I just watched this video interview of Stephen Fry. He’s a British actor whom I first watched as the butler “Jeeves” to Hugh Laurie’s “Bertie Wooster”. (A still photo of the pair is here.) The video is about 15 minutes and delves into non-belief in “God”, especially any monotheistic deity, morality without religion, and more. [...]
Browsing the archives for the Philosophers category
Where’s the gardener?
5 Jan, 2010 in Arguing, Atheism, Books, Christianity, Design arguments, Faith versus Reason, PHIL 500, Philosophers, Religion Blog, Religious BeliefAnthony Gottlieb,writing in the online journal More Intelligent Life takes a look back at philosopher John Wisdom’s parable and an examination of the meaningfulness of statements about God. The parable went like this. “Two people return to their long neglected garden and find, among the weeds, that a few of the old plants are surprisingly [...]
New natural law and Robert George
20 Dec, 2009 in Arguing, Aristotle, Faith versus Reason, PHIL 500, Philosophers, Religion Blog, Theologians, Thomas AquinasI’ve just finished reading David Kirkpatrick’s profile of Robert George in the NY Times Sunday. It’s probably no shock that I’m not screeching, screaming conservative. But neither am I a liberal frothing at the mouth. This goes back to my describing myself as a “thinking theist”. I want to avoid getting political here. Rather, I’m [...]
Stoicism and emotions
4 Oct, 2009 in Books, James, PHIL 525, Philosophers, Religion Blog, Stoicism, TheoristsStoicism is experiencing a resurgence. I’m not sure why, but it is. This interview with Margaret Graver present a look at some misconceptions of stoicism. Here’s a quote from A.A. Long (Classics, UC Berkeley) about Graver’s book, Stoicism and Emotion: A.A. Long wrote, “Margaret Graver’s book [‘Stoicism and Emotion’] expertly demolishes the widespread belief that [...]
The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization
26 Mar, 2009 in Islam, PHIL 500, Philosophers, Religion BlogTimesonline article on Arab intellectual and religious influences on western civilization. When Baghdad opened its gates as the new capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, the prime site in the city was occupied by the royal library. Both the city and the library, completed around 765, were built by Caliph al-Mansur, who devised a method for [...]