Is the world really as we see it?

What would Wittgenstein say about that dress?



Sometimes our senses cannot be relied on to inform us how the world is, have a look at this and think about our work on Plato and his analogy of the Cave.

Richard Dawkins and George Cardinal Pell in an Australian TV debate – excellent

Of general interest but of particular interest to those studying AS, this televised debate is excellent. I suggest all AS students watch and note its content for assistance with the Science and Religion chapter.

Click here: Dawkins & Pell

Below is a rough guide to the debate using the questions being asked by the audience to move through the content.

1.20          Is goodness dependent on God?

5.40          Why bother being good?

7.20          Without religion aren’t we only left with Darwinian survival of the fittest?

14.0          Mr Dawkins – are you an atheist or an agnostic?

21.0          How does the ‘Big Bang’ create ex nihilo?

28.40      Cardinal Pell clarify the dichotomy between science and religion

                        And clarify the concept of the soul (31.20)

38.40      Why does Cardinal Pell require different standards of evidence for the issue of climate change and the existence of God?

41.0          What happens to atheists after death?

47.18      Is it OK to teach children that God does not exist?

50.10      Why is there suffering?

54.45      How can the Catholic Church oppose ‘gay marriage’?

57.80   Are there health benefits to belief?

Podcasts - Faculty of Philosophy

Philosophy for Beginners

This series of five introductory lectures, aimed at students new to philosophy, presented by Marianne Talbot, Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford, will test you on some famous thought experiments and introduce you to some central philosophical issues and to the thoughts of some key philosophers.

1. A romp through the history of philosophy
Keywords philosophy, pre-socratics, philosophical history.

2. The philosophical method - logic and argument
Keywords philosophy, logic and argument, philosophical method.

3. Ethics and politics
Keywords philosophy, ethical philosophy, political philosophy.

4. Metaphysics and Epistemology
Keywords philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology.

5. Philosophy of language and mind
Keywords philosophy, rationality, consciousness.

Podcasts - Faculty of Philosophy

What is Philosophy?

What is Philosophy? This video offers an excellent introduction to some of the central problems in philosophy, philosophical methodology and the study of philosophy in contemporary universities. It is thus a useful resource for both students and philosophy educators alike. Topics covered include the nature and importance of philosophical inquiry, problem solving, and certain classical problems of philosophy such as the existence of God, the nature of thinking and the mind/body problem, ethical dilemmas and issues in political philosophy, space and time and the nature of art.

Does God exist?