The Uncertainty Podcast

Dr. Max Baker-Hytch of Oxford University discusses Schellenberg's argument for atheism stemming from nonresistant nonbelief, nonbelief in God that results through no fault of one's own.

Check out Max's paper, "On Sin-based Responses to Divine hiddenness".

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction

02:04 Do you struggle with divine hiddenness?

05:00 Schellenberg's argument

14:22 Are there nonresistant nonbelievers?

21:05 Would God prevent nonresistant nonbelief?

27:43 Step #1 - God would always be open to relationship

39:32 Step #2 - Openness entails no nonresistant nonbelief

45:28 Relationship without belief.

52:25 Alex O'Connor as a nonresistant nonbeliever

59:52 Related Problem #1 - Demographics of nonbelief

01:09:15 Related Problem #2 - Religious disagreement

Dr. Brian Cutter outlines the argument from psychophysical harmony for theism and responds to Graham Oppy's recent critique. Check out Crummett and Cutter's article defending the argument from psychophysical harmony:

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:22 The argument, summarized.

00:06:10 Does evolution explain harmony?

00:14:42 Probability of harmony on naturalism

00:20:46 Objection #1 - Infinite range of possible laws.

00:24:52 Objection #2 - Principle of indifference.

00:35:08 Probability of harmony on theism.

00:45:08 Replying to Graham Oppy's objections.

00:50:39 What if the mind and brain are identical?

01:14:36 Other explanations for harmony.

01:24:35 The role of historical context.

Dr. Mike Licona, professor of New Testament Studies at Houston Christian University, joins me to discuss the philosophy of history, whether a historian can determine if an event like the resurrection of Jesus happened, and then, if they can, whether the evidence is in fact sufficient to conclude that two-thousand years ago, Jesus rose from the dead.Check our Dr. Licona's book, "The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach."

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:15 Is the resurrection history or theology?

00:05:29 Methodological naturalism

00:24:46 Shouldn't we always prefer a natural explanation?

00:37:05 Bias in conservative New Testament scholarship

00:42:57 The historical case for the resurrection.

00:47:05 Was Jesus' tomb found empty?

00:49:53 What did the early disciples believe?

00:56:32 Did Paul teach a "spiritual" resurrection?

01:04:55 Alternative #1 - Someone stole the body.

01:08:48 Alternative #2 - The disciples hallucinated.

01:19:23 Alternatives #3 - Aliens raised Jesus from the dead.

Michael Huemer returns to the podcast to discuss his philosophical argument for reincarnation. If time is infinite, then the probability that you have lived multiple times - indeed, an infinite number of times - is 100%. I am not so sure about this argument. Check out Huemer's published version of the reincarnation argument, as well as his Substack.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction

00:04:25 The argument.

00:06:53 Poincare recurrence theorem.

00:17:42 Arguments for an infinite past.

00:28:10 Objection: infinite space and cosmic clones.

00:46:07 What does it feel like to reincarnate?

00:54:31 Should we look forward to our future lives?

01:08:19 Philosophical problems with Heaven.

Troy Dana joins me to debate the fine-tuning argument for God, as well as his anti-design fine-tuning argument.

Check out Troy's YouTube channel, along with Troy's written version of his anti-design argument.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction.

00:00:57 Overview of the FTA.

00:04:49 Troy's anti-design FTA.

00:13:40 Likelihood of fine-tuning given bare design.

00:25:09 Discovering the digits of pi in the cosmic microwave background.

00:33:11 Double counting the evidence?

00:40:37 Bayesianism breaks down in cosmic contexts?

00:44:43 Return of awesome theistic evidence.

01:00:36 We'll pursue this in writing.

01:01:24 Troy's second anti-design argument.

01:11:10 Prior probability of theism.

Keegan Kjeldson, YouTuber and musician, joins me to discuss how Nietzsche would have responded to philosopher Michael Huemer's argument for free will.

Check out Keegan's awesome YouTube channel.

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Joe and I take a more personal turn in this video, discussing the importance of philosophy, what got us into the discipline, and whether studying Immanuel Kant your whole life is really worth it.

Check out Joe's YouTube channel, Majesty of Reason.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:02 What's the value of philosophy?

00:03:35 Are some areas of philosophy pointless?

00:15:17 Joe Schmid: A Personal History

00:25:27 Miles Donahue: A Personal History

00:31:25 Why is Joe an agnostic?

00:40:34 The FTA Objection 1 - Epistemically illuminated region

00:49:34 The FTA Objection 2 - Theism's predictive problem

01:03:57 The FTA Objection 3 - The Multiverse

01:10:20 Question Lightning Round

Dr. Darrell L. Bock, research professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, discusses the gnostic gospels and their relationship to early Christian belief and the historical Jesus.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

00:18 What makes the gnostic gospels so interesting?

01:41 What is gnosticism?

05:15 What did the gnostics think about Jesus?

13:04 The Gospel of Thomas

17:06 The Gospel of Judas

18:31 The Gospel of Peter

20:22 The Gospel of Phillip

24:00 How did the New Testament books get selected?

29:22 The Niece Creed and its history

37:58 What role did Constantine play?

47:04 Bart Ehrman's views on early Christianity

Dr. Ned Block, professor of philosophy and psychology at NYU, joins me to discuss theories of consciousness, functionalism, the difference between access and phenomenal consciousness, the limitations of current Large Language Models, and how far away artificial general intelligence is from our current capacities.

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Feel free to follow me on⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

00:22 Hard vs. easy problems of consciousness

07:39 Reductive vs. non-reductive physicalism

12:19 The Chinese nation thought experiment

19:14 Can ChatGPT fool you into thinking it's a human? The Turing test

28:31 Rules vs. patterns-based reasoning

34:16 Blockhead thought experiment

37:53 Phenomenal vs. access consciousness

44:09 What is artificial intelligence?

46:27 The limits of LLMs

49:48 Does thinking require a brain?

50:34 Narrow vs. general AI

51:57 Is AI about to surpass human intelligence?

Sam Thomas, my philosophy bestie hailing from Oxford, England, joins me to go through the results of the 2020 PhilPapers survey of professional philosophers. We offer our opinions on many major philosophical issues.

Check out the ⁠2020 PhilPapers survey⁠.

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EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:15 A Priori Knowledge

00:11:22 Aim of Philosophy

00:22:01 Eating Animals

00:32:50 Experience Machine

00:43:17 External World Skepticism

00:52:11 The Trolly Problem

01:06:23 God's Existence

01:29:38 Meaning of Life

01:41:37 Chinese Room

01:48:55 Immortality

02:00:20 Philosophical Progress