Fine-tuning Argument

In past school years, I didn't enjoy teaching Aquinas' Five Ways in my Philosophy of Religion class. I only taught it because I do think it's important to teach at least one text that includes a rational proof for God's existence, and it's the shortest. :) (I did Anselm before--the entire Proslogion--which is very nice [if you do the whole thing and not just the "Ontological" Proof], but it takes too much time.)

But this year I decided to spice it up a little by accompanying the discussion of Aquinas with contemporary arguments for God's existence.

And the result is that I'm enjoying myself a lot more with this discussion. I've especially enjoyed myself with Robin Collins' Fine-tuning Argument (his version of the argument from design). I like. I used to use the entropy argument (look up William Lane Craig if you're interested), but this school year I'm enjoying Collins' more.

College, and the meaning of life ....

From the Boston Globe:

"In the past few weeks, tens of thousands of young men and women have begun their college careers. They have worked hard to get there. A letter of admission to one of the country's selective colleges or universities has become the most sought-after prize in America.

The students who have won this prize are about to enter an academic environment richer than any they have known. They will find courses devoted to every question under the sun. But there is one question for which most of them will search their catalogs in vain: The question of the meaning of life, of what one should care about and why, of what living is for."

The rest of the article is here.

Free will.

Free will is not just in the brain.