Professor Peter Millican | God does NOT exist
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Published 2012-12-21
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Professor Peter Millican opens by saying he had hoped to find good reasons to believe in God by gave up looking. He says that some people need evidence for their beliefs and that he is one of these people.
The theistic hypothesis claims there is an immaterial God who's thought process can act freely of a physical body and that our thinking self can continue without our thinking brains. The human brain has been growing larger as we've evolved as a species and our heads are very large as new-born's making it dangerous for mothers during childbirth, surely if we are to go on thinking after we die we wouldn't need this evolutionary process.
He proceeds to say that every religion has a moral code but this is not surprising as humans are universally moral beings. We are moral because we are a weak species and the only way we can survive is by cooperation in society and we need a morality to be able to do that.
Filmed on Thursday 8th November 2012
ABOUT PROFESSOR PETER MILLICAN:
Gilbert Ryle Fellow & Tutor in Philosophy at Hertford College; Reader in Early Modern Philosophy at Oxford.
ABOUT THE OXFORD UNION SOCIETY:
The Union is the world's most prestigious debating society, with an unparalleled reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. It has been established for 189 years, aiming to promote debate and discussion not just in Oxford University, but across the globe.
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Filmed by Oxford Media Solutions www.oxfordmediasolutions.co.uk/
All Comments (21)
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If god existed there would be no need to prove his existence
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I just love how much Michael Shermer is enjoying this. His own speech and his presence here is really complementary, I’m glad he was invited.
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IF GOD IS ALL-POWERFUL, ALL CREATIVE WHY DIDN'T HE CREATED WORLD WITHOUT POVERTY, SICKNESS, Death SUFFERING & EVIL?
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Religion is mostly a coping mechanism for dealing with the brutality of being alive. Example...people in poor countries tend to be more religious than people in wealthy countries. Because religion is all they have to hold onto. It's literally the only thing that provides them with real hope/consolation. Take that away from them and they're left with nothing except starvation, suffering, disease, and death. Life is cruel and humans, especially desperate humans, need something to hold onto in order to cope with everyday life. I'm agnostic, but I have to admit that life can get really difficult when you lack belief in a God that is looking out for you.
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Having seen all 6 videos in this debate, I have to say that the side who argued that "there is NOT a God" won by a landslide if you analyse the arguments from both sides. It was almost painful to watch at times because the difference in quality of the arguments was so clear and obvious.
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One beautiful and true saying from Pasteur: Too little science leads away from God, while too much science leads back to Him
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What's the difference between an invisible, all powerful being that exists outside space and time, and nothing at all? No difference at all.
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What I expected in the comment section: Religious debate What I got: People complaining about the twat in the background.
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As a matter of fact DNA, math, the laws of physics and all the greatest scientists of this planet point to an intelligent creator.
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lol That emo kid
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A sublime one from Lord Kelvin: The more thoroughly I conduct scientific research, the more I believe that science excludes atheism.
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Peter Hitchens isn't a patch on his brother, who is sadly missed now. .
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This is beautiful from Max Planck - founder of modern science, read it carefully: As a physicist, that is, a man who had devoted his whole life to a wholly prosaic science, the exploration of matter, no one would surely suspect me of being a fantast. And so, having studied the atom, I am telling you that there is no matter as such! All matter arises and persists only due to a force that causes the atomic particles to vibrate, holding them together in the tiniest of solar systems, the atom. Yet in the whole of the universe there is no force that is either intelligent or eternal, and we must therefore assume that behind this force there is a conscious, intelligent Mind or Spirit. This is the very origin of all matter
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Guy in the Background: ”it’s not a phase mom ”
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That's gorgeous:The atheistic idea is so nonsensical that I do not see how I can put it in words. Lord Kelvin
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The problem I have with these debates is that the opposing sides are addressing quite different topics.
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How can anyone defend something that cannot be properly defined? Believers can not tell us what God is, they can only tell us what God is not. "God is invisible, timeless, spaceless, immaterial, and beyond human understanding". So why are you wasting your time by trying to understand God? Why even bring God up, if God, and nothing, look exactly the same?
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The resurrection didn’t even convince people who lived those days since they crucified him and they still think it’s a proof of god now.
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I like how the ads are for Christian based programming lmao
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A very beautiful one from Lord Kelvin says the same thing as all other greatest scientists: If you study science deep enough and long enough, it will force you to believe in God.
