philosopher

EP #39 | God: The “Evil” Argument

June 30, 2020 admin Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks Comments Off on EP #39 | God: The “Evil” Argument

The standard conception of God that is offered to us by theists suggest there are three major features of interest: God is said to be omnipotent or all-powerful, omnis­cient or all-knowing, and omnibenevolent or all-good. However, if the God who created the world is supposed to be all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, why did he create a world in which so much evil exists? And not only why did he create a world with so much evil in it, why did he create a world with any evil in it at all? An all-powerful, all-knowing, completely good creator of the universe would not have created an imperfect world with evil in it or would he?

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EP #38 | God: The “Design” Argument

June 15, 2020 admin Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks Comments Off on EP #38 | God: The “Design” Argument

Do the gods exist? As mature and more sophisticated reasoned arguments for and against the idea of god have evolved, we can evaluate eighteen possible arguments, about seven are interesting. Argumentation about the natural world: time, causation, morality, beauty, logic, mathematical precision, and so on. Can they be explained in self-sufficient natural way or only by going beyond the natural?

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EP #37 | Thomas Kuhn’s De-Structuring Science

May 27, 2020 admin Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks Comments Off on EP #37 | Thomas Kuhn’s De-Structuring Science

Thomas Kuhn was professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, a classic in the history and philosophy of science. Still relevant to our philosophical and cultural debates over science, for Kuhn challenges claims that science is or can be an objective process based upon observational facts that makes progress toward truth.

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#29 War on Socialism

November 5, 2019 admin Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks Comments Off on #29 War on Socialism

William James was a leading American philosopher who lived at the turn of the 20th century. In his essay the Moral Equivalent of War, James describes himself as a socialist and pacifist and is very disgusted with the human history of war and is looking for a solution. This essay, while thoughtful and well argued is to my mind, highly objectionable. Here is why.

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EP #9 | Envy’s Moral Psychological Challenge

January 2, 2019 admin Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks Comments Off on EP #9 | Envy’s Moral Psychological Challenge

The puzzle of envy and how it impacts our lives. Why does envy cause some of us to do destructive things? How do envy differ from jealousy?

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EP #8 | Love Canal

December 18, 2018 admin Open College with Dr. Stephen Hicks Comments Off on EP #8 | Love Canal

Did government contribute to one of America’s greatest environmental disasters? What is eminent domain? Were any politicians or government officials prosecuted for criminal neglect?

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