The Podcast (Index)

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This will serve as an index to all the episodes of the podcast. You can subscribe on itunes, if you wish.


1. Sceptical Theism and Divine Lies
Description: Discusses Erik Wielenberg's argument that sceptical theists cannot rule out the possibility that God is lying to them in sacred texts. This, it is suggested, can have devastating consequences for our understanding of revelation and religious experience.


2. Cosmic Fine-Tuning and the Goodness of Life
Description: Discusses Neil Manson's argument that those who think fine-tuning demands an explanation must be doing so on the assumption that life is an intrinsic good.


3. A Semantic Attack on Divine Command Metaethics
Description: Discusses Steve Maitzen's argument that a Divine Command Metaethics is tautologous and theologically vacuous.


4. Theology and Falsification
Description: Discusses Antony Flew's classic symposium piece "Theology and Falsification" as well as the various responses to it. I conclude that Flew's piece remains a significant challenge to the cogency of religious belief.


5. Transcendence Without God
Description: Discusses Anthony Simon Laden paper on "Transcendence without God" from the collection of papers Philosophers without Gods.


6. The Absurd
Description: Compares and contrasts the views of William Lane Craig and Thomas Nagel on the absurd. Craig argues that life without God is without ultimate meaning or significance; Nagel argues that the very concept of ultimate meaning is incoherent.


7. A Simple Argument against Design
Description: Discusses Dan Moller's paper "A Simple Argument Against Design". As the name suggests, Moller offers a simple, likelihood-based objection to design arguments.


8. Foundations of Religious Liberty
Description: Discusses Brian Leiter's paper "Foundations of Religious Liberty: Toleration or Respect?". Leiter argues that, when properly understood, there are no good grounds for (legally) respecting religion.


9. Divine Evil
Description: Discusses David Lewis' paper "Divine Evil" from the collection Philosophers without Gods. Lewis argues that one of the most disturbing aspects of traditional theistic belief is the evil it attributes to God.

10. The Open Society and the Doctrine of Hell
Description: Discusses Popper's Open Society argument and its implications for the toleration of religious beliefs and practices.

11. The Future Like Ours Argument
Description: Discusses Don Marquis's famous "Future like ours"-argument and David Boonin's critique of it. Marquis' argument is one of the best known secular arguments against abortion.