tyler_gone: ([pos] smile (nothin' but blue skies))
Tyler Durden ([personal profile] tyler_gone) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2010-01-17 11:22 pm
Entry tags:

Build Your Own Philosophy, Period 2, 1/18/10

Today, the board read:

1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
2. The Universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the Universe had a cause. - William Lane Craig


"What we're talking about today is called the cosmological argument , which is something that goes back to the ancient Greek guys," Tyler said after everyone was in their seats and the handouts were distributed. He was using notecards for once today, but didn't seem any the worse for wear for the blizzard. "It effectively says everything happens for a reason, and if you trace the reasons far back enough, they turn into proof of God or something God-like."

Yes, he thought that was dumb. But he was an atheist anyhow.

"For example" -- he held up his notes -- "I'm using notecards today. I'm using notecards because I usually research and write on my laptop, and I couldn't use it this weekend. I couldn't use it this weekend because my battery was dead and the power was out. The power was out because there was a blizzard, there was a blizzard because of the existing weather conditions, the weather conditions exist because of the atmosphere on this planet, this planet has an atmosphere because of God." A pause. "Supposedly."

"What I want you to do today is pick some random event in your real lives and trace back the chain of causes, then say if you think it's an argument for or against the cosmological argument. If you don't want to talk about your real life, I'm handing out radio transcripts so you can pick a real event in someone else's life."

He hoisted himself onto his desk and pointed randomly at a student. "You get 10 minutes to read and think about this, then we'll start the discussion with you."
lovemykilt: (visionary)

Re: Sign In [1/18]

[personal profile] lovemykilt 2010-01-18 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
Priestly
intraspective: (kunoichi)

Re: Sign In [1/18]

[personal profile] intraspective 2010-01-18 12:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Yamanaka Ino

Re: Sign In [1/18]

[identity profile] onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com 2010-01-18 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Hayley Fitzpatrick
future_sandworm: (Concentrating)

Re: Sign In [1/18]

[personal profile] future_sandworm 2010-01-18 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Leto Atreides

Re: Sign In [1/18]

[identity profile] new-to-liirness.livejournal.com 2010-01-20 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
Liir Thropp
trigons_child: (Looking to the side)

Re: General Class Stuff [1/18]

[personal profile] trigons_child 2010-01-18 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Raven was trying to pay attention, but she was still troubled by the meeting she'd had last night.
intraspective: (sit down it's a talk)

Re: General Class Stuff [1/18]

[personal profile] intraspective 2010-01-18 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Ino looked thoughtful as she doodled little lines on her notebook.

That... sort of made sense, as far as she understood it. Like everything having an equal and opposite sort of reaction. She seriously doubted the whole proof of God thing, to be sure, but the basic idea of everything happening for some sort of reason, in some sort of chain...?

Well, that one, that one she liked.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/18]

[identity profile] pastmewrong.livejournal.com 2010-01-18 12:59 pm (UTC)(link)
After spending a large, large part of her weekend in bed (because there was damn little else to do without getting frostbite) classes actually didn't seem like such a bad thing for a Monday morning.

Not taking notes over here, but Effy was paying an idle sort of attention and considering the ideas being presented.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/18]

[identity profile] onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com 2010-01-18 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Hayley was poking at her notebook with her pen.

Everything had a cause? There was a chain involved, that you could trace back?

Those were actually troubling thoughts for her. And she didn't particularly want to trace anything in her life back to what might have caused it.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/18]

[identity profile] joan-notjane.livejournal.com 2010-01-18 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Joan was kind of wishing she had skipped class today. This topic made her uncomfortable for a number of reasons.

Re: General Class Stuff [1/18]

[identity profile] morpherboy.livejournal.com 2010-01-18 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Marco was trying to stay awake, really.

Re: Discussion [1/18]

[identity profile] blondecanary.livejournal.com 2010-01-18 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Dinah was reading the night Castiel did Radio, and grinning. "Um. An angel maybe got drunk... because there was rum where he was. There was rum because the squirrels brought it, and him together... and I don't know why." Okay, that theory broke down once you didn't understand the cause, and she couldn't pretend she understood squirrel logic.

Re: Discussion [1/18]

[identity profile] blondecanary.livejournal.com 2010-01-18 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"They are!" From her one and only encounter, she knew that much. "So if we can't figure out why something happens, or how someone thinks, we can't take it as proof of the existence of God. I mean, you could look at Castiel as proof too," she added. "But only if you believe him about being an angel."

Re: Talk to the TAs [1/18]

[identity profile] joan-notjane.livejournal.com 2010-01-18 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Joan was there but not super keen on talking about God or if He existed.

Re: Talk to the TAs [1/18]

[identity profile] new-to-liirness.livejournal.com 2010-01-20 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
Liir was there even if it took a day for the post to be there because his mun was on a train and the train was late because it took an extra long time to change from a diesel engine to an electric one at DC and it took an extra long time because the mechanic involved hadn't slept well and the mechanic hadn't slept well because his wife was angry with him for forgetting the laundry in the machine overnight and he'd forgotten the laundry in the machine overnight because their son was failing spanish and he was failing spanish because he didn't do his homework and he didn't do his homework because he'd just bought a video game and the video game existed because one man decided make a last ditch effort to save his company and that game managed to be a best seller because of his excellent design aesthetic and it was an excellent design aesthetic... because God said so.
trigons_child: (OOC Sucks 2 B U)

Re: OOC [1/18]

[personal profile] trigons_child 2010-01-18 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
Me neither. I shall join you in the slackage.