Ouch! LINK … [Read more...]
Wes Morriston’s God and the Ontological Foundation of Morality
Filed Under: ethics, links, moral argument, nontheistic metaethics, theistic metaethics Leave a Comment
Theism, Atheism, and Metaethics
In response to my comments on "Atheist Ethicist: Theism, Atheism, and Blame," Keith Parsons rightfully pointed out an error and an inconsistency in my comments where I had denied that theism has metaethical implications. As is often (if not always) the case in philosophy, a lot of this depends on terminology. And although I responded in the combox on that post, I realized that the issue really warrants its own post.Philosophy of Religion TerminologyLet me begin by rehearsing some terminology, … [Read more...]
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Atheist Ethicist: Theism, Atheism, and Blame
This is an old post, but worth linking to now regardless. Alonzo Fyfe at the Atheist Ethicist makes this important point.If you take “atheism” and its counter-part “theism” NEITHER of these are a source of violence or evil. You cannot draw any moral implications from the statement, “It is not the case that at least one God exists” just as you cannot draw any moral implication from the statement, “It is the case that at least one God exists.” They are both behaviorally, … [Read more...]
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(ex-apologist) A Euthyphro to Craig’s Argument Against Atheist Significance, Meaning, and Purpose
LINKI noticed this argument and found it worth sharing: 1. Either (a) the purposes God sets for our lives are significant because God wills them, or (b) God wills them because they're significant.2. If (a), then what counts as a significant life is arbitrary.3. If (b), then what counts as a significant life is independent of God---------------4. Therefore, what counts as a significant life is either arbitrary or independent of God. … [Read more...]
ex-apologist: A Quick Euthyphro Dilemma Reply to Craig’s Argument Against Atheistic Meaning and Purpose
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The Poverty of Theistic Morality
In an effort to increase visibility of an article that has been largely ignored by theists, I thought it would be interesting to discuss what Adolf Grünbaum has to say about the theistic implications of morality in his excellent essay, "The Poverty of Theistic Morality." He writes:One vital lesson of that analysis will be that, contrary to the widespread claims of moral asymmetry between theism and atheism, neither theism nor atheism as such permit the logical deduction of any judgments of … [Read more...]
Filed Under: Christianity, ethics, nontheistic metaethics, theism, theistic metaethics 4 Comments
Can Theists Be Moral?
That's a pretty silly question, isn't it? I would argue that it is about as silly as the question, "Can Atheists Be Moral?" Even fundamentalist Christian philosophers grant that atheists can know moral principles and behave according to those principles. If someone wishes to deny that theists or atheists can have morals, it seems the burden of proof should fall on them to offer some reason why they could not have morals. … [Read more...]
Filed Under: apologetics, apologist watch, ethics, links, nontheistic metaethics, theistic metaethics 11 Comments
Louise Antony’s NYT Editorial on Good without God
LINK (HT: Ex-Apologist) … [Read more...]
Filed Under: arguments for theism, ethics, links, metaethics, moral argument, nontheistic metaethics Leave a Comment
Atheism and the difference between consistency and entailment
At Jeff Lowder's suggestion, I'm re-posting this 2008 post from my own blog here. Although the referenced blog, The Country Shrink, no longer exists, I have replaced the links to refer to copies of the posts at the Internet Archive.---A Christian rural psychologist has posted on his blog about "some psychological aspects of atheism," where he claims that:[Atheists] tend to not be able to understand that their position means “anything goes,” with respect to morality. If there is no God, … [Read more...]
Filed Under: atheism & naturalism, ethics, metaethics, nontheistic metaethics 5 Comments
Bibliography on Arguments for Atheism
The purpose of this bibliography is to provide a comprehensive listing of academic resurces which contain presentations, formulations, or defenses of various arguments for atheism. The bibliography currently omits any references to resources which criticize those arguments; I hope to fix that in the future as time allows.As always, I don't claim this bibliography is perfectly accurate or complete; if spot any errors or omissions, please post your feedback as a "comment" at the bottom of this … [Read more...]
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