Category: Philosophy
-
Star Wars Analyzed By Aliens (Earthling Cinema)
Given the earlier celebration of May the 4th this week, I thought we’d get back to film Friday with these videos from Earthling Cinema. In case you’re curious, the premise of these videos is that human culture no longer exists and an alien is explaining it to other aliens using the cultural artifacts of our movies.
-
8-Bit Philosophy: Is God Useful? (William James Channels Nietzsche)
You might recognize the opening example’s similarity to the Aqedah of Abraham (Gen. 22). My thesis adviser liked to say that William James, and pragmatism in particular, was just Nietzsche with a smiling face.
-
8-Bit Philosophy: Is The American Dream A Sham? (Fun With Pragmatism)
As noted in the video, pragmatism is the quintessential American philosophy. It is also quite the punching bag for Christian thought. In particular, Richard Rorty takes the brunt of the blows, and I wouldn’t disagree that he deserves some of them. On the other hand, James K. A. Smith is optimistic that we can benefit…
-
8-Bit Philosophy: Does Christianity Make Us Weak? (Asks Nietzsche)
To be honest, Nietzsche makes some good points. However, the version of Christianity he mostly reacts against is not the best. Some of what Nietzsche found unpalatable was simply the offense of the gospel, but some of it was simply offensive.
-
8-Bit Philosophy: Is Capitalism Bad For You? (Or Weber Was Wrong)
This video offers a good overview of Max Weber’s thesis in The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism. If you haven’t read it, you might be surprised at how theological the capitalist work ethic is according to Weber. You might also be surprised at how he sees Calvinistic theology motivating the desire to work. While…
-
Advancing Trinitarian Theology: Explorations in Constructive Dogmatics
For the last three years, theologians have gathered in California for the Los Angeles Theology conference. This past year the focal point was the atonement. The first year, it was Christology. Last year it was the Trinity, and thanks to Zondervan, I’ve the published copy of the papers presented. The opening chapter is by one…
-
Atonement, Law, and Justice: The Cross in Historical and Cultural Contexts
Early in his work, Atonement, Law, and Justice: The Cross in Historical and Cultural Contexts, Adonis Vidu notes, “While some excellent monographs have been written, few writers have embraced the task of writing a history of atonement theories” (xiii). In what follows, he doesn’t offer an exhaustive history, but does give a superb overview of the…
-
30 Ways To Lose An Argument: Visualizing Logical Fallacies
Over at Lifehacker, I saw this image giving a rundown on logical fallacies (thanks to Visual.ly) and it seemed like the perfect post for philosophy Friday:
-
8-Bit Philosophy: What Is Evil?
-
3 More Fallacies Explained To Help Your Internet Arguments
Here they are as separate videos: The Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy Moving The Goalposts Fallacy The Fallacy Fallacy (via)