Here Stephen Hicks discusses the early modern conflict between science and religion over cosmology. This is from Part 3 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course, in which he introduces epistemology, its competing theories, and their role in education. Clips 1-3: Previous: The value of reason. Next: Phase Two: The rise of natural theology. Return […]
Phase One: Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo Read More »
After the Galileo affair, many religious thinkers switched from a strategy of suppression to an embrace of natural theology. This is from Part 3 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course. 1 clip: Previous: Phase One: Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo. Next: Phase Three: “I found it necessary to deny reason …” Return to the Philosophy
Phase Two: The rise of natural theology Read More »
From Part 2 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course. Here he presents one of the classic arguments for the existence of God and the consequent counter arguments over its strength. Clips 1-8: Previous: Comparing the two stories. Next: The argument from evil. Return to the Philosophy of Education page. Return to the StephenHicks.org main
The argument from design Read More »
From Part 2 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course. Here he presents one of the classic arguments against the existence of God and the consequent counter arguments over its strength. Clips 1-7: Previous: The argument from design. Next: Metaphysics and method. Return to the Philosophy of Education page. Return to the StephenHicks.org main page.
The argument from evil Read More »
This is Part 2 of Professor Hicks’s Philosophy of Education course, in which he introduces metaphysics, its competing theories, and their role in education. 1 clip: Previous: [Part 1: Introduction to the Course] Motivation for the course. Next: The Big Bang Story. Return to the Philosophy of Education page. Return to the StephenHicks.org main page.
Introducing metaphysics: our hybrid civilization Read More »
[This is Section 30 of Nietzsche and the Nazis.] 30. On anti-Semitism: valid or disgusting? The most repulsive sign of Germany’s decline, Nietzsche writes—and this may be initially surprising—is its hatred of the Jews, its virulent and almost-irrational anti-Semitism. Nietzsche, we know, has said some harsh things about the Jews—but again, that is a set
On anti-Semitism: valid or disgusting? Read More »
Since 1990, the percentage of Americans who are Christian fell by 11 points, while the percentage of atheists rose 7 points. Those are, as Cathy Lynn Grossman of USA Today writes, “dramatic shifts in just 18 years.” According to this Pew Forum survey, religiousness in Illinois is below the national average, which may explain the
Religion in America, 2009 Read More »
The Greeks were the first to do philosophy, and one of the perennially great questions is: Why the Greeks and not some others? Various answers focus on their cosmopolitan trading economy, their concurrent development of democratic politics, or some other combination of factors. I have long thought that the Greeks’ naturalistic religion was a positive,
Religion: help or hindrance to philosophy? Read More »