Objective Morality: An Empirical Physicalist Approach (Pt. 2)
Free will, determinism, and moral responsibility. As a pragmatic, empirical physicalist, I try to take an evidence-based and reasoned approach to morality. In the first part of this series, I claimed that objective morality is a principle that operates exclusively at the level of species survival. But how can morality ever be objective? After all, isn’t something that’s seen as moral in one society repugnant to another? The dictionary defines “objective” as “not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in......
What “Proof of God” justifies your position? (part four)
This is part four of a four-part series. So God isn’t omnipotent. He’s still the Creator. When believers say, “God is beyond understanding, beyond definition,” they don’t really mean it. At the very least, I would say, there is one characteristic that provides a very clear definition of God: “God is the entity that can determine the nature of matter and its interactions in a definable region. God makes universes, at least this one.” That’s why Jews, Christians, and Muslims......
What “Proof of God” justifies your position? (part three)
This is part three of a four-part series. Is God all-knowing? Well, this is absurd on so many levels. If God was all-knowing then why were Adam and Eve punished (kicked out of the Garden of Eden) for eating of the forbidden fruit? Didn’t God see that one coming? Is it fair to punish someone for doing something that was practically built-in to their design by their supposedly perfect, inerrant designer? And what of free-will? How can we freely choose......
What “Proof of God” justifies your position? (part two)
This is part two of a four-part series. What is the nature of the Abrahamic God? Besides creating the universe and life, what does He do? What are His superpowers? There have been many secondary claims made about the Abrahamic God: He is variously claimed to be omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent (all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving). These claims are easily disputed through scripture, experience, and reason. Let’s examine them. Is God all-loving? The Greek philosopher, Epicurus (341-270 BC) famously asked: “Is God......
What “Proof of God” justifies your position? (part one)
What “Proof of God” justifies your position? I begin a four-part series today. Philosophers, theologians, and scientists have been grappling with the issue of God’s existence for millennia. Much of the discussion in past centuries may have been motivated simply by curiosity or by a protest against theological dogma. For many of us in the modern world, the notion of God is a very private one. God may show up in our prayers but frequently doesn’t have much effect in......
Could a “virtual particle chaos” explain the origin of the universe?
In preparing to write the Deplosion series, I wanted to give my ideas as deeply scientific a basis as I could. My formal university training was in Computing Science and then in Molecular Biology and Genetics, so I’m no cosmologist. But Cosmology and Quantum Physics have always been hobbies of mine (begin “geek” comments now) so I thought I’d do my best to make a plausible hypothesis. I found two sources to be amazingly helpful in putting these ideas together.......
Do we have a soul?
Do We Have A Soul? I’ve encountered a number of atheists asking if there are those among us who believe in “ghosts” or “souls.” As you may know, I not only do *not* believe in any God or gods, but I also assert the reality of the physical universe and our ability to understand it by asking it about itself, i.e. by doing experiments or tests. That’s why I call myself an “empirical physicalist.” In my novel “The Reality Thief” Darian......
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