David Hume

[F]utilitarianism

October 31, 2013 / McFormtist / 2 Comments

There is a school of thought to which many ethicists subscribe, whose students never seem willing to move on from the lambda-omega-lambdas, and whose parties are always unusually loud and long even after the music has been stopped for years and all the drink has dried up. This troupe of tautological idealogues loves to insist upon its own opinions and swears so should you. In doing so they both establish and undercut their point. These are the Utilitarians.

Utilitarianism is a philosophy of ethics that is summarily defined to say, “the morally right action is the action that produces …

Some people won’t get over it. Get over it!

September 26, 2013 / McFormtist / 0 Comments

Heres’s an excellent post on the “is-ought” problem, also known as the “naturalistic fallacy”:

http://pureantithesis.wordpress.com/2013/09/26/some-people-are-gay-get-over-it-an-example-in-the-is-ought-problem/…

Unintelligent Design?

April 25, 2013 / McFormtist / 8 Comments

Allow me, for a moment, to explain some of my initial thoughts concerning what denial of God’s existence entails with respect to Design. If you hold that there is no God, and that there is no Design to the universe, there are a few things that follow. If there is no Designer, and if there is no Design, then there are no “designers” and there are no individual “designs.” None, at all, anywhere. I will now proceed to explain the same thing in probably too many ways and in probably too many words.

There is only cause and effect. “Intention” …

Bill Nye on U.S. Denial of Evolution

August 29, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 0 Comments

Bill Nye made some comments concerning evolution that have since gone viral.

There are a lot of questionable claims in Nye’s comments. He believes that the “denial of evolution” is a “world view” that not only will “harm young people” but “hamper scientific progress.”

The first problem is that Nye never defines for us what he means by “evolution.” He does note that, “Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science, in all of biology,” but again, he does not define what this idea is. He also lists a string of entities he apparently thinks evolution includes, …

A Friendly Chat With An Atheist

July 30, 2012 / C. L. Bolt

Chris: Are you a believer?

Atheist: nope

an atheist

Chris: Ah.

Well it’s nice to have one of those around every now and then.

We have to get Christians from somewhere after all. 😀

So I presume you have heard the Christian Gospel?

Atheist: yup

Go to mass… et cetera 😉

Chris: I’m guessing that you’re joking. 🙂

Atheist: I am

Chris: So why are you an atheist?

Atheist: I don’t think that any spirits exist

be they gods, ghosts or anything else

Chris: That’s the definition of your position then.

Why do you hold it?

Atheist: I don’t see …

Behind the Scenes: Notes from my debate with Michael Long

March 19, 2012 / C. L. Bolt / 2 Comments

Some readers might be interested in seeing the very beginning of preparation for my debate with Michael Long (found here – https://choosinghats.org/2011/08/is-there-good-reason-to-believe-that-the-christian-god-exists). What is posted below is by no means the entirety of my notes for the debate but does provide an idea of how I initially go about preparing for a debate. The quotations are from the Goodness Over God podcast and are as close as I could get them to the originals which may be found here – http://goodnessovergod.blogspot.com. Each quote is followed by a time stamp and episode number.

Michael Long is a philosopher and …

Mr. White, Mr. Grey, and Mr. Black VII

October 29, 2011 / RazorsKiss / One Comment

“But how can anyone know anything about the ‘Beyond’?” asks Mr. Black.
“Well, of course,” replies Mr. Grey, “if you want absolute certainty, such as one gets in geometry, Christianity does not offer it. We offer you only ‘rational probability.’ ‘Christianity,’ as I said in effect a moment ago when I spoke of the death of Christ, ‘is founded on historical facts, which, by their very nature, cannot be demonstrated with geometric certainty. All judgments of historical particulars are at the mercy of the complexity of the time-space universe. . . . If the scientist cannot rise above rational probability

Brian Knapp Interviewed on "Goodness Over God" Podcast

September 6, 2011 / C. L. Bolt / 3 Comments

Brian Knapp of Choosing Hats was a guest on the counter-apologetics podcast “Goodness Over God” with Michael Long and Ben Wallis to discuss several topics related to whether or not there is good reason to believe in God. You can find the interview here.…

Concluding Remarks on the Wallis Debate

November 1, 2010 / C. L. Bolt / One Comment

Chris,

I have a few final clarifications for you…

First of all, I’m not sure what premises you think I’m accepting, but let me assure you that I do NOT agree using induction without epistemic justification is irrational. You object to this assertion by complaining that it is not an argument, and indeed you are correct, it is not. What we decide to call “rational” or “irrational” depends on whatever standards of rationality we are using, and so it suffices for me to point out that my standard does not impose any such requirement for the epistemic justification of induction.

Pressing the Point: More on the Wallis debate

October 30, 2010 / C. L. Bolt / One Comment

Proof and Persuasion

An important distinction to be made in apologetics is the one between proof and persuasion. One may offer a perfectly sound argument pertaining to some position that accomplishes everything it promises and yet have a recipient of that argument completely unmoved by it. It does not follow from the fact that an individual(s) is allegedly not accepting of an argument that the argument in question does not constitute a proof. On the other hand someone may be presented with a completely invalid and false argument and still be moved to accept the conclusion of the argument, …