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Contra Mundum: When Scientists Make Bad Ethicists
One thing I find particularly frustrating is reading commentary on theology and philosophy written by scientists. To be fair, some scientists I have read are informed and do offer astute and insightful...
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Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter...
This is first half of the paper I presented to the Naturalisms in Ethics Conference at Auckland University last year. In many of his addresses and debates William Lane Craig has defended a Divine...
View ArticleThinking Matters Youth Conference
This Saturday is the first, of hopefully many, Thinking Matters Youth Conference, the schedule is below. I am leading a breakout session on Moral Relativism WHEN: Saturday, February 18 WHERE:...
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Mark Murphy Reviews Walter Sinnott-Armstrong.
Those who have followed my recent discussions of Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s writings on God and Morality. Might be interested in this review of Armstrong’s book “Morality without God” by Mark Murphy...
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Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part I
In a previous post, Divine Commands and Pyschopathic Tendancies, I said I would look in more detail at Sam Harris’ charge that Divine Command Theories (“DCT”) of meta-ethics are psychopathic. In this,...
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Is a Divine Command Theory Pscyopathic? Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part II
In my last post, Sam Harris on Divine Commands: Part I, I criticised Sam Harris’ characterisation of divine command meta-ethics. In this post I want to turn to his second line of criticism of a Divine...
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Published in Philo: Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than...
Jeffery Jay Lowder has informed me that my article “Is Ethical Naturalism more Plausible than Supernaturalism? A Reply to Walter Sinnott-Armstrong” was published in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of...
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There Probably are no Duties. Now Stop Worrying and Enjoy Your Life!
Some atheists offer moral critiques of theism; their claim is not just that belief in God is false or unjustified, it is that such irrational beliefs are intricately linked with immoral and...
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Is a Divine Command Theory Psychotic? Sam Harris on Divine Commands Part III
In Sam Harris on Divine Commands Part I I criticised Harris’ characterisation of divine command meta-ethics. I refuted Harris’ contention a divine command theory is pscyopathic in Is a Divine Command...
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Matt to speak at the EPS Apologetics Conference in Baltimore on Morality and...
This blog’s Matthew Flannagan has been invited to speak at the 12th Annual Apologetics Conference of the Evangelical Philosophical Society in Baltimore, USA. The theme of this year’s conference is...
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Ethical Supernaturalism is still more Plausible than Naturalism: Carrier’s...
Last year I had an article Is Ethical Naturalism more plausible than Supernaturalism: A reply to Walter Sinnott Armstrong published in the journal Philo. In the comments section a reader asked me to...
View ArticleVideo: “Discussing Divine Command Theory” Special Guest: Matthew Flannagan
Last week I was invited to be part of a discussion on divine command ethics in Google hangouts. The full discussion is now on-line as episode 22 of Ode to Dialogue: “Discussing Divine Command Theory.”...
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Richard Carrier and the Arbitrariness Objection
In ‘Is ethical naturalism more plausible than Supernaturalism’, I criticised Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s objection that a divine command theory (DCT) makes morality arbitrary. Armstrong argued: Let’s...
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Did God Really Command Genocide? A new book by Copan and Flannagan
Coming to a bookstore near you in November 2014: Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God by: Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan From Baker Publishing Group’s page:...
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Richard Carrier and the Abhorrent Commands Objection
In my last post, Richard Carrier and the Arbitrariness Objection, I argued that Richard Carrier’s attempt to defend Walter Sinnott-Armstrong’s arbitrariness objection failed. I also argued his defence...
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Jerry Coyne on Deception and the Omission of Facts
In 2011 I wrote a criticism of Jerry Coyne’s USA Today article, “As atheists know, you can be good without God.” My critique, “When Scientists make bad Ethicists,” attracted some attention motivating...
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“Do as I say, not as I do.” Is God a cosmic hypocrite?
In, my article “Tooley Plantinga and the Deontological Argument from Evil”, I argued that Tooley’s specifically deontological version of the argument from evil fails. To summarise very briefly,...
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Out Now: Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of...
Well done Matt and Paul. Out now! Get your copy today of Did God Really Command Genocide? Coming to Terms with the Justice of God, by Paul Copan and Matthew Flannagan, published by Baker Books. More...
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The Arbitrariness Objection (once more): A brief reply to Jason Thibodeau
Jason Thibodeau over at The Secular Outpost has written a thoughtful discussion and response to the critique I made of Walter Sinnott Armstrong’s arbitrariness objection in my article, “Is Ethical...
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Is belief in God essential for Morality? Why Crime Statistics don’t answer...
Readers of this blog will note that, of late, I have been focusing a lot in my thinking, writing and research on questions of the relationship between religion and morality. One particular frustration...
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