We begin with an invitation: tell us who you are, and why you're here. We'll introduce ourselves in class and online (hit "comments" below). I'll start.
I'm the prof for this course, PHIL 3310, Atheism & Philosophy. I hold degrees from the University of Missouri and Vanderbilt, and I'm here because the question of god continues to perplex and divide people. I'd like for this course to address that perplexity and lessen that division, by exploring the implications of a godless universe. I believe we can, with the right intentions and a willingness to hear one another out, surmount our differences.
I also teach courses on Bioethics, Environmental Ethics, and Happiness, among others.
Enough about me.
Who are you? Why are you here? (Bear in mind, as you reply, that this is an open site. There's nothing preventing the world from reading what we post here, except of course the world's own distraction.)
Am a senior here at MTSU cja major with minors in philosophy and psychology I look forward to hearing the different perspectives and angles this class will provide and how the subjects interact and explore this topic with you guys
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ReplyDeleteMy name is Skye and I am a Political Science major with minors in Philosophy and Comm. Studies. This is my last semester (yay!) and I thought Atheism and Philosophy would be a fun class to end my Philosophy minor with. I look forward to engaging in civil debate with you all over the next few months!
Hi, I'm Don. I'm seventy-one and even before I retired, I planned to return to school and to increase my knowledge in multiple disciplines and to hopefully give something back to the university community and to my local community.
ReplyDeleteAs part of my personal development, I have taken undergraduate and graduate classes in philosophy, political science, environmental ethics, geology, sociology, communication, etc. I have learned about the history of Egypt and Egyptian gods, the Scientific Revolution and the Renaissance and how religion and science interacted during those formative years.
I'm taking this course because I want to increase my knowledge since we continue to expand our awareness through new discoveries that shed light on our universe and on our human origins.
As far as my personal beliefs, I believe it is more important to try to help others while I am still here than whether I associate with a particular ism. I realized long ago that I am a product of where I was born and how I was raised and I try to remember that my views on the world would be different if I had been born elsewhere, of a different race, or sex or spoke a different language.
I hope to learn and understand more about how others, in the class and historical figures, feel and their beliefs whether strongly or weakly held.
Greetings,
ReplyDeleteI've been an atheist since birth. It's true. We're all born absent of religion, so why change? Apparently, humans can cope with life without having to imagine someone watching over them their entire lives. There was a period of time in my life when my parents (mostly my mother) tried to make me participate in religious gatherings and absurd works of amateur biblical theater. I complied, as I was young and respectful.
However, there came a day in junior high where I had questions that needed answers. Mostly, I remember asking my mother about where dinosaurs are mentioned in the bible. All she could tell me was that man lived with dinosaurs thousands of years ago and that they died in the "great flood." I wasn't really satisfied with the answers she would give me, so I began asking questions at school. Luckily, I had a great science teacher, who was probably more agnostic than atheist, and she would answer these fundamental (to me, at the time) questions that began my solid path of answering questions with science.
Where athiests get their morality is a question that happens to always stump religious folk. It's like they can't think for themselves to understand what is right and wrong. Maybe that's why the secular have generally higher IQ's than religious people(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2008.03.004).
I enrolled in this course partly for the credit hours and mostly because I didn't even know this course existed and I was too excited to not take it. Also, finally!, there will be people I can sit face-to-face with and objectively talk religion and other topics.
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ReplyDeleteHello all! My name is Kathryn, and I am a Philosophy major with a minor in Global Studies. I was interested in this course because I am excited to explore the moral and ethical differences between Atheism and Theism. I am very concerned with enviromental issues, and hope to get a PhD in Enviromental Philosophy. Due to my passion for the enviroment and the other species that share our planet, I find myself confronting those who use religion to maintain the status quo. To say the least, I have questions about how religion is often used to promote, what I consider, unethical and immoral actions. And, why it is Atheism that gets the bad rap?
ReplyDeleteI look forward to a great semester with you all!
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ReplyDeleteHey everyone! My name is Malika, I am a senior at MTSU with a major in Africana Studies and a double minor in Anthropology and Philosophy. I am also from Memphis, TN. I chose to take this course because I enjoy learning and understanding the different ways people think and feel. I have my own thoughts on spirituality and religion but I am open minded and I like to have conversations where there are different viewpoints and opinions. I feel like you never know what you will or can learn from the next individual.
ReplyDeleteHello! My name is Lucas, and I am a junior at MTSU. I am majoring in Philosophy with a minor in Theatre. I chose this course to obtain a better understanding of both atheism, and religion. I would describe myself as an atheist, and I often have trouble understanding why some people get drawn to certain religions and practices. I hope to explore some of those questions in this class, and I look forward to spending the next few months learning with you all!
ReplyDeleteHey guys! my name is Raine McKee, and I'm a Freshman. I'm a psych major who is considering a minor in philosophy. I chose this class because I am pretty unsure about what I believe, am I'm hoping this class will sway me towards on end of the religious spectrum.
ReplyDeleteHello, I am Brandon Benson, and I'm a sophomore and philosophy major with a minor in athletic coaching (the two coincide perfectly, I'm aware). I am a manager for the MT men's basketball team. I took this class because I am most certainly God-less and it is cool to be in a room with likeminded people in our minority, and after taking a class taught by Dr. Oliver last year, I was compelled to take another due to the enriching discussions.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Nora. I am a freshman who is majoring in Philosophy. I chose to take this course because I am curious to learn more about Atheism. I’d like to think I am open minded so I’m excited to hear the thoughts of others, and learn a new perspective.
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Garrett. I'm a Spanish major, but I'm also very interested in philosophy. I don't hold a stance for or against the existence of God. I've spent quite a bit of time trying to find an answer, but the best I could come up with is that it doesn't really matter. However, despite not being concerned with the "truth", I really like having religious and philosophical discussions. I took this class because I wanted to have more of those discussions, and also because the Philosophy and Film class was full.
ReplyDeleteI'm James, hallo and and all that. I'm 31, returning after 5 years away, history major aiming for secondary education. Trivia question: how long can you live without a large intestine? At least 12 years.
ReplyDeleteI am an atheist. I do not believe in a personal, individual or anthropomorphized Capital-G God. I do not think that a pantheist or otherwise spiritualist answer is actually relevant; that seems a different metaphysical question to me. A quirk of my un-theology: I am willing to accept the existence of a God. How do I square that circle? Because Humanity is Awesome, and we build things that take us where we shouldn't be able to go and do things we never should have been able to. So if there is a God, we'll find Him/Her/Them, and we'll make a rocket, and we'll go say hi. Because we are Awesome, but also tragically violent. And we'll take God's stuff.
Hi, very late, but here nonetheless. If it's my name and reason for being in the class you would like to know, my name is Alex Old (yes Old. If God does exist, he's proud of that one.) and my reason for being in this class is that atheism has always been a fascination of mine. Though I do not subscribe to it (yet), I enjoy the idea of it.
ReplyDeleteHowever when asked the question "who are you and why are you here?" my immediate answer tends to be "I don't know yet, but I'll let you know when I find out." There's a quote from the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows that I love, and it is this: "So we can take our chances out in the open, and meet each other as we are, asking "what is it like being you?" And be brave enough to admit we don't already know the answer."
This is from the definition of the word Lutalica, if anyone is interested. I encourage everyone to watch some of the videos on youtube. They're incredibly moving.
I'm a little late on this, but my name is Mat and I'm a senior History major and minoring in Spanish here at MTSU. I've been an atheist since I saw behind the curtain of "god's love" when I was 15 years old. I took this class because I'm interested in both philosophy and atheism, and I want to get a better perspective on the way other people feel about godlessness.
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