Counter Apologetics

I’m joined by Aaron Rabinowitz of Embrace the Void and Philosophers in Space to discuss moral luck, moral judgement, and whether it’s ever justified to hate a person. Our first discussion on The Right to Reason Podcast: https://therighttoreason.podbean.com/e/panpsychism-debate/ Thomas Nagel – Moral Luck [PDF] Galen Strawson – Things That Bother Me [Amazon] Moral Luck [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy] You can listen to Aaron on Embrace the Void here and Philosophers in Space here Follow Aaron on Twitter @ETVpod and Emerson @waldenpod Free Will – Counter Apologetics (2017) [YouTube] “Tumors all the way down” [Very Bad Wizards] Listen to ichika Nito here Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod here Rate the show on iTunes here Support on Patreon here Subscribe to CA and Walden Pod on YouTube here Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook

We discuss Occam’s Razor and simplicity, the principle of sufficient reason, and brute facts. Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR): The principle that everything must have an explanation, reason, cause, or ground. Brute fact: Something with no further explanation. *Edit* I used “brute fact” to simply mean “explanatory termination” in this episode. A brute fact, however, even if it’s the place where our explanations ultimately come to an end, may not be true in all possible worlds. If it was true in all possible worlds, we wouldn’t call it a brute fact; we would call it a metaphysical necessity. In other words, if x is brute, x may not have been. / Leibniz’s Contingency Argument / Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence (either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause). If the universe has an explanation of its existence, that explanation is God (a necessary being). The universe exists. Therefore, the universe has an explanation of its existence. Therefore, the explanation of the universe’s existence is God. I reject the principle of sufficient reason (the first premise) because I think there must be at least one brute fact, and because the PSR is arguably self-refuting. I also don’t think the universe needs an explanation for its existence, assuming we’re defining universe in the broadest possible sense. I need to add that caveat because what has previously been called “the universe” may in fact only be a part of everything that exists. In the same way that scientists prematurely named certain particles “atoms,” only to find out later they were not in fact atoms, we may have prematurely named a part of the universe, “the universe.” Apologists will sometimes burn a lot of fuel arguing that “the universe” has an explanation, when they’re not really talking about everything that exists, ever has existed and ever will exist. If this all-encompassing whole is not “an arbitrary act of the mind,” then it could be a brute fact. And to be fair, if god existed, god could be a brute fact. But on grounds of simplicity alone, without even touching all the problems with the notion of god, nature or some aspect of nature is a better candidate than god as the place where our explanations ultimately come to an end. William Lane Craig on Leibniz’s Contingency Argument [Reasonable Faith] Leibnizian Contingency Argument – InspiringPhilosophy [YouTube] Contingency Argument [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy] Principle of Sufficient Reason [SEP] . . .  New music used with permission from ichika Nito ichika Nito’s YouTube channel Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod here Rate the show on iTunes here Support on Patreon here Subscribe to CA and Walden Pod on YouTube here Transcripts available at emersongreenblog.wordpress.com Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook

In 1927, Bertrand Russell delivered a now-famous address entitled ‘Why I Am Not A Christian’. We examine Russell’s contribution to one of the most important questions you can ask yourself: should I be a Christian? Today we discuss the argument from design, the fine-tuning argument, the problem of evil, and the Euthyphro dilemma. “Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. . . . This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.” Bertrand Russell – Why I Am Not A Christian [text] . . . Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod here Rate the show on iTunes here Support on Patreon here or if you prefer to give a one-time donation, you can do so with Venmo (@emersongreenpodcast) Subscribe to CA and Walden Pod on YouTube here Transcripts available at emersongreenblog.wordpress.com Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook

In 1927, Bertrand Russell delivered a now-famous address entitled ‘Why I Am Not A Christian’. We examine Russell’s contribution to one of the most important questions you can ask yourself: should I be a Christian? Today we discuss who counts as a Christian, the first cause argument (as well as a couple other arguments in the same family), and the natural law argument. “Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. . . . This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.” Bertrand Russell – Why I Am Not A Christian [text] Galen Strawson and Robert Wright [YouTube]

Ozy and I discuss whether atheists have faith, and whether it’s naive for atheists to hold a reflexively anti-faith position. We also discuss Hume’s problem of induction, external world skepticism, solipsism, properly basic beliefs, certainty, Alvin Plantinga’s Reformed foundationalism, reliabilism and our belief-forming mechanisms, presuppositionalism, movement atheism, and other various issues in epistemology. You can subscribe to Ozy’s channel here [YouTube] Ozy, Alex Malpass, and Matt Dillahunty [YouTube] Ozy and Matt Dillahunty [YouTube] Ozy on Real Atheology [YouTube] . . .  Subscribe to CA and Walden Pod on YouTube here Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod here Rate the show on iTunes here Support on Patreon here or if you prefer to give a one-time donation, you can do so with Venmo (@emersongreenpodcast) Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook

We discuss the A and B theories of time and how they relate to the kalam cosmological argument. Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod here Rate the show on iTunes here Support on Patreon here or give a one-time donation through Venmo (@emersongreenpodcast) Subscribe to CA and Walden Pod on YouTube here Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook Transcripts available at emersongreenblog.wordpress.com . . . . .  A and B Theory of Time and the Kalam Argument – William Lane Craig [YouTube] Why William Lane Craig Thinks Einstein Was Wrong – TMM [YouTube] Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology (pgs. 183-184) [PDF] Brian Greene on the B-Theory of Time [YouTube] Sean Carroll on Eternalism vs. Presentism [YouTube] Sean Carroll on the KCA [YouTube] NOVA – How an eclipse proved Einstein right [YouTube] Complete solution to the Twins Paradox – minutephysics [YouTube]

We discuss the relationship between atheism, consciousness, and materialism after debunking arguments from consciousness formulated by Peter Kreeft and William Lane Craig. We also discuss why it’s important for naturalists to think carefully about these issues. I suspect that seemingly unrelated problems arise from our lack of a convincing story about consciousness. Consciousness and related phenomena, like morality and meaning, seem to be a major source of resistance to physicalism, naturalism, and atheism. [Edit] Based on some of the feedback I’ve received, I feel the need to reiterate a major thesis of this episode: there is no incompatibility between atheism and any explanation of consciousness on offer. Atheism is not mutually exclusive to materialism, idealism, dualism, panpsychism, or any other solution to the mind-body problem. There is nothing one could say about the mind-body problem or the hard problem of consciousness that would count as a strike against atheism. Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod for much more on philosophy of mind here Rate the show on iTunes here Support on Patreon here  or if you prefer to give a one-time donation, you can do so through Venmo (@emersongreenpodcast) Transcripts available at emersongreenblog.wordpress.com Subscribe to CA and Walden Pod on YouTube here Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook . . . . .  Alvin Plantinga – Against Materialism [PDF] William Lane Craig – Argument from Intentionality [Reasonable Faith]5 Does consciousness point to God? – Unbelievable [YouTube] Neil deGrasse Tyson and Ben Shapiro [YouTube] Thomas Nagel – Mind and Cosmos [Amazon] Arguments from Consciousness [wiki]   Here are modern atheist philosophers who hold very different views on consciousness: Martine Nida-Rümelin, Atheist and Substance Dualist Galen Strawson, Atheist and Panpsychist Dan Dennett, Atheist and Materialist Thomas Nagel, Atheist and Neutral Monist (Young) Bertrand Russell, Atheist and Idealist … Keith Ward, Christian Idealist Sharon Dirckx, Christian Substance Dualist Peter van Inwagen, Christian Materialist

Ben Watkins joins me to discuss the moral argument for god’s existence, objective moral truth, the is/ought gap, meta-ethics, and other related topics. You can listen to Ben’s podcast, Real Atheology, here Moral Non-Naturalism [Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy] Listen to The Bible Says What!? here Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod here Rate the show on iTunes here Support on Patreon here or give a one-time donation through Venmo (@emersongreenpodcast) Subscribe to CA and Walden Pod on YouTube here Transcripts available at emersongreenblog.wordpress.com Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook

This Halloween, we’ll be discussing the life and work of the great horror author, H.P. Lovecraft.  Lovecraft’s atheism 00:00 – 07:38 Biography 07:39 – 12:50 Lovecraft’s reanimation and influence on culture 12:51 – 18:02 Lovecraft and the unknown 18:03 – 20:22 Forbidden knowledge and a New Dark Age 20:23 – 26:14 Fast zombies 26:15 – 27:27 More on the Lovecraftian mythos 27:28 – 29:13 Lovecraft’s writing style 29:14 – 38:54 Lovecraft’s racism 38:55 – 43:19 Art and the Old Church Lady 43:20 – 45:46 Horror and its critics 45:47 – 48:20 . . . . . Dagon – HP Lovecraft [YouTube]  The Call of Cthulhu – HP Lovecraft [YouTube] The Shadow Out Of Time – HP Lovecraft [YouTube] The Rats in the Walls [YouTube] Lovecraft Literary Podcast [HP Podcraft] Against Religion – HP Lovecraft [Amazon] The Portable Atheist – Christopher Hitchens [Amazon] Emma Stefansky – Primer on the works of HP Lovecraft [Polygon] HP Lovecraft’s 125th Birthday [The Atlantic] Nnedi Okorafor – Lovecraft Award [blogspot] Criticism of Lovecraft’s Writing Style [The Guardian]   Criticism/Praise for Lovecraft [The Guardian] The Philosophy of Horror – Noel Carroll [PhilPapers] Dark Lofi (outro song) [YouTube]  Patton Oswalt [HP Podcraft] Patton Oswalt with Chapo Trap House [Patreon] Chapo Trap House – H.P. Lovecraft [YouTube] . . . . .  Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook  Rate the show on iTunes Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod Support on Patreon  or give a one-time donation through Venmo (@emersongreenpodcast)  emersongreenblog.wordpress.com Subscribe on YouTube

Why is the demand for exorcism on the rise? We discuss the belief in demonic possession, the concurrent rise of anti-science attitudes, the cultural role of religious psychology, and the evolutionary origins of demons.  Tracie Harris of The Atheist Experience – Exorcisms and Anthropology [YouTube] Vatican to hold exorcist training course after ‘rise in possessions’ [The Guardian]  Exorcisms are on the rise [Atlantic]  A man drowned his 6-year-old son while trying to cast out a demon, police say [Washington Post] ‘Like being raped’: three claims of coerced exorcism in the UK [The Guardian]  Demonic Possessions – Here and How Podcast [Stitchr]  . . . . .  Contact me at emersongreen@protonmail.com or on Facebook  Rate the show on iTunes Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod Support on Patreon  or give a one-time donation through Venmo (@emersongreenpodcast)  emersongreenblog.wordpress.com Subscribe on YouTube  Listen to Magic Tricks by Whalers