Graham Oppy is Professor of Philosophy at Monash University. Before that, he did his undergraduate work in Melbourne and his graduate work at Princeton. Though Graham is best known as a philosopher of religion, he has also published on the philosophy of math, language, aesthetics, and more. In this episode, Robinson and Graham begin by discussing the nature of argument: What makes an argument successful? What’s a good argument? How should we think about arguments in areas of deep disagreement? They then move on to a discussion of ontological arguments in the philosophy of religion, where one argues for the existence of god—or gods—without any prior assumptions.

Ontological Arguments: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ontological-arguments/

Majesty of Reason: https://www.youtube.com/@MajestyofReason

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:40 Introduction

05:04 Graham and the Philosophy of Religion

11:45 Arguments

14:12 What Makes a Good Argument?

38:00 How to Talk Around Deep Disagreement

48:23 How Arguments Vary Across Disciplines

56:13 Ontological Arguments for the Existence of God

01:31:29 Cosmological Arguments

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.