Debate - A Tippling Philosopher

A Tippling Philosopher

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Debate

A collection of 53 posts

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On changing minds: Do debates work?

I have just finished a foreword for a book of debate openers and other essays for prolific atheist author John W. Loftus. His voluminous and impressive back catalog covers the whole gamut of anti-theist thinking and analysis. This book, Debating Christianity: Opening Salvos in the Battle with Believers contains, in

Biblical Exegesis

Genesis & Cosmology: A Debate

Skydivephil has created, with his wife through the eponymous YouTube channel, some staggering good videos on cosmology, having interviewed pretty much most of the leading cosmologists in the world (from Guth to Vilenkin, Hawking to Penrose). He has also contributed to a chapter in a book I was also commissioned

Biblical Exegesis

Possibiliter Ergo Probabiliter and the McGrew Nativity Debate

Possibiliter ergo probabiliter is a fallacy that Richard Carrier coined to express the ubiquitous technique that theists use to try to explain away issues that pop up in the Bible and this is no more evident in Christian approaches to defending problems within the infancy narratives of Luke and Matthew.

Biblical Exegesis

My Nativity Debate with Lydia McGrew: Post-Match Analysis

I had a debate over whether the Nativity in Luke and Mark was fact or fairytale on Friday night for the Unbelievable? show on Premier Christian radio. I was warned that McGrew might try the Gish-gallup approach so I should get it in myself. I ended up being indeed fairly

Debate Tomorrow Night with Lydia McGrew

I will be preparing tomorrow for my debate on the Nativity with Lydia McGrew, on Unbelievable?, hosted by Justin Brierley on Premier Christian Radio. As a result, I might not get anything out to you guys. Apologies! The broadcast should go out around the 15th. Wish me luck. We are

Biblical Exegesis

Totally Disingenuous: William Lane Craig Woefully Mischaracterises Me in His Podcast

I have just been made aware of a podcast in which William Lane Craig takes a couple of my short articles to task. The ones in question are: * The Resurrection, Fideism and Circularity * Supernaturalism (and Motivated Reasoning) He absolutely hammers me. Well, he thinks he does. Because what really happens

My Debate Analysis

My Debate Analysis

My debate analysis: Biden had absolutely everything to lose from the debate and lost nothing. Trump had everything to gain from that debate and gained nothing. Nobody gained anything. Nobody lost anything, really. It didn't change a thing. Those mad people who love Trump seem to think he

The Debate: What To Expect Tonight

America, and to some degree the rest of the world, are waiting with bated breath as to the outcome of the debate tonight between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Of course, only Biden has anything to lose so the event is more important to him than to Trump. Trump can

Debating People about Things that Affect Them More

Debating People about Things that Affect Them More

I really rate this quote. Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher You can also buy me a cuppa. Or buy some of my awesome ATP merchandise! Please... It justifies me continuing to do this!

Feser vs Oppy: Can We "Prove" that God Exists?

In editing a book called The Unnecessary Science, I have been looking into natural law theory and Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy. Here, natural law's big modern proponent, Ed Feser (at whom the book is aimed as a critique) locks horns with Graham Oppy. My issue for such debates like this,

Terrible Debate Tactics: God the Father, and Visiting Sins over Generations

I am going to give you a crash course in theists making claims and then evading arguments that trash their claims. Some time ago, I wrote a piece looking critically at the "God as father" analogy: "Looking Critically at the God as Father Analogy" I don&

Ed Feser vs Arif Ahmed

Another debate for you. Some of you know Ed Feser's work pretty well and Arif Ahmed is pretty lively in debates. https://youtu.be/yx0DOcZPsI8

Brexit and the Media

As Winston Churchill once said, the best argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter, but there you go. Has Brexit represented a win for democracy? In short, no. We have a representative democracy whereby we democratically vote for a local MP to represent us in Parliament

Jordan Peterson vs Matt Dillahunty

I have yet to watch this, though reading the comments, it seems Dillahunty may have won it. Look forward to watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDbAR0CoRno Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher

Ehrman vs Licona: a Few Remarks

I posted this debate the other day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP7RrCfDkO4&feature=youtu.be I think this is worth watching, I really enjoyed it as I respect both scholars. To a degree. Part of me thinks that Licona is actually being really disingenuous here. Okay, let

By Inside_my_head.jpg: Andrew Mason from London, UK derivative work: -- Jtneill - Talk (Inside_my_head.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The More We Evolve, The Less We Need God

This is a very recent IntelligenceSquared debate between Berlin and Shermer on the one side and Chopra and Kumar on the other. I am yet to watch it but am led to believe it was a strong win to the skeptics. For the Motion: Heather Berlin, Cognitive Neuroscientist Michael Shermer,

Ehrman vs Licona 2018

I have not watched a debate for ages. I like both these people. My friend said of this: "I enjoyed this. I think Mike Lincona is struggling a bit and has to admit that some bits might not have actually happened but somehow the gospels are still reliable."

Why the Atheist's Obsession with God?

Hi recently received this question on Facebook from someone I used to work with: When I was at uni I wrote a thesis on religious connotations in science fiction films. I also don’t believe in god but find it fascinating how those that don’t believe in god seem

Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen - Flickr - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

Alex O'Connor vs Frank Turek on the Moral Argument

This debate is worth a watch. There is a rare thing that happens before radio debates like this - some discussion of terms. I previously posted a video of the CosmicSkeptic on the Kalam Cosmological Argument.

My Debate on Morality and God with Peter S. Williams (and Others)

Here is a reminder of a debate I had on morality and God some time back at the University of Southampton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3kARrL7TW4 Let me know what you think. I was invited to University of Southampton by their Athiest Society to do a team debate

Biblical Exegesis

My Debate on the Nativity with Randal Rauser

Some time ago, I had my first public debate, hosted by the Reasonable Doubts podcast and radio show. Check out my book on the subject The Nativity: A 'critical Examination. As I posted a couple of years back: My pre-recorded debate with Randal Rauser, a Christian apologist from Canada,

Kagan vs Craig: Still Quality

Kagan vs Craig: Still Quality

This is still a fantastic debate, primarily because of the format. After 40 minutes, they sit down and thrash it out, mano a mano. And Craig ain't so assured when it comes to actually discussing things on the fly. Do you need God for morality? In case you

William Lane Craig Refuses to Debate Matt Dillahunty. For Spurious Reasons.

William Lane Craig Refuses to Debate Matt Dillahunty. For Spurious Reasons.

This is from Matt Dillahunty's facebook page: William Lane Craig ducks out of another debate with me...but, finally, we have confirmation of his reasons: "You were correct about Dr Craig's unwillingness to debate you, but it has to do with a criteria he has

Fact-checking the Vice-Presidential Debate - Kaine MUCH more reliable than Pence

Fact-checking the Vice-Presidential Debate - Kaine MUCH more reliable than Pence

Does what it say on the tin: [source - Taken from PolitiFact data 9/29/2016 (includes all rulings on file] PolitiFact evaluated 32 statements made by Kaine and Pence last night during the VP debate. Of 19 Kaine statements checked by PolitiFact, 15 were True or Mostly True (79%

Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen - Flickr - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

consequentialism

William Lane Craig - Taking to Task his Claim "Consequentialism is a terrible ethic"

Watch this, especially from 1:28:30. Craig was involved in a series of discussions in Australia with Laurence Krauss regarding philosophy and science. Unfortunately, Krauss is no great philosopher, and philosophy is what most of this discussion revolved around. However, both Craig and the annoying moderator claimed that "