Deep Dive - A Tippling Philosopher (Page 27)

Philosophy 101: Existentialism

Last night we had a Tippling Philosophers session in a lovely pub in Portsmouth, and covered existentialism. I thought it would be a good time to continue my philosophy 101 series which has so far covered: The philpapers results Socrates Plato Existentialism is a term that pops up a lot,

meaning

On God Dictating your Meaning or Purpose

I have this problem with the idea of God impressing his own meaning or purpose on your life; that you must somehow adhere to these supposedly objective ideals. It's like me designing a spade in order for the spade to dig up turf on a Tuesday morning. Imagine

catholicism

Confession and Unknown Sins - Guest Post by Geoff Benson

Thanks to Geoff Benson, regular reader and all-round legend here, for putting his thoughts into words for this piece: The issue of sin, and sinning, has been covered many times, and I'm sure will continue to be. I think it's safe to say that as regards

morality

"Very simple Johno. Thou shalt not kill." - Er, not so simple.

I was having another abortion debate on facebook, as happens far too often, mainly with a Catholic adversary. The thread was started with this meme: One of the side threads went like this: Him: Oh for the days when nuns wore habits and believed the ten commandments. Me: wow. Just

morality

Come to my Talk on Morality next Week

I am speaking to Dorset Humanists on Wednesday, next week, on the topic of morality. The details are on the attached poster. Come along if you can:

Demographics of Religion

The Particular Case of Uruguay's Growing Secularism

equality

Religious Nebraska Woman Sues All Homosexuals. Yes, All.

You couldn't make this up. Only in America! [Edit - this happened some time ago] As Time reports: Nebraska's Sylvia Driskell will represent herself in Driskell v. Homosexuals A Nebraska woman is suing every gay person on Earth and asking a federal judge to rule on

atheism

‘Long-term trend away from religion looks set to accelerate’: BHA Comments on Survey

From the BHA: Today sees the publication of the latest annual results from NatCen Social Research’s British Social Attitudes Survey. The question in the survey about religious belonging records 48% of the population as being of no religion, a one percent decline from the year before, and three percent

Biblical Exegesis

Moral progression and relativism in the testaments

I am on holiday at the moment asked trying to do this on my mobile phone so bear with me. fsck recently made a comment on a thread which included: I don't suppose that cultural relativism is true. I believe that the law was an imperfect tool, limited

Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen - Flickr - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

consequentialism

William Lane Craig - Taking to Task his Claim "Consequentialism is a terrible ethic"

Watch this, especially from 1:28:30. Craig was involved in a series of discussions in Australia with Laurence Krauss regarding philosophy and science. Unfortunately, Krauss is no great philosopher, and philosophy is what most of this discussion revolved around. However, both Craig and the annoying moderator claimed that "

Donald Trump

Sam Harris on Trump - Spot On

This is another must listen. Sam Harris nails it on Trump. This should start at the right moment- but the player is playing up. Go to about 5m19. The section I am talking about is the bit before Harris talks about the recent killings in Orlando and Trump's

determinism

Come to my Talk on Free Will on Weds Night in High Wycombe

I am giving a talk to High Wyvombe Skeptics in the Pub on Wednesday night, so please come along if you are in the area. Details are: Wednesday at 20:00 Arts4Every1 Desborough Road, HP11 2PU High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire Join High Wycombe Skeptics for this free talk! Cash bar available,

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve: A Few Flaws...

I recently posted an argument about Adam and Eve and God's moral culpability for human failure and sin, most of which went like this: 1. If Adam and Eve are properly representative of humanity, and failed the test, then God’s design of humanity is ultimately sub-optimal. This

compatibilism

Dennett, Harris and Free Will

For those who have been unaware of the fascinating conversation between Dan Dennett and Sam Harris in a bar in Banff, here it is. It seeks to bury the hatchet and clear things up over the disagreement that took place a few years ago with regard to Dennett's

morality

Replying to Philosophical Vegan Concerning Veganism and Vegetarianism (part 2)

I have been exceptionally busy and am somewhat behind on this project. Let me pull on what I said in the previous piece: This is the second part of my long promised reply to Philosophical Vegan (PV). It is not really a rebuttal because, essentially, I agree with much of

Crime & Punishment

Should We License Parenting?

In reading the brilliant book The Anatomy of Violence by Adrian Raine, the subject of licensing parenting is brought up near the end. It's a good old debating topic that often provokes strong opinions. Some claim that giving birth is a fundamental human right and everyone is entitled

freethought

On Chapman Cohen, an Early Secularist

I have just been sent some writing by Chapman Cohen, and had only heard of him through some emails from the same person previously, so wiki-ed him, and thought I would share the wiki with you as many of you may not know who he is. So today's

Adam and Eve

Adam & Eve as Bad Test Cases, and God's Moral Culpability

There is a two-horned dilemma concerning Adam and Eve that Christians of any persuasion (who take the pair's existence as somehow true, and certainly see the Fall as making sense) must overcome. We have a situation whereby Adam and Eve fail some kind of test and, as a

By Inside_my_head.jpg: Andrew Mason from London, UK derivative work: -- Jtneill - Talk (Inside_my_head.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

dualism

"The Definition of Prejudice" - Defending Naturalistic Philosophy

One of the members of the Tippling Philosophers, from which this blog derives its name, is very suspicious of naturalism in all of its guises, and what it means for psychology, science, causality and the freedom of the will. We have had many run-ins and a number of pieces on

BBC

First Humanist "Thought of the Day" on BBC Radio (Gaelic)

For years the BHA has been trying to get a humanist voice on the famous Radio 4 slot of "Thought of the Day" which is universally carried out by religious leaders. From the Humanist Society of Scotland: HSS Registered Celebrant John Howieson has become the first Humanist to

new testament

How To Save The Christian Religion - A Bit of Ingersoll

A little Robert Green Ingersoll for you. A trailblazer: HOW TO SAVE THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION EXCERPTED FROM THE DEVIL ROBERT G. INGERSOLL Take from the New Testament the infinite savagery, the shoreless malevolence of eternal pain, the absurdity of salvation by faith, the ignorant belief in the existence of devils,

Biblical Exegesis

Bible Slavery - it's all about CONTEXT!!

Having seen theist after theist squirm and perform mental gymnastics in order to make sense of the countenancing of slavery within the Bible, it's about time Nonstampcollector produced a knockdown video on this subject.

census

Why Marking "No Religion" in the Australian Census DOES Matter

This was a big thing back in the last census in the UK, and it is the same for Australia, who are having a census later this year. Information about this can be found here, at http://censusnoreligion.org.au/. As it states: Many people in Australia are born into

EU referendum

Are we Climbing the "Ladder of Prejudice" - Guest Post by Adam Wilkinson

This guest piece is a collaboration between myself and Adam Wilkinson, who sent me a message containing part of what you see here. I realise this is an overtly left wing piece and may not be representative of all of my readership, but, as such, it should open up debate

EU referendum

The Murder of Jo Cox MP and the Toxic Narrative

I, like many others in Britain, was absolutely shocked at the murder, yesterday, of Labour MP Jo Cox as she was doing work in her constituency in Yorkshire yesterday. As many of my readers are non-UK based, I will set out the context and add some necessary detail. We are