Dmitry Chernikov’s Blog

As a Johnny-come-lately to Avatar, I must say that of course I was amazed by the effects and 3D and all that. But it was interesting to think of the problem posed in the movie, namely, whether a peaceful solution to the problems of both the humans and the Na’vi could be found. At first [...]

Regarding the kalam argument. Craig has build a huge case for the existence of God based on it. The argument is:
(1) Whatever begins to exist has a cause for its coming into being.
(2) The universe began to exist.
(3) Therefore, the universe has a cause for its coming into being.
Craig needs to shore up the minor. [...]

In the first philosophy book I ever read, Philosophy for Dummies by Thomas Morris (which is a brilliant introduction to numerous philosophical ideas), Morris articulates the “principle of belief conservation.” First he argues that some of our beliefs are rational, or else the term “rational belief” would have neither referent nor meaning. The usefulness of [...]

Rothbard posed the question: who are the greater villains with respect to liberty, the unwashed masses or the power elite? His answer was:

First, even granting for a moment that the masses are the worst possible, that they are perpetually Hell-bent on lynching anyone down the block, the mass of people simply don’t have the time [...]

In “The Outsider Test for Faith” John Loftus exhorts us to step outside our faith and examine it with the skeptical eyes of a foreigner. His argument is that an average person’s coming to have the particular faith that they have does not depend on the virtues of the faith itself but on factors that [...]

What a beautiful argument!
So, we have:
P(F|E) = 1 / (1 + P(E|F’)/P(E|F))
Then if P(E|F) > 0.5 > P(E|F’), then the hypothesis is confirmed (in that its probability becomes greater than the prior of 0.5).

Robert Adams interprets Kant’s argument for the existence of God as follows:
(A) We ought (morally) to promote the realization of the highest good.
(B) What we ought to do must be possible for us to do.
(C) It is not possible for us to promote the realization of the highest good unless there exists a God who [...]

Amy Sayers makes a case against an argument of the following sort:
(1) That no miracles are performed today entails that no miracles have ever been performed.
(2) No miracles are performed today.
Therefore,
(3) There have never been miracles.
(HT: Victor Reppert)
I do have qualms about some of her arguments: for example, the distinction between negative and positive analogies [...]

This is a reply to the first of Ben “The Warrior on Error”’s atheistic challenges.
As far as balancing good and evil, God may allow physical evil (such as: illness or temptation) in order to produce higher-level moral good. But man can rarely calculate sufficiently well to ensure that good will eventually prevail. When he can, [...]

Now I admit that the theory presented below is somewhat unsatisfying. Why shouldn’t God be my Father? Don’t I love Him? Well, why should He? I mean, consider a person racked with cancer, or a compulsive gambler who lost all his money to blackjack, or whatever miserable folks you can imagine. Is the world satisfying [...]

This is a crucial question, to which the answer is “no, not in this life.” Believing otherwise is, in my view, responsible for the resilience of the problem of evil.
God is Father only of God the Son and of the blessed in heaven.
To unbelievers He is as if He did not exist;
to natural theists He [...]

Consider the following points: (1) In the order of study, ethics is first philosophy; theology is last philosophy. (2) “Murder is wrong” seems much more obvious than “God exists.” These would suggest that there are few controversies in ethics. Oh yeah? Fat chance! The deeper you dig, the more complexity you encounter. For example, Miller [...]

I say yes, for the following reasons.

Or, at least, some of them.

Based on that, I suppose we have to learn in life not to kill the things we love and not to hate the things we help.

Suppose now that we don’t want to appeal to Zeus’ simplicity to prove its pure actuality. So, suppose that Zeus embodies in itself both act and potency; moreover it is the former or creator of everything that is not-Zeus. Is this situation possible? Clearly, if Zeus’ potentiality cannot be actualized, then it may as well [...]

We see in the world things with a mixture of actuality and potentiality. Things are what they are, and being a particular thing carries with it (1) the power to endure and to resist assaults by other things, as well as (2) various powers to influence other things. On the other hand, insofar as nothing [...]

A respondent commented that she “waited for Jesus to take away [her] bad thoughts. Never worked.” But neither the Catholic liturgy, nor prayer, nor good works are magical rites that will purify your soul. It’s simply not the case that taking communion will necessarily have positive psychological effects. It might but only for those people [...]

is one in which “all possible grades of existence will actually exist,” says James Chastek. “The universe will be a complete whole with nothing left out.” There is nothing to add, that is, in between plants and animals, animals and men, men and angels, angels and God, etc.
In other words, if God were to create [...]

I think it is consistent with Aquinas’ teaching to hold that with respect to the virtue of fortitude, for example, in healing wounded nature grace moves one from cowardice or foolhardiness back to the mean, courage. But in uplifting man above his nature, grace removes the fear of death and implants confidence that “everlasting life, [...]