The LOGIC & RELIGION
WEBINAR
Join the LOGIC & RELIGION WEBINAR !
The Logic and Religion Webinar is a World Seminar Series organized by the Logic and Religion Association (LARA). It is an open platform for all scholars interested in the relationship between logic and religion, reason and faith, rational inquiry and divine revelation.
The sessions take place bimonthly on Thursdays at 4pm CET (click here to convert to your timezone). They are held via Zoom and are free to attend.
Please register in advance!
Video recordings of the seminars are uploaded on the Logic and Religion YouTube channel.
Each webinar session is chaired by a scholar involved in LARA’s projects and features one or more speakers on a topic related to logic and religion. Sessions begin with a brief presentation by the chair, followed by a talk by the speaker(s) (approximately 40 min) and then a discussion (approximately 40 min).
Paul Bartha
University of British Columbia, Canada
EVOLUTIONARY MODELS AND RELATIVE INFINITY IN PASCAL’S WAGER
October 24, 2024, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Paul Bartha (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Chair: Marcin Trepczyński (University of Warsaw, Poland)
In a series of articles, I have explored how two devices may be used to answer some of the most notorious objections to Pascal’s Wager. Relative utilities, which provide a finite representation of infinite utility, give us a simple response to the mixed-strategies objection. The many-wagers model adds an evolutionary dynamics and a requirement of evolutionarily stable credences, which give us precise responses to versions of the many-gods objection. Oppy (2018) offers several interesting challenges to the idea that these two devices allow us to salvage Pascal’s argument. I shall show that the relative utilities/many-wagers model can answer Oppy’s challenges at least in part, and more importantly that it provides a fruitful framework for modeling and exploring “Pascalian” decision problems.
NEXT WEBINARS
Date
October 24, 2024
Title
Many Gods, Many Wagers: Pascal’s Wager Meets the Replicator Dynamics
William Hasker
Huntington University, USA
THE TWO-STAGED ARGUMENT FROM REASON
August 15, 2024, 4pm CET
The link to the recorded session will be posted soon.
Speaker: William Hasker (Huntington University, USA)
Chair: Cristiano Batista (University of Brasilia, Brazil)
The Argument from Reason (AFR) claims to show that standard naturalistic views of the human person are unable to provide a satisfactory explanation of the ability of humans to engage in rational thought. This inability puts naturalism at a considerable disadvantage in comparison with alternative views such as theism. The AFR assumes that naturalism includes the causal closure of the material domain. Most naturalists do make this assumption, but a few naturalists, including Graham Oppy, reject causal closure and thereby escape from the force of the AFR first stage. This paper proceeds with the “second stage” of the AFR, showing that the rejection of closure leads to several other consequences that naturalists will find unacceptable.
Martín Grassi
Universität Bonn, Germany
THE ROLE OF THE CONCEPT OF PNEUMA IN THE BUILDING OF THE WESTERN TOTALITARIAN PARADIGM
July 25, 2024, 4pm CET
The link to the recorded session will be posted soon.
Speaker: Martín Grassi (Universität Bonn, Germany)
Chair: Francisco de Assis Mariano (The University of Missouri-Columbia, USA)
Through the history of the concept of pneuma, I will show how the two main functions of the spirit is, on the one hand, to organize a multiplicity and reduce it into a totality, and, on the other hand, to subject every singular to a community by dwelling in them. The concept of pneuma, therefore, is key to understand a paradigm of totalitarianism, that thinks in terms of totality and that functionalizes singularities. The critical history of this concept has a special importance for Christian Theology and its political implications.
Tatiana Barkovskiy
University of Cambridge, UK
THE LOGIC OF 'BEING NOTHING’ AND 'WILLING NOTHING' IN MARGUERITE PORETE
June 20, 2024, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Tatiana Barkovskiy (University of Cambridge, UK)
Chair: Monika Nowakowska (University of Warsaw, Poland)
In her Mirror of Simple Souls, Marguerite Porete (d. 1310) defines the free soul as a being ‘saved by faith without works, who is only in love, does nothing for God, can be taught nothing, from whom nothing can be taken nor given, and who possesses no will’. In my talk, I examine Porete’s notion of the soul’s ontological ‘nothingness’ and ‘less-than-nothingness’, and show how they translate into the nothingness of the soul’s will. As Porete argues, true freedom comes from freeing oneself of one’s self in order to be and will together with the divine.
Robert Audi
University of Notre Dame, USA
THE LOVE COMMANDMENTS: SOME LOGICAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS
April 18, 2024, 4pm CET
Speaker: Robert Audi (University of Notre Dame, USA)
Chair: Ricardo Sousa Silvestre (Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil)
This presentation explores the meaning and scope of the love commandments, especially the second, telling us to love our neighbors as ourselves. What kind of relation to God is appropriate to the command to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind? If, as is plausible, what is commanded can be intended, what is intended is action, and love is not an action or under direct positive voluntary control, how can love be commanded? If love really is impossible to achieve at will and cannot be directly commanded, what kinds of acts are appropriate to carrying out the two commandments? This question is important not only theologically (and not only for Christianity), but also for understanding moral obligation in general. With that in mind, Kant’s categorical imperative, in its Formula of Humanity version—requiring us to treat persons as ends in themselves and never merely as means—will be briefly examined.
Juan Diego Morales
Universidad de Cartagena, Colombia
GOD AS A HYPOTHESIS
May 23, 2024, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Juan Diego Morales (Universidad de Cartagena, Colombia)
Chair: Jean-Yves Beziau (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
In this presentation I argue that religion implies the empirical and testable, although non-scientific hypothesis that God’s personal action is non-reducible to and ineliminable from the natural world. Much of the argument focuses on the thesis of the causal closure or completeness of nature that most scientists, philosophers, and theologians accept. I argue that the consequences of this thesis are devastating for religion, making it ontologically and epistemologically dispensable. But I show how, in fact, contemporary sciences support a conception of the natural world as much more causally open, on which religion should be empirically structured.
Alan Rhoda
Christian Theological Seminary, USA
THE OPEN FUTURE ARGUMENT
March 21, 2024, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Alan Rhoda (Christian Theological Seminary, USA)
Chair: Assis Mariano (University of Missouri-Columbia, USA)
I am going to present and defend my recently published “open future argument” (Open Theism, Cambridge Elements, 2024). The upshot of the argument is that if there is future contingency in creation, then thoroughgoing open futurism is true, and thus there is nothing in reality that picks out a unique actual future. If the argument is sound, then major consequences for theology and metaphysics follow (e.g., there is no temporally linear block universe; there is no “thin red line” or complete, true story of the future; and, if God exists, then the future is open-ended from God’s perspective.)
Evan Fales
University of Iowa, USA
SENSIBLE ANIMISM
February 22, 2024, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Evan Fales (The University of Iwoa, USA)
Chair: Assis Mariano (University of Missouri-Columbia, USA)
Not uncommonly, modern reflection on “primitive” tribal religions (sometimes labelled ‘animist’) has concluded that, in one way or another, such religions are grounded in irrational cognitive processes, in contrast to the sophisticated thought that characterizes the theologies of advanced religions. Is this a fair judgment? Or does it reflect a fundamental failure to grasp the ontological underpinnings of primitive theologies? I’ll argue for the latter, and that a different approach suggests not only rational but sophisticated thinking. My argument proceeds, from a strong principle of interpretive charity and analysis of the ontology of social realities, to this proposal.
Jose Eduardo Porcher
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
WHY DOESN'T CANDOMBLÉ HAVE A PROBLEM OF EVIL?
October 19, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: José Eduardo Porcher (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Chair: Ricardo Silvestre (Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil)
In this talk, I would like to do two things: first, to look at mythic narratives and try to pry from them a reasonably uncontroversial set of attributes of the Supreme Being of Yoruba-diasporic traditions and see if this explains the inexistence of the problem of evil in Candomblé; and second, by so doing, to call attention to how myths can enrich and be instrumental to the philosophy of religion—especially in contexts in which other sources are sparse. Moreover, I’d like to take this opportunity to exemplify that we can shed light on neglected traditions by trying to figure out why these problems are not raised within them—rather than trying to make a tradition fit the classical problems formulated by an overwhelmingly theistic (and more specifically, Christian) philosophy of religion.
Aaron Cotnoir
University of St Andrews, UK
ALL PERVADING TRANSCENDENT GOD: Omnipresence, Mereology, & Simplicity
November 16, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Aaron Cotnoir (University of St Andrews, UK)
Chair: Daniel Molto (University of Sussex, UK)
Mereological Harmony principles necessitate that any entity occupying a complex location must have parts located there. These principles can conflict with an omnipresent simple God. This paper lists potential sources of conflict, showing how most occupation-based accounts of omnipresence must reject Harmony. I then outline a new occupation-based theory that completely avoids such conflicts. The central idea --- motivated by divine transcendence and immensity -- is God's all-pervading transcendence: God is weakly located everywhere but lacks any exact or entire location in spacetime.
MOZI’S PHILOSOPHY OF UNIVERSAL LOVE AND ANALOGICAL REASONING
December 14, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Caroline Pires Ting (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Chair: Jean-Yves Beziau (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
The forthcoming exposition delves into Mozi’s philosophy of Universal Love (兼愛, jian'ai) and its profound impact on Chinese civilization. Mozi (墨子, c. 470 BCE – c. 391 BCE) is a leading light in Chinese philosophical discourse of his time. At the heart of his idea lies the notion of impartial care, advocating that all human endeavors ought to originate from an unwavering foundation of undistinguished concern. This doctrine is instrumental in shaping a distinctive ethos grounded in the ethical and political aspirations for societal enhancement. Unbiased love becomes fundamental to his intellectual framework, acting as the benchmark for all logical actions. As Chinese philosophical traditions began engaging with Western thought in recent times, Mohist reasoning experienced a revival, reinforcing the notion that Chinese philosophical traditions also possess an analytical inclination. Our goal in this talk is to explain how Mozi's understanding of love embodies an idea of benevolence rooted in a rigorous epistemological construct.
Agnieszka Rostalska
(Ghent University, Belgium)
LARA CELEBRATION OF THE WORLD LOGIC DAY
January 25, 2024, 4pm CET
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Speakers:
Agnieszka Rostalska (Ghent University, Belgium)
Anand Vaidya (San José State University, USA)
Jean-Yves Beziau (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Marcin Trepczyński (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Stanislaw Krajewski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Francisco de Assis Mariano (University of Missouri-Columbia, USA)
Caroline Pires Ting (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and Macau International Institute)
The 6th edition of the World Logic Day is the opportunity to reflect on the activities (past, present, and future) and goals of LARA (Logic And Religion Association) with some of its main actors. This will be a round table, each participant giving a short talk and, after that, there will be an animated interactive discussion with the audience.
Aribiah Attoe
University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
THE ANATOMY OF GOD AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
Lessons from an African Perspective
May 11, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Aribiah Attoe (University of Witwatersrand, South Africa)
Chair: Francisco de Assis Mariano (University of Missouri-Columbia, USA)
In this talk, I will provide a new response to the problem of evil from an African perspective. I will argue that the notion of a God that is conscious and intentional is mistaken. This is because these attributes are not based on any concrete information about the nature of God, and so are simply misattributions. Thus, I will argue for a new notion of God as a material and depersonalised entity, therefore redefining the African limited God view. I will also show that “evil” is merely a category of the mind. Finally, I will show how these ideas make the problem of evil irrelevant.
Graham Priest
City University of New York, USA
DIALETHEISM AND THE INEFFABILITY OF GOD
June 15, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Graham Priest (City University of New York, USA)
Chair: Agnieszka Rostalska (Ghent University, Belgium)
Many Christian philosophers have argued that God is ineffable. Of course, in arguing for this, they talk about God. So God cannot be ineffable. Call this the self-referential trap. One way out of the trap is to accept that God is both effable and ineffable. It might be thought that such a view is incoherent. But it can be shown to make perfectly good sense using the techniques of paraconsistent logic. In this talk, I will show how.
Bo Mou
San José State University, USA
THE ULTIMATE-UNSPEAKABLE PARADOX AND THE PRINCIPLE OF NON-CONTRADICTION
From Lao Zi and Aristotle to a Holistic Double-Reference Vantage Point
July 6, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Bo Mou (San José State University, USA)
Chair: Anand Vaidya (San José State University, USA)
Can we talk about the Ultimate (like the ultimate God or the ultimate reality Dao) with its contradictory features in a consistent way as guided by a refined principle of non-contradiction? My goal in this talk is to explain a refined principle of non-contradiction (PNC) from a holistic “double-reference” vantage point. I also aim at capturing the “double-reference” point of Lao Zi’s opening statements of the Dao-De-Jing and the central point of Aristotle’s classical presentation of the PNC. Dissolving the “Ultimate-unspeakable paradox”, the addressed refined PNC can guide us to talk about real contradictions in the Ultimate in a non-contradictory and insightful way. For a discussion of Lao Zi's relevant ideas see chapter 6 of my 2018 book Semantic-Truth Approaches in Chinese Philosophy: A Unifying Pluralist Account. For the double-reference idea see section 3.2 of my paper An enhanced account of relative identity.
Mohammad Bozorgi
Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Iran
CONTRADICTION IN ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY AND MYSTICISM
August 17, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Mohammad Jafar Jame Bozorgi (Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Iran)
Chair: Ali Sadegh Daghighi (Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Iran)
In their works, Graham Priest and Richard Routley try to show a kind of refusal to deny the contradiction and even display the truth of some of them. According to them, dialetheism is a reaction against philosophical systems whose goal has always been to build impenetrable and rigid forms and frameworks. But what is the opinion of Islamic philosophy? In Islamic philosophy and mysticism, especially in Ibn Arabi's mysticism and Mulla Sadra's philosophy, there are doctrines and theories that have caused some philosophers to suspect that they are contradictory. In this lecture, I will show that theories such as the Unity of Existence, the Plurality of Divine Names and Attributes, the Ontological Foundation of Existence, the Substantive Movement, etc., do not correspond to dialetheism. Although Mulla Sadra's theory of the Substantive Movement denies any fixed nature for the object, there is a great difference between the negation of the quiddity and the denial of the originality of the quiddity.
Benedikt Paul Göcke
Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
INDIAN IN SPIRIT? KARL KRAUSE'S PANENTHEISM AND THE VEDIC TRADITIONS
March 16, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Benedikt Paul Göcke (Ruhr University Bochum, Germany)
Chair: Ricardo Silvestre (Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil)
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781-1832) was one of the first European philosophers to appreciate, and draw upon, Indian philosophical and theological traditions. His panentheistic system of philosophy can be seen as a modern version of ancient Indian philosophical thought itself. In my lecture, Krause’s appreciation of the Indian traditions is spelled out in more detail before central features of his panentheism are clarified. Against this background, a brief Krausean interpretation of Krishna’s relation to the world as presented in the Bhagavad Gītā is provided.
Itala Loffredo D'Ottaviano
University of Campinas, Brazil
THE LOGICAL PROBLEM OF EVIL FROM A PARACONSISTENT PERSPECTIVE
April 13, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Itala Maria Loffredo D'Ottaviano (University of Campinas, Brazil
Chair: Evandro Gomes (State University of Maringá, Brazil)
After a brief discussion on the presence of paraconsistent approaches in the history of Western thought, in special in ancient and medieval times, we will characterize paraconsistent logic, created only during the 20th century.
Recently, Bertato (2021) presented a proposal for a Formal Natural Theology through a first-order logical theory, by formally introducing fundamental concepts such as divine, necessary, and supreme. In this presentation, based on Bertato’s system, we will propose a paraconsistent underlying approach to deal with the Logical Problem of Evil, such that the presence of contradictions does not lead to logical triviality.
Dieter Birnbacher
University of Düsseldorf, Germany
TWO TYPES OF CRITIQUE OF RELIGION
January 12, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Dieter Birnbacher (University of Düsseldorf, Germany)
Chair: Jens Lemanski (University of Hagen, Germany)
The talk distinguishes three main directions in the philosophical criticism of religion and exemplifies them by the critique of religion contained in Schopenhauer’s Dialogue on religion: the inherent inability of religions to reveal the mythical nature of the objects of religious worship; the authoritarian nature of observing religious prescriptions; the allegation that religion produces more evil than good. On the last point, however, Schopenhauer is ambivalent: religion, to him, is the “philosophy of the masses” containing more than a grain of truth but in a form adapted to their seemingly limited intellectual capacities.
John Walton
Wheaton College, USA
THE LOST WORLD OF GENESIS ONE
February 23, 2023, 4pm CET
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Speaker: John Walton (Wheaton College, USA)
Chair: Francisco de Assis Mariano (University of Missouri-Columbia, USA)
Genesis One is indisputably one of the most fundamental passages of the Bible, and also one of the most controversial. It is often viewed as being in conflict with modern science. In the Lost World of Genesis One a case is made that when we read Genesis One as an ancient text the alleged conflict will disappear and greater understanding of the teaching of the text can be gained.
Purushottama Bilimoria
University of Melbourne (Australia)
PANENTHEISM AND PANPSYCHISM: Are they Interrelated?
Responses from Indian and Comparative Philosophy of Religion
March 17, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Purushottama Bilimoria (University of Melbourne, Australia; San Francisco State University, USA; RUDN University, Russia)
Chair: Anand Vaidya (San José State University, USA)
There has been of late a wave of interest in panentheism, which is pertinent to religious philosophies of both the Western and Eastern traditions. The dominant contemporary descriptions of panentheism however appear to be biased toward theistic presuppositions. Here I offer an alternative account, paying heed to the term’s etymology, and the concept’s roots in Indian religions. I next turn to panpsychism and explore various approaches to this thesis, with particular reference to certain conceptual problems (such as the ‘binding issue’) that have been raised in recent literature. The principal concern in the second part will be on the question of the kind of – if any – relation that can be drawn between pantheism and panpsychism: is there a necessary connection?
Kelly Clark
Ibn Haldun University (Turkey)
THE LOGIC OF BIBLICAL LOVE
January 13, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Kelly Clark (Ibn Haldun University, Turkey)
Chair: Francisco de Assis Mariano (University of Missouri-Columbia, USA)
The logic of Christian love seems simple: we should love like God. Yet the abstract and eternal God of Christian tradition—for example, God as impassible and unchanging—is ill-suited to understanding human love. Through proclamation, prescription, and example, the highest form of human love emerges from the biblical texts: (a) God insists that we act for the good of all humans, and (b) the transformed Heart of the Lover insists on acting for the good of others. Biblical love of others is, first (but lowest), benevolence—acting for the good of others and, second (and highest), compassion--empathy-motivated self-sacrificial action. I argue that we should embrace these human and earthy textual metaphors when it comes to understanding human love.
Laurent Lafforgue
Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (France)
IS SCIENTISM THE NEW UNIVERSAL CHURCH?
November 18, 2021, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Laurent Lafforgue (Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, France)
Chair: Snezana Lawrence (Middlesex University, UK)
In a text of 1971 entitled The New Universal Church, the famous mathematician Alexander Grothendieck defended that through a process of imperialist expansion, science has created an ideology of its own, scientism, that has many of the features of a new religion. He called it "La nouvelle église universelle". How does Grothendieck's text against scientism and the imperialism of science relate to his thought? How does it relate to his mathematics as well as to his ideas about religions ? Can it be said that Grothendieck had become against science or that, in some sense, he had always been against some form of science? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this webinar.
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Richard Swinburne
University of Oxford (UK)
ARE WE BODIES OR SOULS?
August 19, 2021, 4pm CEST
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Swinburne's reply to questions posed in the chat
Speaker: Richard Swinburne (University of Oxford, UK)
Chair: Dragana Jagušić (University of Rijeka, Croatia)
Are we our bodies? Or are we something beyond them, a metaphysical soul that is different from the body and that survives its death? In our next webinar, Richard Swinburne will deal with these issues as addressed in his most recent book: Are we Bodies or Souls? (OUP, 2019). More specifically, he will present the argument for the existence of the soul contained in chapter 3 and section A of chapter 4 of his book, which is basically the same as the argument contained in his article "Our souls make who we are" (Think, 57 : 53 -67, 2021).
WHY LOGIC AND RELIGION?
July 22, 2021, 4pm CEST
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What contribution can logic as an academic field provide to the philosophical reflection on God and religion? Could this contribution extend to other dimensions of the study of religion, such as the sociology and anthropology of religion? Can logic contribute to bringing religion closer to rationality? On the other hand, in what sense can religion bring new insights to the study and development of logic? Can we talk about Logic and Religion as a new field of research? If so, what is peculiar about this field that differentiates it from other areas of research, both in terms of methodology and object
of study? Is it a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research field? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this opening session of the Logic and Religion Webinar. It will be facilitated by members of the LARA Boards and will have the participation of many of the academics who have been involved in LARA's conferences and publications. We hope to have a lively and exciting discussion.
Newton da Costa
Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil)
GOD, CONTRADICTION AND PARACONSISTENCY
September 16, 2021, 4pm CEST
Speakers: Newton da Costa (Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil), Jc Beall (University of Notre Dame, USA) and Paul Weingartner (University of Salzburg, Austria)
Chair: Jean-Yves Beziau (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Is the concept of God contradictory? But what a contradiction really is? Is it a basis or limitation of our thinking? Is the principle of non-contradiction a key to the understanding of reality? If it is, how can we use it properly? Can logical systems that relativize this principle, paraconsistent logics, as promoted by Newton da Costa, help us to clear the way and have a better understanding of God? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this session, which will be based on some recent works by the speakers: Is God Paraconsistent?, The Contradictory Christ and Theodicy - From a Logical Point of View.
Jean-Yves Beziau
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
THE LOGIC OF PARADISE
February 10, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speakers: Jean-Yves Beziau (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Katarzyna Gan-Krzywoszyńska (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland)
Chair: Caroline Pires Ting (Logica Universalis Association, Switzerand)
Paradise is a famous notion in many religions. It may have different names and may come with different related notions. As a substantive, it is considered as a place whose location is not clearly known, nor the way to access it. There is also the qualitative “paradisiacal”, which applies to many situations and can be related to different states of mind (happiness, delightedness, hope, joy, confidence). The aim of this webinar is to study the logical aspects of paradise and paradisiacality.
Graham Oppy
Monash University (Australia)
LOGIC AND THE CONCEPT OF GOD
December 16, 2021, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Graham Oppy (Monash University, Australia)
Chair: Ricardo Silvestre (University of Campina Grande, Brazil)
In this webinar I discuss the following topics: (a) the concept of a god; (b) the concept of God; (c) conceptions of God; (d) the Simple Being; (e) the Greatest Being; and (f) the Perfect Being. I argue that, perhaps, we should think of the word 'god' as a family resemblance term; I suggest that, for some purposes, it is useful to stipulate that gods are venerable beings that have and exercise power over all else. I argue—in line with my book Describing Gods: An Investigation of Divine Attributes (pp. 1-22)—that, necessarily, something is God if and only if it is the one and only god. I insist that this nominal definition does all of the work that we need nominal definitions to do. I suggest that we might extract real definitions of God from theistic theories about God. I then go on to discuss three different real definitions that some theists have given of God: 'the Simple Being', 'the Greatest Being', and 'The Perfect Being'.
Piergiorgio Odifreddi
University of Turin (Italy)
WHAT ARE THE ARGUMENTS FOR ATHEISM?
October 14, 2021, 4pm CEST
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Speakers: Piergiorgio Odifreddi (University of Turin, Italy) and Jan Woleński (Jagiellonian University, Poland)
Chair: Stanisław Krajewski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
What are the reasons for disbelieving in the existence of God? Do these reasons outweigh the reasons for believing in God as well as for suspending belief in God? What kind of arguments are there to support atheism? Do these arguments resist the peculiarities of the various religious traditions so as to make belief in any God (or, to be more precise, in the existence of any entity that falls under a concept of God) irrational? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this session, which will be partially based on two works by the speakers: Caro Papa, ti scrivo (which was answered by the Pope Benedict XVI in his Letter to Atheist) and Theism, Fideism, Atheism, Agnosticism.
Sachchidanand Mishra
Benares Hindu University (India)
THEIST AND ATHEIST ARGUMENTS IN INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
April 14, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Sachchidanand Mishra (Benares Hindu University, India)
Chair: Agnieszka Rostalska (Ghent University, Belgium)
For a long time, philosophers have been proposing arguments to prove or to deny the existence of God. This attitude can be witnessed in western philosophy as well as in Indian Philosophy. In Indian philosophy, the theist arguments are put forward mainly by the Nyāya Vaiśeṣika school. Only a few arguments are proposed by the Yoga Philosophers. But if there is a debate between the theist and atheist, the onus is on the theist to prove God's existence. The atheist only has to show that the arguments are not capable of proving the existence of God conclusively. This is the dominant attitude in Indian Philosophy. The Cārvāka, the Buddhists, the Jainas, the Sāṅkhyas, and even the Mīmāṁsakas and the Vedāntins have put forward atheist arguments to prove the incapability of the theist arguments in proving the existence of God. In this webinar, I would try to evaluate the arguments from both sides as presented by Indian philosophers.
Christoph Benzmueller
Free University of Berlin (Germany)
STUDYING ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENTS WITH COMPUTERS
May 12, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Christoph Benzmueller (Free University of Berlin and University of Bamberg, Germany)
Chair: Andrea Vestrucci (Graduate Theological Union, USA)
Several emendations of Gödel's modal ontological argument have been proposed preserving the intended conclusion of God's necessary existence while avoiding the problem of modal collapse, which expresses that there are no contingent truths (everything is determined, there is no free will). In this webinar, we summarize recent computer-supported verification studies on some of these modern variants of the ontological argument. Our purpose is to provide further evidence that the interaction with computer technology can not only enable the formal assessment of ontological arguments but can, in fact, help to sharpen our conceptual understanding of the notions and concepts involved.
Kordula Świętorzecka
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw (Poland)
IBN SINA & BOLZANO: TWO CONTINGENT ARGUMENTS
June 9, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speakers: Kordula Świętorzecka (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland) and Michał Pawłowski and Bartosz Wesół (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Chair: Marcin Trepczyński (University of Warsaw, Poland)
In 2014, Petr Dvořák put forward a hypothesis about structural convergence of two cosmological arguments: by Avicenna and Bolzano. Indeed, both arguments are based on the notion of the whole (totum) of all contingent/conditioned individuals, different from the notion of the classical set containing them. However, the authors differ in their attitude to the impossibility of regress ad infinitum. Our goal is to reconstruct Avicenna's argument on the basis of modern unitary theory of sets and individuals and compare this reconstruction with the Bolzano’s argument already expressed in the same formal frame. The lecture will be followed by the talk "God and Timeless Cognition", by Michał Pawłowski and Bartosz Wesół, the winners of the second Kurt Gödel Award 2021.
Andrew Pinsent
University of Oxford (UK)
PARABLES AND BRAINS
July 7, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speakers: Andrew Pinsent (University of Oxford, UK)
Chair: Fábio Bertato (University of Campinas, Brazil)
Why did Jesus teach so much in parables? These parables usually have clear explanations but why not simply teach the explanations, given the risk of misinterpretation? In this presentation, I share new insights from neuroscience that have highlighted the ancient distinction between knowledge and understanding (intellectus/nous), a distinction that is at the heart of so many challenges to Artificial Intelligence. I further argue that understanding is communicated in a privileged manner by means of metaphor and narrative. On this account, parables are not merely convenient but may be indispensable for offering the understanding upon which knowledge and wisdom are based.
Stanisław Krajewski
University of Warsaw, Poland
MATHEMATICAL MODELS IN THEOLOGY
Are They Helpful?
August 18, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Stanisław Krajewski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Chair: Ali Sadegh Daghighi (Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Fundamental Sciences, Iran)
We will begin by reviewing some mathematical illustrations of religious concepts, both old, for example by Cusanus, and a few new mathematical models in theology. The problem is how helpful they are. They can illustrate ideas, but remain metaphorical pictures assisting our imagination and attempts to deal with paradoxical situations. The deeper problem is whether they can model divine realms in a way that would suggest new insights as it is possible in the case of math models in natural sciences.
Kenneth R. Valpey
Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, UK
SCRIPTURAL REASONING ON LANGUAGE AND TRUTH IN AN INDIAN RELIGIOUS TRADITION
September 15, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Kenneth R. Valpey (Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, UK)
Chair: Dragana Jagušić (University of Rijeka, Croatia)
Conventional wisdom has it that language must ever fall short of adequately expressing Ultimate Truth. Further, if the attempt is made to describe Ultimate Truth in theistic terms, this simply confirms language’s limits. Not so, claims the Vaishnava Hindu scripture, the Bhagavata Purana. In this presentation I will sketch some ways the text makes its argument for theistic ultimacy with language holding a key function in such realization. How persuasive the Bhagavata’s argument can be regarded will depend—the text itself suggests—on one’s predisposition to accept or not accept it ... and on divine grace.
Sara Lumbreras Sancho
Comillas Pontifical University, Spain
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, ETHICS AND BELIEFS
October 13, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speakers: Sara Lumbreras Sancho (Comillas Pontifical University, Spain) and Mark Graves (Center for Theology and Natural Sciences, USA)
Chair: Andrea Vestrucci (University of Bamberg, Germany, and Starr King School, USA)
This webinar will explore the connections between Artificial Intelligence (AI), ethics, beliefs and spirituality. Sara Lumbreras will focus on the differences between human belief as described in the Creditions model proposed by Angel & Seiz, and current AI systems, rather than the ones anticipated by transhumanist authors such as Kurzweil. These differences lead to some AI models being more ethical than others and thus for an ethical basis to build a better AI. Mark Graves will explore his recent work on AI morality and spirituality. He draws upon systems theory and Josiah Royce's pragmatic philosophy to describe a structure for AI models compatible with human moral psychology and spirituality.
Eleonore Stump
Saint Louis University, USA
THE TWO NATURES OF CHRIST
December 15, 2022, 4pm CET
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Speaker: Eleonore Stump (Saint Louis University, USA)
Chair: Michal Pawlowski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
The doctrine of the Incarnation is central to Christianity but it seems self-inconsistent in virtue of attributing contradictory properties to one and the same thing. I explore the notion of reduplicative propositions and the concept of borrowed properties to examine this puzzle, and I argue on this basis that the doctrine is coherent.
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
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Francisco de Assis Mariano (chair), University of Missouri-Columbia, USA
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Jean-Yves Beziau, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Background
Child At The Ceremony
Photo by Oshomah Abubakar on Unsplash