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Doing Philosophy: An Introduction Through Thought Experiments, 2/e

Theodore Schick, Muhlenberg College
Lewis Vaughn

The Problem of Evil and the Existence of God

The Mysterious Universe: God as Creator

Thought Probes

Biblical Truths: Does the failure to find confirming evidence for many of the Bible's historical claims undercut the credibility of its nonhistorical claims?
Archeology vs. the Bible (http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/hwc22/Rome/Archaeology_vs._the_Bible.html) Article by Haim Watzman describing the archaeological findings that seem incompatible with the Biblical accounts



Beyond the Founding Myths (http://www.brianwoods.com/archeobible.htm) Article by Laura Miller from Salon.com on the Biblical minimalists



A Centrist at the Center of Controversy (http://www.bib-arch.org/bswb_BAR/bswbbar2806f2.html) Interview with David Finkelstein by Hershel Shanks for Biblical Archeology Review



Minimalism, Ancient Israel, and Anti-Semitism (http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Minimalism.htm) Article by Phillip Davies (University of Sheffield) on Biblical minimalism



Contra Davies (http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Contra_Davies.htm) Response to Davies article by William G. Dever (University of Arizona)

Why a Universe? If God is infinitely old, why did He create a universe 15 billion years ago?
Why Did God Create the Universe? (http://www.philosophos.com/knowledge_base/archives_9/philosophy_questions_927.html) Discussion by Brian Tee (University of Sheffiled) from philosophos.com



The Definition of God (http://www.the-archon.com/guide/fourth.htm) Article by Bryan Prim arguing that if God is perfect, he can have no reason to create the universe



Dear Theologian (http://www.ffrf.org/lfif/theologian.html) Set of questions written by Dan Barker that God might want to ask a theologian



Why Did He Not Create the Universe Sooner rather than Later? (http://www.pearls.org/creation/sooner.htm) Article from the Pearls of Wisdom



The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/gregory/215/handouts/h16_lcc.doc) Excerpts from the debate between Newton and Leibniz on the nature of God from Andrew Gregory (University College London)



Why Did God Create Us with Sin in the World? (http://www.carm.org/questions/whydidGodcreateus.htm) Article by Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry arguing that God created the world to show his love for us

Human Design Flaws: Does the fact that humans are poorly designed provide evidence against the intelligent design theory?
If Humans Were Built to Last (http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Regular/joel70.htm) Article by S. Jay Olshansky et. al from the Scientific American on ways to improve the design of human beings



Designed for Longevity: the Perfect Body (http://www.mygeneration.org/departments/2001/health/perfectbody/longevity-nn.html) Interactive depiction of the perfect body



Evolution and Origin of Disease (http://www.direct-ms.org/articles/Evolution-OriginsOfDisease.pdf) Article by Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams on the evolutionary origin of disease



Bad Taste in Bodyscape (http://www.positivehealth.com/permit/Articles/Regular/joel70.htm) Article by Joel Carbonnel arguing that humans are built for extended life



Intelligent Design Theory (http://www.cse.msu.edu/~weinshan/Intelligent%20Design%20Lecture%20Notes.031902.htm) Notes for a debate on Intelligent Design Theory between Dr. Tom Woodward and Dr. Tom Weinshank

Parting the Red Sea: Does the fact that the Red Sea can be parted by natural forces undercut the notion that is was parted by God?
The Miracle of: the Parting of the Red Sea (http://www.amazingchange.org/mormirapartredsea.htm) Description of the parting of the Red Sea from Exodus 14: 21-31



Oceanographers Say Wind May Have Parted the Waters (http://www.doronnof.net/graphics/ny-times1.pdf) Article by John Noble Wilford from the New York Times, March 13, 1992



Physics Parts the Red Sea (http://www.doronnof.net/graphics/science-paper.pdf) Article from Science, April 24, 1992



Science Solves Ancient Mysteries of the Bible (http://popularmechanics.com/science/research/2001/11/bible_mysteries_12_1996/print.phtml) Article by Mike Fillon providing scientific explanations for a number of Biblical events



Biblical Miracles: Did They Happen? (http://www.escmedia.org/wires/miracles.html) Article by Charles Colson arguing that even if the parting of the Red Sea can be explained in natural terms, its timing is miraculous

Jesus's Miracles: Given the fact that Jesus's "miracles" are similar to those performed by other magicians at the time, can they be considered to be real?
Was Jesus a Magician? (http://spot.colorado.edu/~vstenger/RelSci/Magician.html) Article by Vic Stenger (University of Hawaii) examining the magician hypothesis



Hellenistic Magic and Jesus (http://www.askwhy.co.uk/christianity/0618Magic.html) Article by M. D. Magee analyzing the references to magic in the Bible



Divine or Magical? Attacks on Christianity with Allegations of Magic (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~christie/magic/magicalattacks.html) Article by Frannie Texidor citing some of the early claims that Christianity is based on magic



The Unoriginal Miracle Claims of the New Testament (http://members.aol.com/ps418/miracles.html) Article from Patrick S. arguing that many of the miracle claims of the Bible can be found in other religious traditions



Jesus: Magician, Maniac, or Master (http://ministryblue.com/studies/Jesus.html) Article by Rob Lamont citing Biblical evidences for Jesus's divinity



Jesus and Ancient Magicians (http://www.gregboyd.org/gbfront/index.asp?PageID=339) Article by Greg Boyd critiquing the claim that Jesus was just a magician

The Fivefold Challenge: Five major miraculous events are unconfirmed by modern archaeology: the parting of the Red Sea by Moses; the stopping of the sun by Joshua; the reversal of the sun's course by Isaiah, the feeding of thousands of people by Jesus using only five loaves of bread and two fishes; and the resurrection of the saints. Does this provide good reason for believing that these miracles never occurred?
The Five Fold Challenge (http://www.infidels.org/library/magazines/tsr/1995/4/4five95.html) Robby Berry's challenge to present extra-Biblical evidence for these miracles



What About the Five Fold Challenge? (http://www.christian-thinktank.com/5felled.html) Article from the Christian ThinkTank explaining why it is unlikely we will find evidence for Biblical miracles



Argument from Miracles (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/miracles.html) Set of links regarding the argument from miracles from the Secular Web



Examining Miracle Claims (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/joe_nickell/miracles.html) Article by Joe Nickell (Center for Inquiry) on alternative explanations for various miraculous claims



Science and Miracles (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/miracles.html) Article by Theodore Drange on the relation between science and miracles

Religious Experience: Does the fact that religious experiences can be produced electronically undercut the claim that they are produced by a supernatural being?
This is Your Brain on God (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.11/persinger.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=) Article by Jack Hitt for Wired reporting on Michael Persinger's spiritual experience machine



Wired for Ultimate Reality: The Neuropsychology of Religious Experience (http://www.science-spirit.org/articles/Articledetail.cfm?article_ID=205) Article by Andrew Newberg and Eugene D'Aquili describing their research into the basis of religious experience



Tracing the Synapses of our Spirituality (http://www.maps.org/media/vedantam.html) Article by Shankar Vedantam for the Washington Post reporting on recent research into the biological basis of religious experience



Mystical Experience, Hallucination, and Belief in God (http://www.alastairmcintosh.com/articles/1978_mystical.htm) Article by Alastair I. McIntosh defending the argument from mystical experience



Hard-Wired for God (http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2002/12/29/fObserver158.raw.html) Article by Amy Ellis Nutt for the Newhouse News Service reporting on the work of neurologist Rhawn Joseph who believes our brains have evolved to sense God



Religious Experience (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/experience.html) Set of links to articles regarding the argument from religious experience from the Secular Web

The Best Bet: Which wager, Pascal's or Silverman's, do you think is the best?
Pascal's Wager (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pascal-wager/) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article



Pascal's Wager (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/wager.html) Set of links to articles on Pascal's wager from the Secular Web



The End of Pascal's Wager: Only Nontheists Go to Heaven (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/richard_carrier/heaven.html) Article by Richard Carrier



Pascal's Wager Refuted (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/wager.html) Article by Theodore Drange (West Virginia University) outlining objections to Pascal's wager



Pascal's Wager (http://brindedcow.umd.edu/236/pascal.html) Lecture notes by Alan Stairs (University of Maryland) examining the reasoning behind Pascal's wager

The Source of Meaning: Can one make one's own life meaningful or must it be part of a divine plan?
Questions about the Meaning of Life (http://www.hku.hk/philodep/courses/cvmol/HepburnMeaning.html) Article by R. W. Hepburn from Religious Studies (1965) discussing philosophical vs. religious approaches to the meaning of life



What is the Meaning of Life? (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/MEANLIFE.html) Article from the Principia Cybernetica Web arguing that the meaning of life is to increase fitness



Evolution and the Meaning of Life (http://www.uq.edu.au/~pdwgrey/pubs/meanlife.html) Article by William Grey from Zygon (1987) arguing considering the relevance of biology to understanding the meaning of life



The Meaning of Life (http://www.update.uu.se/~fbendz/philo/meaning.htm) Article by Fredrik Benz arguing that meaning is something that one creates



Why are We Here? (http://www.purposeforlife.org/) Article by Rick Brown from purposeoflife.org

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