Cosmology - A Tippling Philosopher

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Cosmology

A collection of 77 posts

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When Jesus became a star traveler

Across the Western world, the feast of the Ascension is coming up, celebrating the day Jesus rose up into heaven. It is the final story in his life that included him being killed and then, miraculously, returned to life. And now…he’s in outer space? The tale starts to

Via Shutterstock

There's a black hole just over the cosmic horizon

The Gaia spacecraft, launched in 2013 by the European Space Agency, has the job of precisely mapping billions of stars. Its wealth of data provides the diet for many scientists looking for any number of phenomena. One such person has been astrophysicist Kareem El-Badry, who together with colleagues has discovered

Should Christianity lead to belief in the multiverse?

Cosmological theories are often at odds with traditional Christian or theistic views. Although the Catholic Church has accepted the Big Bang theory for the beginning of the universe, this is not a universal Christian belief, and further nuanced theorizing pertaining to our cosmology is often met with more resistance. But

Obliterating the Kalam Cosmological Argument

I love me a bit of the Kalam. Well, more accurately, a bit of criticism of the Kalam. What am I talking about? What is this Kalam? Well, the Kalam Cosmological Argument (KCA) is a short, three-lined syllogism that supposedly shows that the universe required a cause for its existence,

Phil Halper Interviewed on Cosmology, Kalam, Craig, and Atheism.

This is something I have been meaning to do for a long time. Phil Halper, with his superb skydivephil channel, has produced some brilliant videos over time critiquing the Kalam, William Lane Craig, theistic cosmology, animal suffering arguments and all sorts, whilst also producing some of the best, most in-depth

Multiverse or Cyclic Universe? Alan Guth vs Roger Penrose

Skydivephil (Phil Halper) has produced some amazing videos over the years, and this is no exception. It's a real privilege to be able to see two of the biggest hitters in cosmology in conversation together. It's a discussion between the father of inflationary cosmology, Alan Guth

Lowder, Kalam and Creating the Universe from Nothing

Here is the foreword to my book Did God Create the Universe from Nothing: Countering William Lane Craig's Kalam Cosmological Argument [UK] by Jeffery Jay Lowder. I think this is one of my tightest books, one that I am particularly proud of. Anyway, over to Lowder: There are

Did God Create the Universe from Nothing?

This was the question I sought to answer in my book of the same name, with the subtitle of Countering William Lane Craig's Kalam Cosmological Argument [UK]. I often think this is my best book. It's tight, aimed at just the right level and audience in

Biblical Exegesis

Genesis & Cosmology: A Debate

Skydivephil has created, with his wife through the eponymous YouTube channel, some staggering good videos on cosmology, having interviewed pretty much most of the leading cosmologists in the world (from Guth to Vilenkin, Hawking to Penrose). He has also contributed to a chapter in a book I was also commissioned

Causality and Kalam

A YouTuber commenter hit me with this comment the other day in the context of me having written a book on the Kalam Cosmological Argument (Did God Create a Universe from Nothing) [UK]. Here is his comment, with my reactions interlinearly: The central thesis of your book against the Kalam,

Kalam Underwritten by Science?

I wrote a, what I obviously think is fantastic, book on the Kalam Cosmological Argument a few years back. The sort of reviews I have enjoyed getting go something like this: 5.0 out of 5 stars William Lane Craig really should read this book before he says anything else

Pearced Off! #8 - The Kalam and Free Will as Not Compatible

I am running a series of the old podcast segments from my Pearced Off! section of the Skepticule Podcast (a British skepticism-based podcast now on hiatus) that I used to contribute to. Some of the earlier ones have some quieter audio. Apologies. They run at around ten minutes. Something to

Dekonstructing the Kalam: CosmicSkeptic, William Lane Craig & Conceptual Nominalism

conceptual nominalism

Dekonstructing the Kalam: CosmicSkeptic, William Lane Craig & Conceptual Nominalism

In my first video in this series on the Kalam as pertaining to leading light of internet atheism, CosmicSkeptic, I looked at running a commentary that hoped to highlight the need for clarity in many of the points that Alex O'Connor made in a vide debunking his former

Debunking CosmicSkeptic Debunking Himself Debunking the Kalam. A Rebunking? Or Something...

Okay, this isn't so much a debunking as a conversation or a use of Alex O'Connor's (CosmicSkeptic) recent video as a stimulus for discussion. It's a commentary of sorts. I've got a lot of time for O'Connor: his

William Lane Craig vs Alex O'Connor on the Kalam

Alex O'Connor is a bit of a star in the atheist world right now, with a huge internet following, getting invited to conferences and getting huge names to discussions, from Richard Dawkins to, now, William Lane Craig. So here he is talking to William Lane Craig. And I

Sean Carroll on His Poetic Naturalism

conceptual nominalism

Sean Carroll on His Poetic Naturalism

I previously introduced you to Sean Carroll's Poetic Naturalism, which I see as a naturalistic worldview entailing conceptual nominalism. Here are a few videos to explain his position: Poetic naturalism: The meaning of life: Purpose: Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You

Complexity by photo fiddler, flickr.com

Fine-Tuning and Evolution: Evaluating Complexity

We so often, as free-thinkers, get embroiled in arguments concerning fine-tuning or evolution. Proponents of such arguments invariably claim that something or other is too complex to be explained by natural means. Therefore God. We often pick holes in such claims to the probability of these things, and frequency of

Before the Big Bang: A Multiverse from "Nothing"

Skydivephil and his team have just released a new cosmology film in their Before the Big Bang Series. In previous episodes of the series they have interviewed such names as Stephen Hawking, Sir Roger Penrose, Alan Guth and many others. In this episode, we interview Alex Vilenkin. Vilenkin was the

Guest Post: Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing?

Hi. My name is Roger. I'm from Michigan originally but have lived in Columbus, Ohio for 29 years. This site contains my ideas on physics and philosophy. Throughout these papers, I try to make as few assumptions as possible, try to be internally consistent and try to follow

God's Superfluity in Creating the Universe

“God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them. He creates the universe, already foreseeing - or should we say "seeing"? there are no tenses in God - the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross, the flayed

Sean Carroll, the Multiverse and Fine-Tuning

Sean Carroll's excellent book The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself contains some great segments and thoughts. This excerpt, from a section on fine-tuning, is no exception. It talks about how the multiverse is not some kind of ad hoc theory that

Kalam, Causality and God

The other day, a Christian commenter posted a series of comments concerning the Kalam (appearing to pertain to my book Did God Create the Universe from Nothing?). I would like to take them to task in considering some of those comments, which include: "It is… a mere assertion… that

Why Did God Wait to Create the World?

Well, it depends what kind of Christian you are as to how you interpret what happened in the creation of this here universe. The young earth creationist will, of course, believe that the world that we live on and the universe that we live in are only 6000 or so

William Lane Craig Has a Pop at Me and Appears to Miss

As many of you might know, one of my most recent books was Did God Create the Universe from Nothing?: Countering William Lane Craig's Kalam Cosmological Argument (UK here). The book is a refutation of (Craig's use of) the Kalam Cosmological Argument. In it, I have

The Kalam - On time: Craig’s inconsistent appeals to science

As many of you will know, I have recently written a new book concerning the Kalam Cosmological Argument (Did God Create the Universe from Nothing? Countering William Lane Craig’s Kalam Cosmological Argument), which has had some cracking reviews. This post is an extract from the book that deals with