I’ve said that probabilistic arguments for God don’t do much to convince a committed atheist. But the Argument from Moral Knowledge can be reformulated so that it is not merely probabilistic. In other words, the standard atheist picture (humans arose … Read the rest
Tag: Philosophy
A Compelling Argument for God
I’ve already discussed how unconvincing I find William Lane Craig’s Moral Argument for God, so it is interesting that there is a cousin to this argument that I find compelling, the Argument from Moral Knowledge:
- We have knowledge
A Very Bad Argument for God
Some arguments for theism seem to either rest on a metaphysical confusion, like the Ontological Argument. Others might furnish evidence for God, such as the Cosmological Argument and the Argument From Design. But these arguments rarely convince non-theists, … Read the rest
Examples of Backwards Causation
We tend to believe that all causation is forwards; a cause must temporally precede its effect. But there are some delightful examples of at least possible backwards causation. Even if all they do is demonstrate the ridiculousness of backwards causation, … Read the rest
The Difficulty of Giving
In Theravada Buddhism, the Bodhisattva (the Buddha pre-enlightenment) spent 540 lives cultivating the ten perfections so that he could at last be enlightened as Siddhartha. Generosity is the first of the perfections, but the last to be mastered. The Bodhisattva … Read the rest
Deceptive Commands, Lying Commands
In the The Man in the High Castle, Inspector Kido orders his subordinate to hunt down an enemy operative. His last instruction is: “I can’t interrogate a corpse.” Of course, this is an instruction. A necromancer newly bereft of … Read the rest