Fall 2007, Meeting 4: "Can Morality Be Objective?", a discussion with Dr. Tresan this Thursday @ 8pm in CSE E119

Note: Please RSVP here if possible. Also, remember that our meetings are open to anyone and everyone! :)

Dostoevsky infamously claimed that without God, anything is permissible. But what does that mean? What does it mean for morality to be "objective" or "subjective"? Dr. Tresan, an ethics philosopher here at UF, will lead a discussion on the possibility of moral objectivity this Thursday @ 8pm in CSE E119.

This topic seemed to lurk behind many of the objections to Dr. Witmer's defense of atheism using the problem of evil. Evil?—what's that? It's a good question. Are the words "good" and "evil" different in kind from "chair" and "ice cream"? Can we come up with the "definition" of good and evil? What effect do culture, history, and politics have on this primarily philosophical notion? Does morality need an author-figure (i.e. God) in order for its meanings to be fixed, or even to exist at all?

Questions abound for this controversial topic. For that reason, Dr. Tresan has opted to lead a discussion rather than to lecture on the subject, so we'll have plenty of time for questions and lively dialogue. Come on out this Thursday @ 8pm in CSE E119. We'll try to have refreshments as always. See map in pictures for more details, or use the campus map.



(Dr. Tresan's first talk on this topic with our group occurred back in April; watch him explain objective morality here.)

The Academy, Thurs (10/18) @ 8pm: The Meaning of Life?

On Thursday, October 18th, at 8pm in Rinker 110, Gator Freethought and Gator Christian Life host The Academy (click to RSVP on facebook), session 2. Inspired by Plato and friends, The Academy sponsors inter-faith dialogue each semester in the form of a panel discussion among students from different (non)religious groups around campus. This time, we're answering The Big Question: what's life all about, anyway? How does our religion, faith, or lack thereof affect our answer? Is life worth living without God? Is it worth living with God? Woah.

And this is only the beginning. Although panelists will begin answering these fundamental questions, they will then respond to your own. Throughout the talk, we'll be collecting questions from the audience to be posed to the panelists by a moderator. The event should last around 90 minutes.

Currently, the following illustrious students make up our panel:

1. BRANDON SMOCK, atheist from Gator Freethought
2. AARON BEATY, from Gator Christian Life
3. LEO STEIN, from UF Hillel
4. KHADER ABU EL-HAIJA, from Islam on Campus
5. MATTHEW BLASI, unaffiliated Buddhist

So come on out Thursday at 8 to Rinker 110 and join the largest and most organized inter-faith dialogue ever attempted on campus! See map in pictures for more details, or use the campus map.

NOTE: Rinker is typically a coooold building. You might want to bring a jacket.

Fall 2007, Meeting 3: Roundtable Discussion on Fate and Free Will, Thurs (10/11) @ 8pm in CSE E119

Note 1: Please remember that all are welcome to our meetings, whether or not you're a student or in the club!

Note 2: Please RSVP at our facebook event if possible.

This Thursday @ 8pm in CSE E119 (CSE is the computer science building just west of "The Fries", a little bit south of Turlington) we'll be having our first real roundtable discussion on fate, free will, and whether the existence or nonexistence of either ought to change the way we think about life, morality, and the judicial system. The problem of free will, briefly, is this: If we agree that every event in the world is caused by some previous event, how are the choices that we make (which are themselves events) "free"? In other words, if our choices are caused by prior events in the same way that a bird's choices are, on what grounds can we say that our actions are free, or that we could have done otherwise than we did?

Our very own Philosophy grad students Holly Stillman and Jared Poon, experts in this sort of thing, will start the discussion off by explaining what is meant by fate, determinism, and free will, as well as introducing us to the three main stances one can take: hard determinism (free will is an incoherent idea, given the laws of science), compatibilism (free will can coexist peacefully with the laws of science), and libertarianism (our notions about the laws of science are wrong, therefore we have free will).

They will then moderate a discussion about these positions and how they might affect our personal and political lives. If we don't have free will, is life worth living? Can we still tell people they were wrong to do something if they couldn't have done otherwise? What about the judicial system--what sense does it make to execute people if they didn't commit the crimes they did freely? Can we still justify these practices despite believing that we don't have free will? Or if we do have free will, how do we deal with the laws of science? What do we say about causation? And what about fate--what is it? Are our lives fated to be just as they are? If God is omniscient and knows exactly what we'll do before we do it, does that mean we're fated to do what he knows we'll do? Are free will and God's omniscience incompatible?

Many interesting questions! Come on out this Thursday @ 8pm to CSE E119 for some refreshments and casual talk. The room has a capacity of 102 this time, so don't worry about having to stand in the back. Hope to see you there! See map in pictures for more details, or use the campus map.