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Lectures
start
promptly at 7:30PM and are held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each
month September 2024 through December 2024. Our
meetings are held at the New New Chinese Buffet, 3822 Belt Line
Road, Addison, TX 75001 (972) 243-1198, Zoom access will NOT be available.
9-10-2024 Fatphobia and Epistemic Injustice
Alida Liberman, Ph.D., SMU
This
lecture concerns how anti-fat beliefs contribute to epistemic
injustice. The speaker introduces a framework for fatphobia,
articulating three central myths: that body size is always completely
in our control, that fatness always results in bad health, and that we
are morally obligated to pursue health at any cost. The lecture
debunks these myths and describes how they contribute to epistemic
injustice against fat folks. It further addresses how the myths can
lead to both testimonial injustice (when fat folks are not believed
about their own experiences) and hermeneutical injustice (when the
myths lead fat people to misunderstand their own experiences).
Widespread fatphobia also leads to a novel form of epistemic injustice
called ignorance bolstering. Ignorance bolstering harms agents as
knowers by shoring up their false beliefs and making it harder than it
would otherwise be for them to learn the truth about important topics.
Entrenched fatphobia bolsters the ignorance of thin people by making it
very difficult for them to see through the myths. While ignorance
bolstering is a less severe form of epistemic harm, it is still
important, for it is widespread, easily ignored, and can contribute to
further material and epistemic harms.
To view the talk, click on the link below and enter the passcode when prompted:
Passcode: rI#N9x5B
9-24-2024 Abductive Reasoning and its Application to the Challenges of the Origin of Life and the Problem of Evil
Tim Yoder, Ph.D.
Abductive
logic (or abduction) is not as well-known as the similarly named
deductive and inductive forms of logic. It has nothing to do with
kidnapping or the nefarious work of alien beings. Rather, it is a
method of logical argumentation that has its roots in the American
philosopher Charles Pierce and is used widely in scientific reasoning
as well as ordinary, everyday reflection. Timothy Williamson said that
“abductive methodology is the best that science provides” and Ernan
McMullin asserted that abductive reasoning is the “inference that makes
science”. I think that abductive reasoning, which is closely related to
the inference to the best explanation, is a methodology which is
particularly helpful in dealing with important philosophical
controversies that are answered differently by competing worldviews. In
this paper, I will consider the answers offered by naturalistic
Darwinism and Christian theism on two significant controversies: the
origin of life and the problem of evil. The goal will be to demonstrate
how the use of abductive reasoning clarifies the strengths and
weaknesses of the positions proffered by these competing perspectives.
To view the talk, click on the link below and enter the passcode when prompted:
Passcode: 4q*VRcTd
10-08-2024 Vaccine Ideology: Origins and Consequences
Peter McCullough, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. McCullough will address "Modern Medicine's Great Controversy."
This will be a discussion concerning deep rooted ideological beliefs in
mass vaccination that go back hundreds of years. When the COVID-19
pandemic hit the US Health System, the medical community failed to
organize early treatment protocols to help vulnerable citizens avoid
hospitalization and death. Instead they followed the government
narrative that the virus was unassailable and all we could do is to wait
and be saved by the vaccine. When the mass vaccination campaign
failed there were shifting false efficacy claims and a massive effort to
obfuscate vaccine injuries, disabilities, and deaths. Anyone who spoke
out against the medical orthodoxy was ostracized, censored, and
professionally attacked, sometimes resulting in permanent career
damage. How can this happen in the era of evidence-based medicine and
enlightened scientific discourse? How can the medical community pick
up the pieces of shattered delusions and plunging confidence in doctors
and hospitals? Dr. McCullough will discuss this and more at the
program.
To view the talk, click on the link below and enter the passcode when prompted:
10-22-2024 Reason and Happiness: A Primer on Ethics in the Aristotelian Tradition
T.J. Williams
What
is right and what is wrong? How do we know? How are these related to
being happy? Is getting what you want when you want it “right”? Or
should being moral be unpleasant drudgery? What if we could be both
morally good and happy? And how do we know? Isn’t this all just based
on belief, or is there a rational way to know? Follow along as we
explore Aristotle’s philosophy of natural law and virtue ethics as
interpreted by Thomas Aquinas, and see the tight connection they draw
between reason, morality, and human happiness.
To view the talk, click on the link below and enter the passcode when prompted:
11-12-2024 Capital Punishment Through the Lens of Christian Utilitarianism
Jack Sezer
The
institution of capital punishment extends throughout history and
cultures. Victims of capital punishment vary from individual criminals
to political enemies. Capital punishment has occurred in both secret
and as a public spectacle. From Socrates to Jesus Christ and all the
way to the most recently executed John Steven Gardner, capital
punishment has claimed thousands of lives. However, there emerges a
debate regarding the viability and moral justifications regarding state
sanctioned executions. Secularists within the western-democratic
world have widely begun rejecting the notion of capital punishment,
however, Christians oddly remain in support of the very institution
that claimed the life of Jesus Himself. This lecture briefly provides a
secular approach arguing against capital punishment but primarily
focuses on a Christian Utilitarian argument against the institution.
Because Christians are the biggest supporting group of capital
punishment, the lecture aims to address that particular demographic.
Through both scriptural justifications and theological rationalism, the
institution of capital punishment begins to reveal itself as not just
unaligned with Christianity, but intentionally in opposition against
Christianity. This lecture erodes the justifications for capital
punishment but also reveals alternatives to ethical ideas of justice,
law, and order. It remains true that when individuals conceptualize the
most ‘evil’ acts against humanity such as child predators, sex
traffickers, and serial killers, the institution of capital punishment
looks appetizing. But these crimes and criminals can still be addressed
without state sanctioned executions. More so, a greater standard of
justice is invoked with the removal of capital punishment and a
realization of Christian ideas of redemption.
To view the talk, click on the link below and enter the passcode when prompted:
Passcode: SZ@rNEI8
11-26-2024 William of Ockham and Nominalism
Dave Palmer, Executive Director, KATH 910 AM—Guadalupe Radio Network
Many have heard of Ockham’s Razor,
named after the 14th century Catholic Franciscan monk and philosopher,
William of Ockham, but far fewer are aware of his teaching and
promotion of Nominalism. We are all, however, swimming in a cultural
sea saturated in the effects of Nominalism, a philosophy that has left
the world fundamentally and perhaps forever changed.
Nominalism
denies the existence of universals in the realm of ideas in favor of a
belief in many and various particular things to which we’ve attached
various names. The philosophy of Nominalism is simpler and less
abstract than its counterpart, Realism, and is therefore a classic
application of Ockham's Razor which states that when one is given
options, it’s generally best to choose the one that is simpler.
But
universals are not the only casualty of Nominalism. Jettisoned as
well are some of the key concepts of ancient Greek and scholastic
philosophy, such as the existence or natures in things and the
natural law, essences, objective truth and man’s power to use his
God-given reason to come to know that truth.
In this
presentation, Dave Palmer will explore the philosophical and cultural
consequences of the widespread acceptance of Nominalism and how
it has created in its wake a shattered and confused world, one no
longer marked by objective transcendental realities such as truth,
beauty and goodness. Instead, today’s world is riddled with the
scourge of a litany of isms- Materialism, Empiricism, Secularism,
Postitivism, Relativism, Marxism and Deconstructionism.
And we have William of Ockham to blame for this seismic shift in epistemology and cultural norms and values.
Dave
will argue that by returning to the ancient and scholastic roots of
philosophy and theology, there is still hope that the world can once
again return to order and common sense by ridding ourselves of the
scourge of Nominalism.
To view the talk, click on the link below and enter the passcode when prompted:
Passcode: wt1=2k+C
12-10-2024 Coaching in Education
Jason Yaffee
How does one connect and bring out the
best in the people you work with? What factors, from active listening
to being responsive, make for a successful coaching model? We will
discuss the strategies Jason Yaffe employs as both an athletics coach
and an instructional coach in his role as Greenhill School's Director
of Academics.
To view the talk, click on the link below and enter the passcode when prompted:
Passcode: em8mmX^B