Only the Death of God Can Save Us

This talk was given to the Newcastle Philosophy Society's Cafe Philosophique on 21/01/2012. It includes both questions and subsequent discussion.

In keeping with the theme of this season of Cafe Philosophique (God), this talk aims to provide a definition of theism by first distinguishing between its metaphysical and ethical elements, before examining the way these two sides relate to one another. The talk then focuses on the ethical dimension, trying to understand the relationship between the Divine and the Good. The principal focus of this is the presentation of Plato's argument in the Euthyphro, aiming to show that the Good must be independent of the Divine. The overall goal of the talk is to present the (controversial) position that not only is it possible to be ethical without being a theist, there is an important sense in which we must reject theism (and thus be a-theists) in order to fully embrace the ethical life.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Heidegger
• Nietzsche
• Plato
• Kierkegaard
• Kant
• Good
• God
• Theism
• Atheism
• Deism
• Psychism
• Metaphysics
• Ethics
• Reason
• Newcastle Philosophy Society
• Pete Wolfendale

[Haileyncl]

<3

[nancean]

Great job Pete...Well done!