|
There are two reasons
for making my work available on-line. The first is the hope that these
essays may inspire an interest in philosophy, particularly the philosophy
of religion. The second is the hope that people struggling with various
intellectual aspects of the Christian faith, or with communicating such
aspects of that faith to their friends, may find them helpful. If either of
these hopes are realised in your reading of my work, I’d love to hear from
you. (E-mail: steve@csl-philosophy.co.uk)
PhD Material
Interested visitors are
free to request full copies of my thesis, which includes a massively
amplified version of the conclusion. The thesis is available in two
formats: (1) As Word documents in an email attachment, (2) As HTML files,
navigated through like a website, supplied – for a small fee – on CD.
Summary of PhD Thesis
Acknowledgements
Introduction
C.S. Lewis and the
Euthyphro Dilemma [summary]
C.S. Lewis and the
Possibility of Miracles [summary]
C.S. Lewis, David
Hume and the Credibility of Miracles [summary]
C.S. Lewis and the
Freudian Critique of Religion [summary]
C.S. Lewis’ Argument
from Desire [summary]
Original
Conclusion
Appendix
A: A Short Biography of C.S. Lewis
Appendix
B: C.S. Lewis on Faith and Reason
Notes
Bibliography
Non-PhD
Philosophy
G.K. Chesterton,
Scepticism and Madness
offers what seems to me a totally original kind of argument against
scepticism inspired by Chesterton’s “The Maniac” in Orthodoxy.
The
Design Argument is very largely
inspired by the work of William Dembski (look for him with Google), and attempts to
put his arguments into my own words. The paper was written several years
ago and I now think that it contain several mistakes or at least weak
points. The stuff on fabrications vs specifications is especially weak as
are the remarks on the interaction of chance and necessity, there are also
problems surrounding the argument which attempts to exclude an infinite
regress of explanations. Nevertheless, the paper still seems right in its
central thesis: that if the world exhibits specified complexity, this fact
cries out for a substantive explanation.
C.S.
Lewis’s Case Against Naturalism is a discussion and partial defence of Lewis’ argument that
Naturalism is self-defeating. Naturalism is claimed to be self-defeating
because no doctrine that asserts that all reality supervenes on
spatio-temporal, non-intentional, non-normative facts can provide an
adequate account of reason or reasoning. Honesty compels me to admit that I
have doubts about the argument presented here.
God
as the Grounding of Moral Objectivity is a predecessor of my PhD chapter on C.S. Lewis
and the Euthyphro Dilemma. It defends a position I call ‘Divine Nature
Theory’ which avoids the Euthyphro Dilemma by asserting that God’s commands
are not arbitrary but are rather an expression of his essential character,
his nature.
Less Technical
Material
Mini
Biography of G.K. Chesterton
is a brief introduction to the life of GKC.
All
in the Mind? combines and
massively condenses the central arguments of C.S. Lewis and the Freudian
Critique of Religion and C.S. Lewis’ Argument from Desire (see
above).
Evidence
and Atheism is a short and
rather rhetorical argument against the rationality of atheism. It includes
a version of Pascal’s Wager.
Closed-Minded Relativism is a brief but energetic criticism of the view
that nothing is true or reasonable simpliciter, but only reasonable
or true for me.
Religious Pluralism and Exclusivism is another critique of basically relativist
views, but this time specifically such views of religious belief.
Apologetics
Booklet is my first attempt
at writing something that touches upon all the central elements of a full
Christian Apologetic.
History of Mathematics
These pieces were
written for an Open University course, Topics in the History of
Mathematics. Any references to “SB”
are in fact references to the source book for the course, J. Fauvel &
J. Gray (eds.) The History of Mathematics (Macmillan/Open
University, 1987). References including the course code, MA290, refer to
the course materials.
The Rhind Papyrus explores a typical problem from
this ancient Egyptian mathematical text .
Euclid’s
Elements explores a
typical problem (VI.13) from this classic work.
Robert
Record gives an over view of
the life and works of this early British populariser of mathematics.
Provides more detail on a particular problem from his The Ground of
Artes.
Algebra
and Geometry explores the changing
relationship between these two branches of mathematics in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth centuries.
Newton’s Principia briefly explains the content and context of this
massively influential work. Particular attention is paid to Newton’s
derivation of the equi-area law.
The
Development of the Calculus
investigates the extent to which practical considerations influenced the
development of this important branch of mathematics.
Was
there a Revolution in Geometry in the Nineteenth Century? argues that the advent of Non-Euclidean geometry
was not only revolutionary in itself but caused a wider revolution in all
branches of mathematics.
Last Updated: 17th
January 2005
|
