- But the Darwinian lesson is clear: There will be no humans elsewhere. Only here. Only on this small planet. We are a rare as well as an endangered species. Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another. —Carl Sagan, Cosmos
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Category Archives: Naturalism
Naturalism & Supernaturalism
One way of distinguishing supernaturalism and varying shades of naturalism is to consider them as providing different solutions to the “problem” of our lack of complete knowledge of the world. It is evident that we lack complete knowledge of the … Continue reading
Posted in Atheology, Naturalism
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Cartesian Doubt
Philosophy begins with science. How do we know this? We can try to begin with philosophy. We can start with Cartesian doubt. Unfortunately for the history of philosophy, Rene Descartes did not take his first philosophy far enough. He began … Continue reading
Posted in Atheology, Naturalism, Nature of Knowledge, Simulacrum
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Are Atheism & Morality Compatible (part 2)
We ended part one with three barriers to postulating an evolutionary source of human morality—obstacles which Henderson considers insurmountable. First, he claims that evolution is incapable of leading to the development of animals who are altruistically unselfish or compassionate. He … Continue reading
Posted in Atheology, Ethics & Morality, Naturalism
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Are Atheism & Morality Compatible? (part 1)
“Why There Is No Such Thing as a Good Atheist” That’s the title of a recent blog post by Pastor Rick Henderson on HuffingtonPost.com. Despite the provocative title, Henderson is sincerely trying to engage atheists in a constructive manner. The … Continue reading
Posted in Atheist Culture, Ethics & Morality, Meaning & Value, Naturalism, Uncategorized
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Diagoras of Melos was a lyric poet and the first Greek philosopher known specifically for his atheism. Heavily influenced by Democritus, the early Greek natural philosopher and advocate of atomism, who in fact was his tutor, Diagoras ran afoul of … Continue reading
October 25, 2013
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What Lies at the Dark Heart of Atheism?
Once God is extinct, claimed one of Dostoyevsky’s characters in The Brothers Karamazov, everything is permitted. And this is a common theist mantra. What unfathomable perversion lies at the dark heart of atheism? My answer: nothing more salacious than loyalty … Continue reading
Posted in Atheist Culture, Atheology, Meaning & Value, Naturalism
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Disembodied intelligence and the natural worldview
Roughly speaking, there are two ways of looking at the “big picture” of life, two basic worldviews—which we commonly call the natural and the supernatural. At first glance the difference seems clear. One says everything that exists is natural, the other … Continue reading
Posted in Atheology, Naturalism, Supernaturalism
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Billy Graham on Atheism
Atheism is often misunderstood by the religious—which is not surprising given how foreign disbelief is to the theistic outlook. A recent but typical example comes from longtime evangelist (and “spiritual advisor” to several U. S. Presidents) Billy Graham, Jr. Many … Continue reading
Posted in Atheist Culture, Atheology, Naturalism
14 Comments
Fixing Classical Arguments
In my last post, I wrote about how the premises of classical deductive arguments could be construed as either statements of logical definition or of observed fact. I argued that philosophers often confound the two and, as a result, either … Continue reading
Posted in Faith & Reason, Meaning & Value, Naturalism
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God and Other Minds
Theists like to point out that we can never prove that others (besides ourselves) have minds. The person sitting in the chair next to me may be carrying on quite a lively conversation—but how can I be sure there’s really … Continue reading
Posted in Faith & Reason, Naturalism, Theologians
3 Comments