PhilosophyAdrian Barrett

Kingswinford U3A

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Definition

“ The Love of wisdom”

or

Philosophy is: (a) the attempt to acquire knowledge (b) by rational means (c) about topics that do not seem amenable to empirical investigation.

Betting on God

January 2011

Dave Allen Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxo81Ok9Urk

Notes: I included this video because Dave Allen was a great comedian and he told stories about religion. My group loved it and one lady, who was brought up a catholic, thought it was not far from her experiences.

Philosophical Arguments

“We live in a society where politicians and media personalities do our thinking for us” - How to Argue – Alastair Bonnett

Philosophical ArgumentsA number of declarative statements leading to a conclusion, eg:

Premises 1 Bachelors are unmarried menPremises 2He is not marriedConclusionTherefore he is a bachelor

Philosophical ArgumentsOr in the negative...

Premises 1 All fish can swimPremises 2My pet cannot swimConclusionTherefore my pet is not a fish

The problem of evil argument

• If an all-powerful and perfectly good god exists, then evil does not.

• There is evil in the world.• Therefore, an all-powerful and perfectly good

god does not exist

The response

•We are too puny to understand why God does what he does, but we know he is good

•Whilst we think things are evil, God has his reasons

•God does exist

Some arguments for the existence of God

• Cosmological argument• Teleological argument (Intelligent design)• Ontological argument• Moral Argument• Arguments from history

Arguments from history

• Miracles• Revelations• The life of Jesus/Mohammed

Miracles

David Hume (1711-1776)

David Hume famously defined a miracle as “a violation of the laws of nature,”

Hume evidently means to denote something beyond mere changes in the regular course of nature, raising the bar higher for something to qualify as a miracle….

People often lie, and they have good reasons to lie about miracles occurring either because they believe they are doing so for the benefit of their religion or because of the fame that results.

People by nature enjoy relating miracles they have heard without caring for their veracity and thus miracles are easily transmitted even where false.

Hume notes that miracles seem to occur mostly in "ignorant" and "barbarous" nations and times, and the reason they don't occur in the "civilized" societies is such societies aren't awed by what they know to be natural events.

The miracles of each religion argue against all other religions and their miracles, and so even if a proportion of all reported miracles across the world fit Hume's requirement for belief, the miracles of each religion make the other less likely.

Hume’s Arguments against miracles

Revelations

Do you feel lucky?

Pascal’s wager

Blaise Pascal (1623 –1662)

•French•mathematician•Inventor•Writer•Catholic philosopher

A Pascaline

Other Achivements

• The syringe• The hydraulic press• ‘Discovered’ the vacuum• Invented a primitive roulette• Development of probability theory• Regarded as one of the most important

authors of the French Classical Period

Pascal’s Wager

• Historically, Pascal's Wager was groundbreaking as it had charted new territory in probability theory, was one of the first attempts to make use of the concept of infinity, marked the first formal use of decision theory, and anticipated the future philosophies of pragmatism and voluntarism.[1]

Pascal’s Wager

“If there is a god, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then incapable of knowing either what He is or if He is......."God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing here.....”

The options are

How we live God Exists God does not exist

Live a life of piety Go to heaven(infinite reward)

Do not go to heaven

Do not live a life of piety

Do not go to heaven(Misery for ever)

Do not go to heaven

Pascal Video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTHN_eQaEaI

• Notes: This is a good punchy video that sings the praises of Blaise Pascal and puts his ‘wager’ into context with his other work.

Criticisms

• “Question with boldness even the existence of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.” Thomas Jefferson

• The argument from inconsistent revelations, also known as the avoiding the wrong hell problem

Atheist’s wager

• You should live your life and try to make the world a better place for your being in it, whether or not you believe in god. If there is no god, you have lost nothing and will be remembered fondly by those you left behind. If there is a benevolent god, he will judge you on your merits and not just on whether or not you believed in him.

Reflections on this topic

• To investigate a topic we must first try and define it.

• Define it too wide and you include football• Too narrow and you exclude Buddhism• Is it a tool of control?• Is it a force for good or evil?

Reflections continued

• It is very difficult to prove something doesn’t exist.

• Arguments for the existence of God do not seem to stand up to critical reasoning.

• Religion relies increasingly on ‘The Invisible Gardener’ analogy as a defence.

• "Two people return to their long neglected garden and find, among the weeds, that a few of the old plants are surprisingly vigorous. One says to the other, 'It must be that a gardener has been coming and doing something about these weeds.' The other disagrees and an argument ensues. They pitch their tents and set a watch. No gardener is ever seen. The believer wonders if there is an invisible gardener, so they patrol with bloodhounds but the bloodhounds never give a cry. Yet the believer remains unconvinced, and insists that the gardener is invisible, has no scent and gives no sound. The skeptic doesn't agree, and asks how a so-called invisible, intangible, elusive gardener differs from an imaginary gardener, or even no gardener at all."

So, who decides what is moral and what is not?

• Tabula rasa?

• Mirror neurons

• Harvard psychologist Marc Hauser's new theory says evolution hardwired us to know right from wrong.

Next Session – 28 April 2.00pmPossible topics

• ‘The American Army are a load of faggots’ - Offence or free speech?

• Democracy is nothing more than mob rule!• You're all just a figment of my imagination!