it is required by your understanding of God’s will. In [...]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Contra Mundum · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Investigate Magazine · Michael Tooley · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Quinn · Religion in Public Life · Richard Rorty · Robert Audi · Stephen Carter · Terence Cuneo
Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part III
November 25th, 2009 3 Comments
In my last posts, beginning Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part I, I set out the doctrine of religious restraint and touched on some criticisms of it. I looked at and critiqued some of the key arguments in support of the doctrine of religious restraint. In this post I will look at the objection that [...]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Freedom of Religion · Gerald Gaus · Glenn Peoples · John Rawls · Jurisprudence · Law Studies · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Quinn · Philosophy of Religion · Political Philosophy · Public Policy · Religion in Public Life · Robert Audi
Religious Restraint and Public Policy: Part I
November 23rd, 2009 31 Comments
In this series I set out the doctrine of religious restraint, the idea that in a pluralistic, liberal, society religious beliefs should not be utilised in the formation of public policy. I note that this doctrine entails an asymmetrical treatment of religious and secular beliefs, which appears to conflict with the central notion of liberal [...]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Freedom of Religion · Jurisprudence · Law Studies · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Quinn · Philosophy of Religion · Political Philosophy · Public Policy · Religion in Public Life · Stephen Carter · Terence Cuneo
