Edward Feser takes a look at this book by Lawrence Krauss.
The New Atheists are famous for book titles that promise something which they don't (can't) deliver, such as "Why Evolution is True" by Coyne; "How the Mind Works" by Pinker; "Consciousness Explained" by Dennett; "God, The Failed Hypothesis; How Science Shows That God Cannot Exist", by Stenger; "God Is Not Great: How Religion poisons Everything", Hithchens; and of course "The God Delusion" by Dawkins.
Universe from Nothing:
Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing
by Lawrence M. Krauss
Free Press, 204 pages
I'm glad to see you reading Feser. Check out his series deconstructing the naturalism of Alex Rosenberg.
ReplyDeleteAlso, check out Bill Vallicella's post on Dennet's consciousness explained.
ReplyDeleteBut...you're still wrong about evolution and Jerry Coyne's book is quite good at showing why evolution is a successful theory, if not necessarily True. :)
Stan, if you have not already done so, you owe it to yourself to read Feser's magnum opus, "The Last Superstition". The subject of the book is right up your alley, and Feser engages in some excellent and well deserved "smash-mouth" rhetorical flourishes against atheist sophistry.
ReplyDeleteI guess I will spend the $11 and get a copy. Coyne has been successful in arousing the ire of Atheist philosophers making baseless accusations apparently and otherwise being uncivil. If he's rational in the book it would seem out of character for him.
ReplyDeleteAs for Dennett, when I got to the last few pages of Consciousness Explained and he said that all of the preceding did not explain consciousness but wouldn't it be nice if it did? ...I was glad that it was a library book and that I didn't give him any of my own cash for that sort of faux intellectual crap. He totally lost any respect I might have had for him at that time, and nothing I've seen of him since then has leveraged any more respect for him.
You better be able to separate Coyne's nonsense on philosophy and theism from his biology. The first is crap, and the second is good. People really need to learn that someone can be 100% right about some things, and wacky nutso on others. Just keep in mind that he uses the term "truth" to mean "successful scientific theory". Interpret it charitably, and allow him to be sloppy in his wording. Evolution IS a successful theory. It is the metaphysical atheist add on that is an overreach.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, per Matteo, please please read TLS as soon as possible. It makes mincemeat of naturalist philosophy.