Download or read book Encountering Naturalism written by Thomas W. Clark and published by . This book was released on 2007-03-01 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religious Naturalism Today written by Jerome A. Stone and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2008-12-18 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at the history and revival of religious naturalism, a spiritual path without a supreme being.
Download or read book A Philosophy of the Christian Religion written by Nancey Murphy and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2018-10-30 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each field of study comes with its own set of questions; each period of time refines and redirects those questions. The Christian religion as we find it in the twenty-first century presents a unique set of problems to be solved and questions to be answered. In this introduction to the philosophy of the Christian religion, eminent philosopher and theologian Nancey Murphy applies the tools of philosophical analysis to a set of core yet contemporary religious questions: what does our historical moment mean for the possibility of knowing God? Is faith still possible? Does God intervene in human history? Is there such a thing as universal knowledge of God? Written with the needs of students encountering the philosophy of religion for the first time in mind, this book provides a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental questions inherent in Christian faith. Murphy also provides tools for how to answer those questions.
Download or read book A 21st Century Debate on Science and Religion written by Shiva Khaili and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2017-08-21 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The progress of modern science and technology has led to remarkable insights into the nature of the universe and of human life. These insights have challenged and transformed former traditional worldviews and narratives. This book explores and addresses the challenges that arise at the interface of science and religion in the 21st century. How does science affect the way that religion is perceived? Do modern scientific findings confirm or invalidate the perspective of faith? How does science lead religious persons to revise the way they understand their faith and its practices? Is a mutually respectful and mutually beneficial dialogue possible between science and faith? Drawing from many disciplines, psychology, theology, philosophy, history, cognitive science, education, this book considers the crucial questions of how science and religion can help shape our worldviews and ways of life today.
Download or read book Universal Morality Reconsidered written by Joseph Bankard and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2014-10-17 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like many contemporary issues, moral discourse finds itself in the middle of a great divide. On one side of the chasm sits much of contemporary Western philosophy, moral psychology and the social sciences, which often view morality as a purely natural phenomenon. This view argues that human morality can be fully explained by appealing to naturalistic processes such as kin selection, reciprocal altruism, cultural evolution, and various models of social contract theory. In this context, God's e...
Download or read book Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying written by Travis Timmerman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives is the first book to offer students the full breadth of philosophical issues that are raised by the end of life. Included are many of the essential voices that have contributed to the philosophy of death and dying throughout history and in contemporary research. The 38 chapters in its nine sections contain classic texts (by authors such as Epicurus, Hume, Nietzsche, and Schopenhauer) and new short argumentative essays, specially commissioned for this volume, by world-leading contemporary experts. Exploring the Philosophy of Death and Dying introduces students to both theoretical issues (whether we can survive death, whether death is truly bad for us, whether immortality would be desirable, etc.) and urgent practical issues (the ethics of suicide, the value of grief, the appropriate medical criteria for declaring death, etc.) raised by human mortality, enabling instructors to adapt it to a wide array of institutions and student audiences. As a pedagogical benefit, PowerPoints, discussion questions, and test questions for each chapter are included as online ancillary materials.
Download or read book Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion written by Michael L. Peterson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-01-15 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lively debates on controversial and compelling questions in the philosophy of religion — an updated edition of the bestselling title Building upon the reputation of the first edition, the extensively revised second edition of Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion features fifteen essays which present arguments on some of the most central and controversial topics in philosophy of religion from the discipline’s most influential thinkers. Considering questions of both emerging and perennial interest from atheistic, theistic, and agnostic viewpoints, the book adopts the series structure which pairs essays espousing opposing perspectives on a particular question or theme in an engaging pro and con format. Following accessible introductions to each debate, the volume’s new and newly-revised contributions set the stage for thoughtful and lively discourse between philosophers in philosophy of religion and analytic theology. Debates range from vigorous disagreements between theists and their critics to arguments between theists of different philosophical and theological persuasions, highlighting points of contrast for readers while showcasing the field’s leading minds in dialogue. The head-to-head chapters offer forceful advocacy for some of the most compelling ideas, beliefs, and objections in the philosophy of religion, opening the conversation up to students to weigh the arguments and engage in comparative analysis of the concepts for themselves. Written to appeal to the non-specialist as well as the professional philosopher, Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion is ideal as both a provocative primary text for coursework in analytical theology and philosophy of religion, and as a broad survey of the field for scholars and general readers with an interest in the questions which underpin contemporary philosophy of religion and theology.
Download or read book Connecting Christ written by Paul Louis Metzger and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2012 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Encourages Christians to be open to communication with people of different faiths about religion and offers practical guidance for dealing with controversial topics such as Hell, fascism, and homosexuality.
Download or read book Meaning and Mystery written by David M. Holley and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-11-19 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meaning and Mystery offers a challenge to the way Philosophyhas traditionally approached the issue of belief in God as atheoretical problem, proposing instead a form of reflection moreappropriate to the practical nature of the issue. Makes use of abundant illustrative material, from bothliterature, such as Les Misérables, Edwin Abott’sFlatland, Yann Martel’s Life of Pi and LeoTolstoy’s A Confession, and popular culture, such asadvertisements, the television series Joan of Arcadia andthe film Stranger Than Fiction Uses imaginative scenarios to offer explanations of centralconcepts Incorporates theories on human thought and behavior inexploring the formation of religious belief Written in a style that is accessible to readers with littlebackground knowledge of philosophy
Download or read book Language into Language written by Saúl Sibirsky and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-07-28 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language into Language, conceived as both a theoretical and a practical source for aspiring and practicing interpreters and translators, also serves courtroom personnel (judges, attorneys, and reporters) and social-service administrators, as well as language teachers, diplomats, and business executives who are involved in bilingual and bicultural environments and language transactions. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Download or read book The New Atheism written by Victor J. Stenger and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2009-12-04 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years a number of bestselling books have forcefully argued that belief in God can no longer be defended on rational or empirical grounds, and that the scientific worldview has rendered obsolete the traditional beliefs held by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The authors of these books—Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Victor J. Stenger—have come to be known as the "New Atheists." Predictably, their works have been controversial and attracted a good deal of critical reaction. In this new book, Victor J. Stenger, whose God: The Failed Hypothesis was on the New York Times bestseller list in 2007, reviews and expands upon the principles of New Atheism and answers many of its critics. He demonstrates in detail that naturalism—the view that all of reality is reducible to matter and nothing else—is sufficient to explain everything we observe in the universe, from the most distant galaxies to the inner workings of the brain that result in the phenomenon of mind. Stenger disputes the claim of many critics that the question of whether God exists is beyond the ken of science. On the contrary, he argues that absence of evidence for God is, indeed, evidence of absence when the evidence should be there and is not. Turning from scientific to historical evidence, Stenger then points out the many examples of evil perpetrated in the name of religion. He also notes that the Bible, which is still taken to be divine revelation by millions, fails as a basis for morality and is unable to account for the problem of unnecessary suffering throughout the world. Finally, he discusses the teachings of ancient nontheist sages such as Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Confucius, whose guidelines for coping with the problems of life and death did not depend upon a supernatural metaphysics. Stenger argues that this "way of nature" is far superior to the traditional supernatural monotheisms, which history shows can lead to a host of evils. The New Atheism is a well-argued defense of the atheist position and a strong rebuttal of its critics.
Download or read book Criminological Theory written by Anthony Walsh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-19 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Criminologists can benefit from questioning the underlying assumptions upon which they rest their work. Philosophy has the ability to clarify our thoughts, inform us of why we think about things the way we do, solve contradictions in our thinking we never knew existed, and even dissolve some dichotomies we thought were cast in stone. One of those dichotomies is free will vs. determinism. Criminology must reckon with both free will and agency, as posited by some theories, and determinism, as posited by others—including the ever more influential fields of genetics and biosocial criminology. Criminological Theory: Assessing Philosophical Assumptions examines philosophical concepts such as these in the context of important criminological theories or issues that are foundational but not generally considered in the literature on this topic. The uniqueness of this treatment of criminological theory is that rather than reporting what this person or that has said about a particular theory, Walsh exposes the philosophical assumptions underlying the theory. Students and scholars learn to clarify their own biases and better analyze the implications of a broad range of theories of crime and justice.
Download or read book Ernest Sosa Encountering Chinese Philosophy written by Yong Huang and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-01-13 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major figure in the Anglo-American analytic tradition, Ernest Sosa is a pioneer of contemporary virtue epistemology. Engaging with his important work for the first time, a team of renowned scholars of Chinese philosophy bring Western analytic epistemology into dialogue with themes and issues in the history of the Chinese tradition in order to reveal multiple points of connection. Drawing on thinkers and texts from Confucianism, Daoism, and Chinese Buddhism, chapters explore issues central to virtue epistemology, such as the reliabilist and responsibilist divide, the distinction between virtues constitutive of knowledge and virtues auxiliary to knowledge, epistemic competence, and the role of testimony. Including Sosa's constructive and systematic responses to each scholar's interpretation of his work, this volume demonstrates the value of cross-cultural dialogue, advancing the field of virtue epistemology, and paving the way for further engagement between philosophical traditions.
Download or read book Biosociology written by Anthony Walsh and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 2014-01-21 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthony Walsh bridges the divide separating sociology from biology—a divide created in the late nineteenth century when sociology emerged from the fields of social theory and philosophy. Walsh focuses on the viewpoint held by former American Sociological Association president Douglas Massey: sociologists have allowed the fact that we are social beings to obscure the biological foundations upon which our behavior ultimately rests. Walsh argues that sociology has nothing to fear and a wealth of riches to gain if it pays attention to the theories, concepts, and methodologies of the biological sciences. Both study the same phenomena. Beginning with an examination of the reasons why we need a biosocial approach, Walsh explores sociology’s traditional "taboo" concepts (reductionism, essentialism, etc.) and how those concepts are viewed in the natural sciences. Throughout the work, the author introduces relevant concepts from genetics and the neurosciences, using examples that will appeal to all sociologists. Later chapters apply his introductory arguments to traditional substantive sociological issues such as culture, crime, gender, socialization, social class, and the family. This book will be essential to all sociologists, evolutionary biologists, and scholars interested in the history of this important divide between the fields and where it currently stands.
Download or read book Trialectic written by Peter A. Alces and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thought-provoking examination of how insights from neuroscience challenge deeply held assumptions about morality and law. As emerging neuroscientific insights change our understanding of what it means to be human, the law must grapple with monumental questions, both metaphysical and practical. Recent advances pose significant philosophical challenges: how do neuroscientific revelations redefine our conception of morality, and how should the law adjust accordingly? Trialectic takes account of those advances, arguing that they will challenge normative theory most profoundly. If all sentient beings are the coincidence of mechanical forces, as science suggests, then it follows that the time has come to reevaluate laws grounded in theories dependent on the immaterial that distinguish the mental and emotional from the physical. Legal expert Peter A. Alces contends that such theories are misguided—so misguided that they undermine law and, ultimately, human thriving. Building on the foundation outlined in his previous work, The Moral Conflict of Law and Neuroscience, Alces further investigates the implications for legal doctrine and practice.
Download or read book God and the Big Existential Questions written by Anthony Walsh and published by Ethics International Press. This book was released on 2023-08-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Existential questions are deep and profound, philosophical questions that concern our very existence, such as “How did we get here”? “What is the meaning and purpose of my life’? “Is there a God”? and “What happens to me when I die”? Humans have been asking these questions for as long as we have been able to think and reason, and each possible answer spawns a host of additional questions. Existential questions are perhaps ultimately unanswerable, but we must accept the challenge and try, and must entertain the possibility that they may be. The author looks to science and philosophy for answers to such questions. Both modes of thought seek knowledge in their own manner, but philosophers must develop a greater tolerance for ambiguity than scientists because they ask many questions that are only partially amenable, or not at all, to empirical testing, and for which there are no universally agreed upon answers. Philosophy thus ventures into areas that science cannot or will not go. Scientists and philosophers work with different goals and are judged by different standards, although they both share the tools of logic, conceptual analysis, and rigorous argumentation. Questions for which we can acquire definite answers though mathematics and experimentation are the realm of science; questions for which we have no definite answers are the grist for the philosopher’s mill. It is this intellectual uncertainty in which the value of philosophy resides because it engages a liberating doubt.
Download or read book The Stubborn System of Moral Responsibility written by Bruce N. Waller and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the author examines the stubborn philosophical belief in moral responsibility, surveying the philosophical arguments for it, but focusing on the system that supports these arguments: powerful social and psychological factors that hold the belief in moral responsibility firmly in place.--Publisher's description.
