1-10-2012: Meta-Semantic Arguments against Skepticism
Justin Fisher, SMU
This paper uses recent work in philosophy of mind and language to
provide a unified resolution to a variety of skeptical arguments raised
in different areas of philosophy. I argue for a meta-semantic principle
which holds that, so long as we have a track record of appropriate
causal interaction with things or kinds in the world, our terms and
concepts will semantically latch onto these referents. From this
principle, several corollaries follow, including that certain sorts of
systematic error are impossible. This provides a unified resolution to
skeptical arguments involving the Matrix, long-term envatment, van
Fraassen’s argument for scientific anti-realism, eliminativism, hard
determinism, moral queerness, evolutionary arguments for moral
skepticism, and Plantinga’s evolutionary argument against naturalism. I
close by considering the limitations of this approach. This is no
panacea against all forms of skepticism, but it does help resolve
multiple debates that have received much recent philosophical attention.
1-24-2012: Considering Metaphysical Presuppositions in Environmental Thought
Christopher Cone,
Tyndale Theological Seminary
David Hume understood that descriptive (is) premises do not directly
lead to prescriptive (ought) conclusions. The implications of Hume’s
understanding in this regard are particularly useful for considering
the grounding of environmental ethics. While, in context, he was
directing his specific criticism to theistic models of ethics, his
axiom is broadly applicable as a mechanism for measuring aspects of
coherency within systems of thought. This present discussion considers
the possible preferability of one environmental ethics model over
another, insofar as the models draw ethical conclusions from
metaphysical premises. To that end I will (1) introduce Hume’s Is-Ought
Problem, (2) apply a resulting axiom to representative environmental
ethics models, and (3) assess the coherency of the models in light of
the axiom
2-14-2012: The Meaning of Life Through Eastern Perspectives
David Alkek
Most are familiar with the European approaches toward a meaningful life as proposed by Aristotle, the Stoics, the Epicureans, Hume, Mill, and Kant. We will explore the Eastern perspectives of a meaningful life through the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, including Zen. We will also include the thoughts of Gandhi, the present Dalai Lama, and Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who was nominated for the Nobel Prize.
Dr. Alkek's outline Dr. Alkek's talk (Audio)
2-28-2012: God-Talk
Win Galbreath
In a short interview John Carroll, author of The Wreck of Western
Culture: Humanism Revisited, says “The great Western experiment with
Humanism …. has failed….The challenge for the West is to rediscover a
religious language that speaks plausibly to modern secular
individuals.” [www.isi.org/books] He feels that this can only be done
by some kind of contact to a higher or metaphysical order beyond the
confines of the time-bound, mundane human selves. We have frequently
seen statements to the effect that the question of our time is how to
relate science and religion. We have puzzled over “God Talk”, and Loyal
Rue has informed us that religion is not about “God”; it’s about us. We
have wondered to what extent atheism is compatible with theism. I
propose to make manifest the key to resolving all these issues by
showing how to translate the term “God” into something that is no less
empirical than many other terms utilized by the physical and social
sciences. I further propose that this effort is not entirely new, but
represents simply the next step in a long tradition of theology in
every major theistic tradition. In other words, Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam will probably move in some direction like this or fade out of
contention and join Mithraism, and the worship of Zeus or Issus and
Osiris.
God Talk (paper) God Talk (PowerPoint) God Talk (Audio)
3-13-2012: "Who am I?" India's Experiments with
Consciousness
Pravrajika Brahmaprana
This talk by Pravrajika Brahmaprana will present the ancient Vedanta-Hindu method of uncovering the answer to one of the most fundamental questions of our existence - "Who am I?" In the process, Brahmaprana will show the Vedanta process of deconstructing the human personality in order to arrive at the true nature of human consciousness.
Brahmaprana audio
3-27-2012: American's Gold Obsession: From The Cross Of Gold To The Yellow
Brick Road
Paul Benson
Mountain View College
Between 1873 and 1933, America had a 60 year love affair with gold. This relationship with gold colored every aspect of the nation's political and economic life during that time. Elections were won and lost over the gold issue. This program will highlight the leading personalities and groups associated with both sides of the gold mania.
4-10-2012: Psychedelic Soul: What altered states, spiritual
experience, and phenomenology teach us about the possibility of
neurophilosophical thinking.
Tony Roberts, Ph.D.
Tarrant County College
On “Good Friday” in 1962, a group of theology students at Andover Newton Theological School participated in a controversial experiment involving psychedelic drugs. What did they experience? And what does their experience suggest about spirituality and consciousness? In this lecture/discussion, we’ll examine some phenomenological qualities of spirituality, compare/contrast these with our everyday lived experience (an embodied-embedded view of consciousness), and raise more questions than answers about how we might study both. This is not a lecture on religion, claims of transpersonal/transcendental action/ability, or the reality/being/non-being of God; though our discussion will certainly inform our methodologies in these studies as well.
4-24-2012: Exploring Contemporary Thoughts in Buddhist Philosophy
Woody Gandy
Buddhism
offers an intellectually challenging body of philosophy that has
attracted increasing interest in the west over the last few
decades. Woodrow Gandy will explore this intriguing
philosophy, drawing on works by Mark Siderits (Buddhism as Philosophy),
Karen Anderson (Buddha), William Hart (Vipassana Meditation as taught
by S.N. Goenka), Thich Naht Hahn (The Heart of Understanding:
Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra) and other works by
modern writers.
5-8-2012: Should you really be wearing that Adam Smith tie?
Gerald Shilling
Economics Instructor, Eastfield College
Today's
global media is dominated by corporate owners, infotainers, and Super
PAC's that are high-jacking economic theories and misrepresenting them
to perpetuate self-serving agendas. This presentation will attempt to
address these questions - How are the theories of Adam Smith being
misinterpreted and misused in our current discussions of laissez faire
capitalism? How is Adam Smith's view of economics relevant to our
current economic environment? How might Adam Smith's view of
self-interest differ from that of today's view of self-interest?
5-22-2012: The Sublime Conservatism of Edmund Burke
Frank Rohmer
Austin College
Where Burke’s intimate friend Dr. Johnson called “patriotism the last refuge of a scoundrel,” Burke made patriotic prejudice the core of a passionate counterattack on the French Revolution that would make him the “first apostle” of conservatism in the twentieth century. The melodious harmony Burke envisioned between the earthly and heavenly realms brought solace to the conservative mind by courageously restoring in the face of modernity’s rational skepticism an older view of man’s nature and place in the cosmic order of things. But however melodious and sweet Edmund Burke’s rhetorical music may have been and may continue to be to conservative ears, Burke’s persuasiveness ultimately depends on the disturbing foundations of his moral-political philosophy that lie mostly dimmed by his lustrous rhetoric.