James p. Sterba’s Lectures on Morality and God

On June 11 and June 13, 2018, James p. Sterba, philosophy professor from university of Notre Dame, gave two lectures at B214, Zhenhua Building.

At 3:00 p.m. on June 11, professor James gave the first academic lecture entitled From Rationality to Equality. Professor James proceeded from a conception of rationality as nonquestion-beggingness to an endorsement of morality over egoism and altruism. Then he further argued that even a libertarian version of the conception of morality leads to a right to welfare. Lastly, he argued that extending this right to welfare, particularly to future generations, leads to the egalitarian requirement that as far as possible, we should use up no more resources than are necessary to meet our basic needs, securing for ourselves a decent life but no more.

At 3:00 p.m. on June 13, professor James gave the second academic lecture entitled Is a Good God Logically Possible?

Professor James argued that if God exists, he should prevent the significant and especially the horrendous evil consequences of immoral actions. After respondin g to some possible objections, he pointed out there still are many horrendous evil consequences of immoral actions and that logically implies that God does not exist.

Both lectures received enthusiastic participation and discussion from the audience, and both ended successfully.