(feel free to erase and delete this comment if it's not something you wish to discuss).
Two of your books when I read them- 'Atheist Delusions', and 'The Experience of God'- changed how understood history and how I felt about apologetics, respectively.
Shortly after I was received into the Orthodox Church 20 years ago, I tried reading your "The Beauty of the Infinite," and I realized I just had not read deeply and broadly enough to properly contextualize and evaluate your argument, as much as I appreciated it.
Someone told me back then that you had been "black listed" by Ivy-league academia for your positions, (entirely old fashion and out of favor as they are in our post-Christian times- as this really is the crux if we're honest).
If it is true,
Have you ever written about your experience of what you went through at that time?
I would be interested to hear about this from you first hand, if it is something you can share. Both to understand you better- someone I have grown to deeply appreciate and love since that time- and because it would very much be a sort of "street education" for us all; about bias and prejudice; about the blinding effects of vice both personal and collective; about the limitations of academic consensuses; about our times.
I dont know if enough time has passed for you yet, though. Apologies if it is too personal a question.
There is no truth to that story, as it happens. I mentioned some of the strange rumors that have cropped up now and again about my professional and private life in an article here called “Leave at Once, or I Shall Set the Dogs on You.”
Dear Dr. Hart, Are you aware of the work of Cambridge palaeobiologist Simon Conway Morris? His most recent book, "From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution," has plugs from Rupert Sheldrake and Stephen R. L. Clark.
Since this interview, what has remained closest to my thoughts is your answer to his final question: which of your philosophical commitments are you most uncertain of?
And your response- that you have the least convincingly developed arguments for God's all-goodness (which you distinguish, importantly, from how persuaded you are by this as a truth you personally believe).
I am curious your thoughts on this distinction.
Do you believe this is something necessarily baked into our place as creatures in the honest reality of God's creation?
This seems to be the 'answer' Job receives, and again the answer given to St. Antony the Great when he asked his Creator why there are unjust disparities- one poor another wealthy for example.
God's reply essentially being that it is not given to us to know this; it is not for our spiritual profit.
In Doors of the Sea you provide a great service clearing the brambles of unhelpful theodicies, revealing the passionate motivations that often underpin them among the 'pious'. And also pointing more importantly to the harm they cause when spoken from our armchairs over real occasions of unjust suffering.
And then again, we have Dostoyevsky's answer of loving-silence on this question: a kiss for the accuser.
So I wonder if you believe this is a *necessary* condition of the limits of our knowledge and understanding in this life? That there is no "proof" that God is all good?
If that is so, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on sort of the "epistemological correlates" of this as truth?
What does this necessary contentment with not being able to prove a truth that yet we are to believe, mean for epistemology more generally, and some of the concrete implications for other domains of life and understanding?
(please do me a favour and read my question sympathetically. I can never match the bottom of my questions with the verbal clarity that I appreciate in your own writings!)
Seems like you've been getting a lot of invitations to discuss ATAFOG. Would you say it's gone over pretty well, even outside your usual milieu? I keep seeing it mentioned in surprising places.
Oh, that I can answer: an Australian or Serbian woman between the ages of 24 and 49 who raises miniature horses, loves gardening, long walks on the beach at twilight, and Deep Purple, currently exploring Nichiren Buddhism or Mormonism, open to new experiences and new challenges, who has at least one sibling in the mafia, and a record of arrests for narcotics possession or shoplifting, but looking to change her ways.
A great interview! As you were talking, I was imagining bitter tensions ( Bergman style) between the married (!) Churchlands and I was a bit amused, I confess.
Dear Dr. Hart;
(feel free to erase and delete this comment if it's not something you wish to discuss).
Two of your books when I read them- 'Atheist Delusions', and 'The Experience of God'- changed how understood history and how I felt about apologetics, respectively.
Shortly after I was received into the Orthodox Church 20 years ago, I tried reading your "The Beauty of the Infinite," and I realized I just had not read deeply and broadly enough to properly contextualize and evaluate your argument, as much as I appreciated it.
Someone told me back then that you had been "black listed" by Ivy-league academia for your positions, (entirely old fashion and out of favor as they are in our post-Christian times- as this really is the crux if we're honest).
If it is true,
Have you ever written about your experience of what you went through at that time?
I would be interested to hear about this from you first hand, if it is something you can share. Both to understand you better- someone I have grown to deeply appreciate and love since that time- and because it would very much be a sort of "street education" for us all; about bias and prejudice; about the blinding effects of vice both personal and collective; about the limitations of academic consensuses; about our times.
I dont know if enough time has passed for you yet, though. Apologies if it is too personal a question.
with respect;
-Mark Basil
There is no truth to that story, as it happens. I mentioned some of the strange rumors that have cropped up now and again about my professional and private life in an article here called “Leave at Once, or I Shall Set the Dogs on You.”
I'll look it up and read it.
Thanks.
-m
Haha thanks. That sets the record straight alright. :)
Dear Dr. Hart, Are you aware of the work of Cambridge palaeobiologist Simon Conway Morris? His most recent book, "From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution," has plugs from Rupert Sheldrake and Stephen R. L. Clark.
Since this interview, what has remained closest to my thoughts is your answer to his final question: which of your philosophical commitments are you most uncertain of?
And your response- that you have the least convincingly developed arguments for God's all-goodness (which you distinguish, importantly, from how persuaded you are by this as a truth you personally believe).
I am curious your thoughts on this distinction.
Do you believe this is something necessarily baked into our place as creatures in the honest reality of God's creation?
This seems to be the 'answer' Job receives, and again the answer given to St. Antony the Great when he asked his Creator why there are unjust disparities- one poor another wealthy for example.
God's reply essentially being that it is not given to us to know this; it is not for our spiritual profit.
In Doors of the Sea you provide a great service clearing the brambles of unhelpful theodicies, revealing the passionate motivations that often underpin them among the 'pious'. And also pointing more importantly to the harm they cause when spoken from our armchairs over real occasions of unjust suffering.
And then again, we have Dostoyevsky's answer of loving-silence on this question: a kiss for the accuser.
So I wonder if you believe this is a *necessary* condition of the limits of our knowledge and understanding in this life? That there is no "proof" that God is all good?
If that is so, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on sort of the "epistemological correlates" of this as truth?
What does this necessary contentment with not being able to prove a truth that yet we are to believe, mean for epistemology more generally, and some of the concrete implications for other domains of life and understanding?
(please do me a favour and read my question sympathetically. I can never match the bottom of my questions with the verbal clarity that I appreciate in your own writings!)
Seems like you've been getting a lot of invitations to discuss ATAFOG. Would you say it's gone over pretty well, even outside your usual milieu? I keep seeing it mentioned in surprising places.
I’m not sure I know what my regular milieu is, so I’m not sure.
You know, as soon as I wrote that, I realized I had no idea who the typical DBH reader is, so it was probably a meaningless question.
Oh, that I can answer: an Australian or Serbian woman between the ages of 24 and 49 who raises miniature horses, loves gardening, long walks on the beach at twilight, and Deep Purple, currently exploring Nichiren Buddhism or Mormonism, open to new experiences and new challenges, who has at least one sibling in the mafia, and a record of arrests for narcotics possession or shoplifting, but looking to change her ways.
The real question is…. do you actually like Deep Purple.
No.
How about deep purple?
I think a video of you reviewing 80’s to 2020’s music would be so funny 😆. I can picture the commentary now.
Desperately seeking...
Dear Dr. Hart,
A great interview! As you were talking, I was imagining bitter tensions ( Bergman style) between the married (!) Churchlands and I was a bit amused, I confess.
Thank you for being there!
Can't wait to listen! Thank you, Dr. Hart.