Awaiting his trial on charges of impiety and heresy, Socrates encounters Euthyphro, a self-proclaimed authority on matters of piety and the will of the gods. Socrates, desiring instruction in these matters, converses with Euthyphro, but as usual, the man who professes to know nothing fares better than the man who claims to be an expert. One of Plato’s well-known Socratic Dialogues, Euthyphro probes the nature of piety, and notably poses the so-called Euthyphro Dilemma: Do the gods love a thi ...
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with Emerson Green
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Welcome to Cryptosophy! This podcast is hosted by Max and Doyle. On this podcast, we are searching for hidden wisdom in the literature of the Western tradition and from interviews of specialists from diverse backgrounds.
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Reasonable Doubts takes an informative and humorous look at religion from a freethinking perspective; offering news and commentary of interest to skeptics, atheists, agnostics, humanists, courageous religious believers looking for a challenge and freethinkers of all persuasions. In addition to interviewing the top minds in skepticism (former guests include Christopher Hitchens, Susan Jacoby, Paul Kurtz, Edward Tabash, DJ Grothe) RD offers regular segments on counter-apologetics, biblical cri ...
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The Moral Argument for God – Have I Been Debunked?
3:35:47
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Two Christian apologists reviewed my series on the moral argument for God on their channel, Democracy of the Dead. I recorded my own counter-response shortly thereafter, but thought it was too profanity-laden and impolite to release. Generally speaking, it’s good to remain dispassionate in these online spaces, but I let my frustration get the bette…
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CA132 From Atheism to Agnosticism (w/ Adherent Apologetics)
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Zac (Adherent Apologetics) and I explore a few of the things that drew me to agnosticism. Religious ambiguity, disagreement among epistemic peers, the diversity of the theistic tradition (as well as the varieties of non-theism), the seeming inscrutability of the prior probability of theism, and my acceptance of the value-selection hypothesis have a…
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Losing My Religion – with Fuad Abdullah Harahap (@fubilosophy)
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I’m interviewed by Fuad Abdullah Harahap (@fubilosophy) about my deconversion, the sad state of Christian apologetics, my issues with the skeptic community, free will, the afterlife, agnosticism, and a few other topics. Fubilosophy LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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What would convince you of God’s existence? Specifically, the Christian God. What would change your mind and cause you to convert? I name three things: Christian aliens, miracles, and religious experience. That’s not an exhaustive list, but those things would dramatically raise my credence in Christian theism. I spend the most time talking about re…
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The world is religiously ambiguous: It can be interpreted in various incompatible ways, and the interpreters are not necessarily violating any standards of rationality in doing so. As for me, I don’t feel any position being forced on me by the evidence. My best efforts to judge the total balance of evidence weighing for and against theism leave me …
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CA129 Universalism Debate: John Buck vs. Emerson Green
1:47:46
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Returning guest John Buck joins me to debate universalism, eternal conscious torment, and other topics related to hell and the afterlife. My Playlist on Hell LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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I respond to the wildly popular Redeemed Zoomer video about proving God’s existence with math. To see the open hangout that took place afterwards, you can watch the original livestream (unedited with no postscript) on YouTube LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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More great books at LoyalBooks.comBy Plato
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CA127 What’s wrong with the moral argument?
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We wrap up our series on the moral argument for theism, summarize several problems with the argument famously associated with William Lane Craig, and discuss two other moral arguments for God that are not abysmal failures like the standard moral argument. LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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Today, we continue our series on the moral argument for theism. We discuss the Euthyphro dilemma, Hume’s Law, and explore a back-and-forth between William Lane Craig and Michael Huemer on the question, “Why obey God?” Common Mistakes about the Moral Argument | Majesty of Reason Majesty of Reason – Moral Arguments for God: An Analysis Michael Huemer…
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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And morality. The standard moral argument popularized by William Lane Craig and others goes as follows: (1) If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist. (2) Objective moral values do exist. (3) Therefore, God exists. Today, we cast some doubt on the idea that morality is object…
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CA124 Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Conversion to Christianity
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Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently announced her conversion to Christianity. But has she only adopted a form of cultural Christianity? I examine her reasons for becoming a Christian and draw some parallels between Ayaan and another political convert: Andrew Tate. I think her reasons for adopting Christianity are quite clearly explicated, even though some Chr…
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I recently asked for your questions, and I posted my responses on YouTube here. We touch on compatibilism, NDEs, aliens, euthanasia, abortion, death anxiety as an atheist, idealism, incest, Islam, Mormonism, subjectivism, psychophysical harmony, and more. (For those listening via podcast, I left the introduction in to preserve the timestamps for th…
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I’m joined by Andrew Hronich, author of Once Loved, Always Loved: The Logic of Apokatastasis. We discuss universal reconciliation, eternal conscious torment, annihilationism, and much else! Watch the interview here LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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Where New Atheist Epistemology Goes (Very) Wrong – Interview on Adherent Apologetics
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Here’s my appearance on Adherent Apologetics to talk about the recent series of Counter Apologetics episodes on epistemology. Where New Atheist Epistemology Goes (Very) Wrong | @EmersonGreen | Ep. #259 5 Mistakes Atheists Make About Epistemology 4 Things I Learned About Epistemology Epistemology playlist on YouTube Linktree…
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Alex Strasser (Protestant) and John Buck (Catholic) debate the merits of finite theism, the view that God is limited in power. Theistic finitism is less vulnerable to the problem of evil than perfect being theism, but are there other trade-offs that make the notion of a finite God less defensible overall? John is defending the view that strong vers…
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CA122 Substance Dualism w/ Michael Huemer
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Dr. Michael Huemer joins me to defend interactionist substance dualism, the view that the mind and body are composed of different substances and can exert causal influence over each other. Knowledge, Reality, and Value: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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CA121 Encountering Mystery w/ Dale Allison
1:08:53
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Today I’m speaking with Dr. Dale Allison, historian and author of many books, including The Resurrection of Jesus, The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus, and our subject today, Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age. The subtitle of the book notwithstanding, the unusual experiences we discuss are not explicitly religi…
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Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
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Today, I defend the controversial idea that ordinary and extraordinary claims don’t require the same evidence. LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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CA120 Debate: Limited vs. Unlimited God
1:39:16
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LDS Philosophy and Dry Apologist join me for a debate on the nature of God. We compare the virtues of a limited model of God versus a model on which God is unlimited in power, as well as simple, impassible, etc. Are the classical models of God too impersonal and abstract, incapable of sustaining a commitment to a personal God who loves us? Or are t…
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We close out our series on atheism and epistemology with the epistemic value of intuition, the issue of lacktheism, and whether or not I’ve been charitable to my fellow atheists throughout these episodes. LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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Can we really trust the testimony of others? Does testimony provide any evidence or justification for a claim? I defend the idea that we should trust testimony, and that the epistemic value of testimonial evidence is supported by induction, the principle of charity in interpretation, and coherence. Linktree…
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This is part two of a five-part series. For even more on epistemology, check out Walden Pod for a completely different epistemology series. Understanding Knowledge – Michael Huemer LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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CA116 Mistakes Atheists Make About Epistemology: “There is no evidence for God.”
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There are a number of slogans one hears in the online atheist community, some of them purporting to be epistemic principles or rules of thumb. Unfortunately, many of them are only correct if we interpret them very narrowly and often not in the way they were intended, while others are just plain wrong. Today, we’ll be tackling the idea that there is…
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CA115 Post-Debate Interview w/ Justin Schieber of Real Atheology
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Justin Schieber joins me for a lighthearted breakdown of his debate with Eric Hernandez on the existence of God. We critique the arguments put forward by Eric, discuss the evidence presented by Justin, and talk about a few of our favorite moments from the debate. Huge shoutout to Capturing Christianity for organizing the debate, and to the beautifu…
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CA114 Animal Suffering is Evidence Against God
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Is the kind, degree, and distribution of animal suffering evidence against theism? We discuss why teleological evil, the scale of suffering in evolutionary history, and the moral randomness of animal pain is strong evidence against the existence of God. Transcript YouTube Tip Jar LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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Debate: Is Animal Suffering Evidence That God Does Not Exist? w/ Perspective Philosophy
1:47:27
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Perspective Philosophy and I recently had a friendly debate about the problem of evil, metaethics, the contingency argument, and how he maintains his worldview as a catholic and vegan. The Conversation Post-debate debrief – Patreon LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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Unknown Arguments For & Against God
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Two Catholics (Dry Apologist & John Buck) and two atheists (Emerson Green & Chris Rhodes) talk about lesser-known arguments for theism and against theism. Chris joins us a little later, but he makes it in time to rack up several casualties on the battlefield of ideas. Originally hosted on Dry Apologist’s channel. 00:00 Introduction 04:00 Evidential…
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Is there any moral clash between the depiction of Yahweh and Jesus Christ? Catholic Answers recently responded to a question I had originally asked when I was 19. On Twitter, I’d recounted an experience I had with Frank Turek when I was struggling to hold onto my faith: “I remember asking Frank Turek in person during a Q&A how he reconciled the por…
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Bonus: Mormonism is More Defensible Than You Think (w/ LDS Philosophy & Thoughtful Faith)
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I was recently invited on Thoughtful Faith’s channel to share my thoughts about why LDS theology may have a few philosophical advantages over more mainstream versions of Christianity. For example, Mormons reject perfect being theism in favor of a limited god, which opens up new avenues in responding to arguments from evil that are not available to …
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Philip Goff and Dustin Crummett debate psychophysical harmony, God, axiarchism, pan-agentialism, natural teleology, and explore some neglected terrain between theism and the hypothesis of indifference. What are our options in explaining the fine-tuning of consciousness? Subscribe on YouTube Twitter @waldenpod @Philip_Goff @dustin_crummett Dustin’s …
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I’m joined by Dr. Randal Rauser to discuss his new book, The Doubter’s Creed: How to Be a Christian When You Don’t Believe It’s True. We discuss the uniquely creedal character of Christianity, the credibility of doxastic voluntarism (the view that we can choose our beliefs at will), prudential reasons to hope Christianity is true, the dispute betwe…
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Should we address popular versions of theism? Or should we address the best, most defensible versions of theism? To pursue the question of God’s existence, we must engage with the best forms of theism, not the worst. As Michael Huemer put it, “Who cares if you can refute the craziest version of a view? … The way to learn is to address the most inte…
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Friendly debate between three miracle skeptics and a theist. linktr.ee/emersongreen Subscribe on YouTube Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod here Music by ichika Nito & Whalers. Used with permission. Follow on Twitter @waldenpod Consider supporting the show on Patreon here or Walden Pod hereBy Emerson Green
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Ben Watkins of Real Atheology joins me to discuss the meager moral fruits argument, a few objections to the argument, and why we’re interested in it in the first place. Subscribe to Real Atheology on YouTube and on iTunes Follow us on Twitter @waldenpod @RealAtheology @SpeedWatkins Subscribe on YouTube Listen to our sister show, Walden Pod here Sup…
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CA108 Psychophysical Harmony, Physicalism, & God w/ Brian Cutter
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Dr. Brian Cutter joins me to discuss his paper, ‘Psychophysical Harmony: A New Argument for Theism‘, coauthored with Dr. Dustin Crummett. After talking about epiphenomenalism and why William James’ argument against it works against all views in philosophy of mind (with the lone exception of Type-A materialism), we explain why psychophysical harmony…
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CA107 The Participation Theodicy — w/ John Buck
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The participation theodicy holds, reasonably enough, that it would be good to create an ideal world. Since it would be good for God to do so, it would also be good for us to do so (as well as any other beings). The goodness would only be multiplied through our participation and contribution to the creation of an ideal world. The defender of the par…
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CA106 One Hell of a Problem – w/ Real Atheology & Counter Apologist
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I’m joined by Counter Apologist and Ryan from Real Atheology to discuss eternal conscious torment. First, we take a closer look at the views of William Lane Craig, who famously denies the possibility of an actual infinite in the context of the kalam, yet seems to argue that the guilt of those who reject God is an actual infinite. As he says, finite…
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Metaethics & Moral Realism w/ Michael Huemer
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Dr. Michael Huemer joins me to discuss moral realism vs. antirealism, ethical intuitionism, phenomenal conservatism, moral disagreement, and much else in moral philosophy. (This aired originally on YouTube and Walden Pod.) Ethical Intuitionism Knowledge, Reality, and Value: A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy William Lane Craig vs. Erik Wiele…
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CA105 Responding to Trent Horn’s “5 Atheist Double Standards”
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This is my response to Catholic apologist Trent Horn’s recent video entitled “5 Atheist Double Standards.” (The first minute is a cold open. It makes more sense if you’re watching the video version.) Watch on YouTube Interview on the Sentientism podcast The Meager Moral Fruits Argument My devil’s advocate debate Follow me on Twitter @waldenpod link…
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Debate Breakdown w/ Ben Burgis: Christopher Hitchens vs. David Berlinski
2:18:22
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This is my appearance on Ben Burgis’s channel. Ben and I listen to and comment on a debate between Christopher Hitchens and David Berlinkski over the motion “Atheism poisons everything.” The video LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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CA104 How did religion evolve? w/ Naturalism Next
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Naturalism Next joins me to discuss “the cognitive science argument against theism.” We talk about the psychology of religion, hyperactive agency detection, signaling theory, and more on the evolutionary origins of religious belief. Crucially, theories from modern cognitive science of religion are antecedently more likely on naturalism than on thei…
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Bonus: The Fall – w/ Christian Idealism & Invoking Theism
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I’m joined by Christian Idealism and Invoking Theism to discuss how they see the Fall as non-young earth creationists. This was an impromptu recording in my hotel room at the Capturing Christianity conference in Houston. (You also might recognize the introductions from the previous episode.) Subscribe on YouTube Consider supporting the show on Patr…
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CA103 Defeat, Evil, & Hell – w/ Christian Idealism & Invoking Theism
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I’m joined by Christian Idealism and Invoking Theism to discuss the problem of evil, the defeat condition, eternal conscious torment, alternative models of the afterlife, and whether we can have sex in hell. We’re also joined on mic by John Buck for a few minutes. This was an impromptu recording in my hotel room at the Capturing Christianity confer…
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CA102 The Most Plausible Form of Christianity
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I outline a version of Christianity that doesn’t suffer from some of the problems that I find the most troubling. Universalism, in conjunction with a handful of other views, seems capable of smoothing over some of my biggest reasons for rejecting theism. This is a clip from a longer interview on Adherent Apologetics. We didn’t plan on covering this…
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CA101 Five Arguments Against God w/ Jonathan MS Pearce
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I’m joined by the author of “30 Arguments Against The Existence of ‘God’: Heaven, Hell, Satan, and Divine Design” to discuss five arguments raised in his new book. Watch the interview on YouTube here Jonathan’s column on OnlySky Follow me on Twitter @waldenpod Consider supporting the show on Patreon here or Walden Pod here linktr.ee/emersongreen…
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CA100 A Catholic and an Atheist Debate God
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Emerson Green defends the motion “God probably does not exist” against John Buck. Moderated by the Non-Alchemist. YouTube: A Catholic and an Atheism Debate God and Religion Transcript of Emerson’s opening statement Follow John on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/WriterJohnBuck & Emerson here: https://twitter.com/waldenpod Support the podcast at pa…
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There are many famous examples of unintelligent design in nature, but what about malevolent design? Some natural systems are aimed at producing suffering: they cause suffering by acting in accordance with their natural purpose, function, or design plan. Why would we infer a benevolent, omnipotent designer from malevolent design? The fact that preda…
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The Problem of Evil w/ Dry Apologist
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Here’s my appearance on Dry Apologist’s channel. We discuss arguments from evil, theodicies, and answer questions from the audience. The interview: https://youtu.be/WEBSV1HF9sE LinktreeBy Emerson Green
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CA98 Religious Experience & Conclusion (Devil’s Advocate pt. 3)
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We conclude our Devil’s Advocate series with religious experience, a summary of the arguments we’ve discussed, and why I’m still an atheist. I also offer a few thoughts on the debate between atheists and theists. The Full Series Consider supporting the show on Patreon here or Walden Pod here Subscribe on YouTube Listen to our sister show, Walden Po…
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