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Philosophy

Atheism/Theism

The Moral Argument

The four-part series on the moral argument:

  1. The Moral Argument for God Part 1: Going from Morality’s Existence to God’s Existence
    How one can argue from objective morality’s existence to God’s existence.
  2. The Moral Argument for God Part 2: Does Objective Morality Exist If God Does Not Exist?
    Some believe that objective morality exists even if God does not exist; here I argue such people are mistaken.
  3. The Moral Argument for God Part 3: Does Objective Morality Exist?
    Another atheist response to the moral argument is to deny moral objectivism, but how well does that work?
  4. The Euthyphro Dilemma
    Rebutting this famous (or infamous) objection to God grounding morality.
  5. Epilogue: Awakening the Sensus Divinitatis

Other articles:

The Leibnizian Cosmological Argument (LCA)

Arguments for Atheism

  • Omnipotence, Creating an Immovable Stone, and YouTube
    Can an omnipotent being create an immovable stone? One popular variation: can God create a stone so heavy that he can’t lift it? I discuss this so-called paradox that was inspired by a YouTube video with the help of some nifty symbolic logic (don’t worry; I explain what the symbols mean and they’re easy to understand).

Miscellaneous

  • Why Atheists Might Wish God to be a Dictator
    While atheists do not believe that God exists, they believe that God (if only as a fictional character) is a dictator. But if God exists, atheists would if anything be upset if he isn’t more of a dictator, and in this article I explain why.
  • Bad Santa Analogy
    Bad analogy between Santa and God.

Ethics and Morality

General

  • A Quick Argument for Objective Morality
    A quick argument for moral objectivism.
  • Moral Nihilism and Defining Morality
    One form of moral nihilism (the view that denies that moral properties like moral wrongness exist), is ethical noncognitivism, which says that moral statements like “torturing infants just for fun is morally wrong” are neither true nor false. Among other things, this article makes sense of that position (while still disagreeing with it).
  • Crazy Idea #2: Quasi-Marriage
    In my humble opinion, the divorce rates are higher than they should be, and this article gives a crazy solution.

Abortion

  • If You Think Abortions Kill...
    In 2012 U.S. Vice Presidential debate, Joe Biden seemed to think that abortion should be legal even though he believes it involves taking human life. How well does that idea work?
  • Abortion and the Famous Violinist
    In her famous violinist thought experiment, philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson boldly claims that even if abortion entails killing innocent human life, abortion remains morally permissible. How well does this argument work?

Logic, Math, and Critical Thinking

Math

Some math that has philosophical applications:

  • “If A, then probably C” entails “Probably, if A then C”
    This page proves the theorem of mathematics and propositional logic that “Given A, probably C” entails “Probably, if A then C.” One application: using “Given God’s nonexistence, it is likely that objective morality does not exist” to argue that “If God does not exist, then objective morality does not exist” is at least probably true.
  • Conjunction and Conditional Probability
    Mathematically demonstrates that “Probably, A and C” entails “Given A, probably C.” One application: anyone who believes “God does not exist and objective morality does not exist” is rationally committed to conceding that “If God does not exist, then objective morality does not exist” is at least probably true (due to the theorem that “Given A, probably C” entails “Probably, if A then C”).

Logic

My (incomplete) series on logic:

  1. Introductory Logic, Part 1—Introducing both logic in general (such as the difference between a deductive and inductive argument) and propositional logic in particular
  2. Introductory Logic, Part 2—More propositional logic
  3. Introductory Logic, Part 3—A defense of the material conditional

Symbolic Logic Applications

Below are some articles where I use symbolic logic.

  • Omnipotence, Creating an Immovable Stone, and YouTube
    Can an omnipotent being create an immovable stone? Here I use some nifty symbolic logic (don’t worry; I explain what the symbols mean and they’re easy to understand) and it is a nice illustration of why logic is important.
  • Spooky Action at a Distance
    Evidence from quantum mechanics suggests that making a measurement on one particle can simultaneously (as in taking literally zero seconds) affect another particle light-years away. Stranger yet, we can’t exploit this to send an information signal faster than light. How does this work and what is the evidence for this craziness? Read this article and find out (I use symbolic logic to argue for it).
  • Pseudo-Relativism
    Suppose Adolph thinks trying to wipe out the Jews is a morally right action for him and Oskar thinks that would be a morally wrong action for Adolph to do. Pseudo-relativism says that morality is relative in such a way that Oskar and Adolph are both right. But is this coherent? And why would anybody accept it?

Metaphysics

Philosophy of Mind

  • The Chinese Room and the Soul
    Can a computer program think? Philosopher John R. Searle has an interesting argument against this (his famous Chinese Room thought experiment) and this also leads into some interesting things to consider about the existence of the soul.
  • Philosophical Zombies
    In philosophy, zombies are creatures that are functionally (and in some cases physically) identical to a human, such that it looks and behaves like a human yet lacks consciousness. Here I argue that the mere conceivability of zombies ultimately suggests the existence of the soul.
  • Plantinga’s Argument against Materialism
    Renowned philosopher Alvin Plantinga has an interesting argument against the view that we humans are purely physical beings.
  • Mary the Colorblind Brain Scientist
    One could believe that the sensation of redness just is the set of neurophysiological properties associated with that sensation. But if a brilliant colorblind brain scientist knew all the neurophysiological properties associated with the sensation of redness, would she know what it’s like to have a sensation of redness?
  • The Free Will Argument for the Soul
    Using free will as evidence for the existence of the soul.
  • No Free Will Means No Rationality
    An argument for the idea that human rationality does not exist if we have no free will.
  • Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism
    Some atheists claim there is a conflict between science and religion. But what if there were a conflict between naturalism (disbelief in the supernatural) and science? Enter a remarkable argument that uses the theory of evolution to argue against the rationality of naturalism.

Philosophy of Science

Simplicity as Evidence of Truth

The series on simplicity being evidence of truth:

  1. Simplicity as Evidence of Truth: Justifying Ockham’s Razor
  2. Simplicity as Evidence of Truth: Theories Tying Into Background Knowledge
  3. Simplicity as Evidence of Truth: How Do We Know It?

Miscellaneous

  • Spooky Action at a Distance
    Evidence from quantum mechanics suggests that making a measurement on one particle can simultaneously (as in taking literally zero seconds) affect another particle light-years away. Stranger yet, we can’t exploit this to send an information signal faster than light. How does this work and what is the evidence for this craziness? Read this article and find out.
  • Why Falsificationism Sucks
    While I deal with falsificationism as a criterion of meaning and rationality, I also discuss how well falsificationism works as a criterion for a belief/theory/hypothesis to be scientific.

General Philosophy

  • Glossary (of philosophy terms etc.)
    Various terms defined.
  • Why Relativism Sucks
    The “true for me but not for you” thing sucks, and this article explains why.
  • Why Evidentialism Sucks
    Evidentialism says that no belief can be justified without sufficient evidence. An atheist might criticize religious people for being irrational because their beliefs do not have sufficient evidence. One small problem: evidentialism sucks! While it may seem reasonable on the surface, it has severe problems.

Christianity

Apologetics

The Moral Argument

The four-part series on the moral argument:

  1. The Moral Argument for God Part 1: Going from Morality’s Existence to God’s Existence
    How one can argue from objective morality’s existence to God’s existence.
  2. The Moral Argument for God Part 2: Does Objective Morality Exist If God Does Not Exist?
    Some believe that objective morality exists even if God does not exist; here I argue such people are mistaken.
  3. The Moral Argument for God Part 3: Does Objective Morality Exist?
    Another atheist response to the moral argument is to deny moral objectivism, but how well does that work?
  4. The Euthyphro Dilemma
    Rebutting this famous (or infamous) objection to God grounding morality.
  5. Epilogue: Awakening the Sensus Divinitatis

Other articles:

The Leibnizian Cosmological Argument (LCA)

General

Politics

Religious Liberty

Miscellaneous













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