TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Intro 00:46 Atheistic platonism? 01:22 Why are you gay? 01:30 Are you still a naturalist? 05:47 What kind of compatibilist are you? 09:41 If I settle your debt with PragerU, will you become a libertarian? 10:12 What’s your biggest gripe with physicalism? 12:42 On the abortion debate, when do you think personhood / full moral status begins? 17:22 Do twinks make better philosophers? 17:56 Are you agnostic about anything in philosophy? 19:37 Why are you such a sucker for spooky stuff? 30:49 Who makes those guitar transitions? 32:34 Favorite music? 34:30 Who are some of your favorite Eastern philosophers? 35:03 Which religion would you choose to be true? 40:54 Who are your favorite theist and atheist philosophers? 42:18 Arguing for dualism from mereological nihilism? 45:48 Euthanasia? 48:43 What are your thoughts on each general era of philosophy? 55:00 Thoughts on Jordan Peterson? 58:55 Have you looked into Islam? 1:03:57 Does your mother know you spend so much time talking to strangers on the internet? 1:04:04 What is your opinion on the resurrection? 1:08:23 The best argument against veganism? 1:21:18 What is the primary goal of adopting panpsychism? 1:23:20 Best defenses of objective morality? 1:24:34 How would aliens affect theism and atheism? 1:30:53 Are you a dualist or a physicalist? 1:31:31 Isn’t solipsism simpler than panpsychism? 1:33:37 Thoughts on idealism? 1:35:41 Which political system do you think is right? 1:39:34 Thoughts on metaethical naturalism? 1:41:52 Is incest wrong? 1:45:27 When will you have some Mormons back on your show? 1:46:34 Why atheist and not agnostic? Where can I find good philrel content? 1:49:54 Would necessitarianism defeat fine-tuning and psychophysical harmony? 1:57:38 Do you accept physical causal closure? 2:00:00 How do you explain psychophysical harmony? 2:02:34 Kant’s transcendental idealism and free will? 2:07:56 Are we obligated to refute false beliefs even if they’re meaningful? 2:13:01 Is there any profound nugget of wisdom that Christianity has first or exclusive ownership of? 2:15:17 Analytic/Continental divide? 2:18:05 "Emmerson" 2:19:03 Does the phenomenal powers view weaken psychophysical harmony? 2:22:04 Is time necessary for consciousness? 2:28:49 If you did reconvert, would you be a Christian or a generic theist? 2:32:20 Finite theism? 2:36:22 Top three philosophers who are wrong about everything? 2:37:57 Moral subjectivism with normally functioning humans as the (collective) observer(s) morality is stance-dependent upon? 2:48:52 Are you afraid of death? How do you cope with death anxiety as an atheist? Thanks to everyone who asked questions!
Regarding the vegan issue - I personally went vegetarian for the environmental reasons, then after paying more attention to the horrors of factory farming decided to go vegan for animal rights reasons. I do eat non-vegan foods that are about to go to waste so if that makes me not a real vegan so be it.
Love your content! I can’t believe I didn’t come across your work sooner - this channel is a gem (shocked you don’t have more followers)! As an ex-Mormon atheist I think your treatment of Mormonism has been very fair. I agree that it has some philosophical aspects that are unique and intriguing. I loved LDS theology and in many ways still do, but the historical issues and lack of empirical evidences ultimately led me out (along with my concerns with theism in general). It also has some concerning cultural aspects as well, but overall it’s a very respectable Christian church. I’d be interested to hear you debate a Mormon and hear you critique or moderate a Mormon vs Traditional Christian debate. Thanks!
As someone who went from skeptical atheist to devout Mormon, I see you. It's just way more philosophically and theologically sound than conventional Western theism.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question about why you are a sucker charitably and with a good sense of humor, I think you could tell it was partially tongue in cheek. Also thanks for sharing your personal experiences. I definitely agree justification is personal and subjective. The closest thing I’ve had to a spooky experience was getting the sensation that I manifested the ingredient I was looking for in the grocery store. It didn’t affect my beliefs but it did make me go “ohh this is why people believe in things like ‘The Secret’ and the law of attraction.” It really felt like I brought forth that cardboard display of capers into existence through the power of thought😂 Unfortunately it was not enough to shake me from my close minded materialist ways. Keep up the good work!
Emerson you should just go to a local Mormon congregation and tell them you have no interesting in officially joining but would like to come sometimes. Maybe they could make you a boy-scout leader or something that doesn’t require baptism. If you lived around here I’m pretty sure I could talk a bishop into letting you give a talk on universalism or something lol. We’d love to have our favorite atheist at the pot lucks lol.
35:03 A religion is also based on the historical evidence. The historical evidence about the life of Joseph Smith is pretty damning. (with all due respect to Mormons)
I also watched the Philip debate with Sean Carroll, and I wasn't satisfied with Sean's performance because I think he could've said more. I think he elaborated his problems with the arguments against physicalism pretty well in the mindchat podcast and why they don't work. The episodes are S2E6 and S3E1 (I think).
Not a Mormon, but I liked the bit on Mormonism. My favourite fantasy writer Branden Sanderson is Mormon and he wrote an interesting thing about why he's Mormon. BTW, if you have not read The Way of Kings you are missing out.
The thing about Christian aliens would probably be a match by degree. If everything was the same but it's a quadrinity instead of a trinity, or what if it was God's only begotten hermaphrodite, or nothing was the same except a life sacrifice, or they died and were not resurrected? If it was exactly the same.... Well that would definitely be something to think about.
@EmersonGreen Hey... thanks for the answer! Even I used to think that panpsychism and causal closure can go together, but recently I have begun to doubt it. Seems to me that, I can imagine a zombie world in which the internal nature of the universe is material, but it still follows the same laws of physics. And in that world too I would be talking about consciousness (my mouth would be making the same movements as in the panpsychist world) and this seems very weird to me. Seems like my talking about consciousness has nothing to do with the internal nature of the world cz I'm doing the same talk in the zombie world. The internal nature would somehow have to change the way the physical particles are moving and that means causal closure has to go. Basically it's the same problem as for dualism. It's just that instead of outside the physical, now the soul is inside the physical. I think Chalmers calls it the debunking argument for illusionism. (There's a paper by Chalmers by the same name)
Thanks for answering my questions about veganism Emerson. Yeah, don't think there are strong objections to freeganism and substinence hunting (no vegan would support hunting for sport however) from most vegans. About you admitting to hypocrisy, I would say it's kind of worse to understand the issue but still contribute to it. The cows in the dairy industry suffer more than the conventional slaughter cattle due to separation of calf and mother cow, effects of several artificial inseminations and longer time til slaughter. There are excellent vegan pizzas, try them. As for the empirical claim that children cannot be healthy on a vegan diet, I would like to see a study backing this up. The largest dietetic orgs in the world say otherwise. Eg. ADA: "It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes".
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:46 Atheistic platonism?
01:22 Why are you gay?
01:30 Are you still a naturalist?
05:47 What kind of compatibilist are you?
09:41 If I settle your debt with PragerU, will you become a libertarian?
10:12 What’s your biggest gripe with physicalism?
12:42 On the abortion debate, when do you think personhood / full moral status begins?
17:22 Do twinks make better philosophers?
17:56 Are you agnostic about anything in philosophy?
19:37 Why are you such a sucker for spooky stuff?
30:49 Who makes those guitar transitions?
32:34 Favorite music?
34:30 Who are some of your favorite Eastern philosophers?
35:03 Which religion would you choose to be true?
40:54 Who are your favorite theist and atheist philosophers?
42:18 Arguing for dualism from mereological nihilism?
45:48 Euthanasia?
48:43 What are your thoughts on each general era of philosophy?
55:00 Thoughts on Jordan Peterson?
58:55 Have you looked into Islam?
1:03:57 Does your mother know you spend so much time talking to strangers on the internet?
1:04:04 What is your opinion on the resurrection?
1:08:23 The best argument against veganism?
1:21:18 What is the primary goal of adopting panpsychism?
1:23:20 Best defenses of objective morality?
1:24:34 How would aliens affect theism and atheism?
1:30:53 Are you a dualist or a physicalist?
1:31:31 Isn’t solipsism simpler than panpsychism?
1:33:37 Thoughts on idealism?
1:35:41 Which political system do you think is right?
1:39:34 Thoughts on metaethical naturalism?
1:41:52 Is incest wrong?
1:45:27 When will you have some Mormons back on your show?
1:46:34 Why atheist and not agnostic? Where can I find good philrel content?
1:49:54 Would necessitarianism defeat fine-tuning and psychophysical harmony?
1:57:38 Do you accept physical causal closure?
2:00:00 How do you explain psychophysical harmony?
2:02:34 Kant’s transcendental idealism and free will?
2:07:56 Are we obligated to refute false beliefs even if they’re meaningful?
2:13:01 Is there any profound nugget of wisdom that Christianity has first or exclusive ownership of?
2:15:17 Analytic/Continental divide?
2:18:05 "Emmerson"
2:19:03 Does the phenomenal powers view weaken psychophysical harmony?
2:22:04 Is time necessary for consciousness?
2:28:49 If you did reconvert, would you be a Christian or a generic theist?
2:32:20 Finite theism?
2:36:22 Top three philosophers who are wrong about everything?
2:37:57 Moral subjectivism with normally functioning humans as the (collective) observer(s) morality is stance-dependent upon?
2:48:52 Are you afraid of death? How do you cope with death anxiety as an atheist?
Thanks to everyone who asked questions!
Regarding the vegan issue - I personally went vegetarian for the environmental reasons, then after paying more attention to the horrors of factory farming decided to go vegan for animal rights reasons. I do eat non-vegan foods that are about to go to waste so if that makes me not a real vegan so be it.
Love your content! I can’t believe I didn’t come across your work sooner - this channel is a gem (shocked you don’t have more followers)!
As an ex-Mormon atheist I think your treatment of Mormonism has been very fair. I agree that it has some philosophical aspects that are unique and intriguing. I loved LDS theology and in many ways still do, but the historical issues and lack of empirical evidences ultimately led me out (along with my concerns with theism in general). It also has some concerning cultural aspects as well, but overall it’s a very respectable Christian church. I’d be interested to hear you debate a Mormon and hear you critique or moderate a Mormon vs Traditional Christian debate.
Thanks!
"You don't need to write philosophy like you're writing a fucking vacuum repair manual" - Emerson
As someone who went from skeptical atheist to devout Mormon, I see you. It's just way more philosophically and theologically sound than conventional Western theism.
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question about why you are a sucker charitably and with a good sense of humor, I think you could tell it was partially tongue in cheek.
Also thanks for sharing your personal experiences. I definitely agree justification is personal and subjective. The closest thing I’ve had to a spooky experience was getting the sensation that I manifested the ingredient I was looking for in the grocery store. It didn’t affect my beliefs but it did make me go “ohh this is why people believe in things like ‘The Secret’ and the law of attraction.” It really felt like I brought forth that cardboard display of capers into existence through the power of thought😂
Unfortunately it was not enough to shake me from my close minded materialist ways.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks for your insights. I share your lack of enthusiasm for NDEs.
Emerson you should just go to a local Mormon congregation and tell them you have no interesting in officially joining but would like to come sometimes. Maybe they could make you a boy-scout leader or something that doesn’t require baptism. If you lived around here I’m pretty sure I could talk a bishop into letting you give a talk on universalism or something lol. We’d love to have our favorite atheist at the pot lucks lol.
When ppl like GMS have 600k subs and you only have 4k I question reality.
You should have a million keep it up!
Is GMS that bad?
Thanks for answering my question!
Thanks for the answers!
This is great! Thanks for answering my question! Gonna go back and listen to the whole thing now. 👍
35:03 A religion is also based on the historical evidence. The historical evidence about the life of Joseph Smith is pretty damning. (with all due respect to Mormons)
I also watched the Philip debate with Sean Carroll, and I wasn't satisfied with Sean's performance because I think he could've said more. I think he elaborated his problems with the arguments against physicalism pretty well in the mindchat podcast and why they don't work. The episodes are S2E6 and S3E1 (I think).
Not a Mormon, but I liked the bit on Mormonism. My favourite fantasy writer Branden Sanderson is Mormon and he wrote an interesting thing about why he's Mormon. BTW, if you have not read The Way of Kings you are missing out.
The thing about Christian aliens would probably be a match by degree. If everything was the same but it's a quadrinity instead of a trinity, or what if it was God's only begotten hermaphrodite, or nothing was the same except a life sacrifice, or they died and were not resurrected? If it was exactly the same.... Well that would definitely be something to think about.
@EmersonGreen Hey... thanks for the answer!
Even I used to think that panpsychism and causal closure can go together, but recently I have begun to doubt it.
Seems to me that, I can imagine a zombie world in which the internal nature of the universe is material, but it still follows the same laws of physics. And in that world too I would be talking about consciousness (my mouth would be making the same movements as in the panpsychist world) and this seems very weird to me. Seems like my talking about consciousness has nothing to do with the internal nature of the world cz I'm doing the same talk in the zombie world.
The internal nature would somehow have to change the way the physical particles are moving and that means causal closure has to go.
Basically it's the same problem as for dualism. It's just that instead of outside the physical, now the soul is inside the physical.
I think Chalmers calls it the debunking argument for illusionism. (There's a paper by Chalmers by the same name)
Kagan also recently released a book defending moral realism, "Answering Moral Skepticism"
Thanks for answering my questions about veganism Emerson. Yeah, don't think there are strong objections to freeganism and substinence hunting (no vegan would support hunting for sport however) from most vegans. About you admitting to hypocrisy, I would say it's kind of worse to understand the issue but still contribute to it. The cows in the dairy industry suffer more than the conventional slaughter cattle due to separation of calf and mother cow, effects of several artificial inseminations and longer time til slaughter. There are excellent vegan pizzas, try them. As for the empirical claim that children cannot be healthy on a vegan diet, I would like to see a study backing this up. The largest dietetic orgs in the world say otherwise. Eg. ADA: "It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes".