Category: Philosophy

  • The possibility premise of the simple existential cosmological argument

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    In my previous post I showed that even without the plausible S5 or Brouwer axioms, we can move from the possible explanation of the maximal simple existential fact (we called it K there), to the existence of a necessary being. Now I see no reason for thinking such an explanation is impossible, and it seems →

  • A cosmological argument from simple existential facts

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    There are loads of different cosmological arguments out there and hopefully someday I’ll be able to write blog posts about some of them. Right now, however, I want to share an interesting version I came up with, thanks to an argument from Alexander Pruss: define a “simple existential fact” to be a true proposition reporting →

  • Epistemological issues in the moral argument

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    I am a proponent of a moral argument, taken from William Lane Craig, given in the following form: If God doesn’t exist, then objective moral values and duties don’t exist Objective moral values and duties do exist Therefore, God exists I’ve had a number of previous posts here dealing with specific details of this argument’s →

  • True mathematical propositions

    Platonists believe that abstract objects such as numbers, colours, sets, ideas and so on are actually existing things (often referred to as the “Platonic realm”). So, if you’re a Platonist and a mathematician, you can take the axioms of maths as descriptions of the kind of objects, found in the Platonic realm, that you want →

  • Materialism is self-defeating

    Consider the following argument against materialism (the thesis that only physical things exist): If materialism is true, then the deliverances of our cognitive faculties are caused by a purely physical system (eg. our brain) Purely physical systems are not purposive Rationality is purposive Therefore, if materialism is true, then we are incapable of being rational →

  • Derivative Divine Command Theory

    While I was having a discussion in the comments here it dawned on me that I might’ve stumbled upon a novel Divine Command Theory (DCT). Before I get there I should probably give a brief description of what a DCT is. DCT is a meta-ethical theory that seeks to ground our moral duties in the commands →

  • What objective moral duties aren’t

    In talking about the existence of objective moral duties with people I’ve found that there is some confusion as to what is meant by the term. I thought I’d use a small blog post to clear up some common misunderstandings of the term. To start, we have the following definition: Moral duties are objective if →

  • Explanations

    Recently[1] I’ve been doing some reading on (amoung other things) Leibnizian Cosmological Arguments and the Principle of Sufficient Reason. One thing that’s involved in these arguments is the idea of an “explanation”. We generally have a firm grasp or intuition of whether something is an explanation for some fact or not. Consider the following statements involving explanations: John →

  • Piracy and moral duties

    I had a thought the other day. We have legal duties to our government who are established as qualified legal authorities by us voting them in. When it comes to piracy it seems many people apply the following premise to make themselves feel better: If I can’t see why a certain law exists or don’t →

  • Outrage, praise and empathy

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    I often defend the following formulation of the moral argument (taken from William Lane Craig): 1. If God doesn’t exist, then objective moral duties don’t exist 2. Objective moral duties do exist 3. Therefore, God exists In defence of premise (2) I usually offer the following three points: 2.1. If objective moral duties don’t exist, →