A Response to “The God Delusion”
Dawkins’ also rejects a supernatural designer because he thinks, as an explanation, it lack explanatory power; in other words, no advance is made. He raises this objection because he feels that a supernatural designer is just as complex as design. However Dawkins’ objection is problematic as he assumes that a supernatural designer is as complex as the universe. But a supernatural designer, in other words God, is one of the simplest concepts understood by all. This opinion is expressed by many Philosophers including the famous atheist turned theist Professor Anthony Flew.
Read MoreA 7th Century War on Terror
Muslims landed in Spain in 711 CE and many sources testify that they were welcomed by the population, as their reputation preceded them. This was due to the severe persecution afflicted upon certain communities by the Visigothic Kings. Under these kings’ rule (following their conversion to Catholicism from Arianism), the Jewish community, in particular, was severely oppressed.
Read MoreGod’s Power & Will
A common contention or question regarding God’s power and ability is that if God is omnipotent then can He create a stone He cannot move? A key point to make in answering this question is to highlight that ‘Omnipotence’ is misconstrued as ‘all powerful’. What omnipotence really implies is the ability to actualise every affair, rather than raw power. So God being able to “create a stone He cannot move†actually describes an affair that is impossible and meaningless, just like if we were to say “a white black crow†or “a circle triangle†or even an “amphibian mammalâ€.
Read MoreThe Debate with Professor Blackburn
I argued that in the Philosophy of science the best explanation doesn’t require an explanation. Anyone with a basic understanding of the philosophy of science will conclude that in the inference to the best explanation, the best explanation doesn’t require an explanation! I used an example similar to the one that follows to illustrate this point: Imagine 500 years from now a group of futuristic archaeologists were to start digging in on the moon only to find parts of a car and a bus. They would be completely justified in inferring that these finds were products of an unknown civilisation. However if some Richard Dawkins IV were to argue that we can’t make such inferences because we do not know anything about this civilization, how they lived and who created them, would that make the archaeologists conclusions untrue? Of course not!
Read More12th Century Renaissance?
In the light of historical evidences available it seems that medieval Europe was experiencing a scientific revolution. In Spain magnificent libraries had been established and Cordova alone had 70 public libraries. The library of Hakam II (961-1008) consisted of 400,000 volumes of books alone. These libraries attracted scholars from all over Europe to study the ancient sciences and the same was also taking place in other cities like Toledo, Seville, Valencia and Barcelona. One such scholar who visited Toledo was Daniel of Morley. When the Christians took Toledo in 1085, a school of translation was established in which Arabic works of Jewish and Islamic scholars were translated into Latin.
Read MoreReflections on the Self
The self is not a physical thing; it is not contained in any cell or biological structure. The most unchallenged and intuitive reality is that we are all aware, but we cannot describe or explain what this awareness is. One thing that we can be sure of is that the self cannot be explained biologically or chemically, the main reason for this is that science doesn’t discover the self; it’s actually the other way round. For science to try and explain the truth of the self would be tantamount to arguing in a circle! Even scientists recognise this, the physicist Gerald Schroeder points out that there is no real difference between a heap of sand and the brain of an Einstein. The advocates of a physical explanation for the self end up in a muddle as they require answers to even bigger questions such as ‘how can certain bits of matter suddenly create a new reality that has no resemblance to matter?’
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