Point of Inquiry podcast - Colin McGinn - Secular Philosophy and Skepticism

[webmdave]

Colin McGinn, educated at Oxford University, is the author of sixteenprevious books, including The Making of a Philosopher. He has writtenfor the London Review of Books, The New Republic, the New York Times Book Review,and other publications. He has taught philosophy at University Collegeof London, Oxford, and Rutgers University, and is a distinguishedprofessor of philosophy at the University of Miami. He is best knownfor his work in the philosophy of mind, but has published across thesubjects of modern philosophy. He was featured in Bill Moyers' series Faith and Reason on PBS and also Jonathan Miller's Atheism Tapes, a BBC documentary series.

In this discussion with D.J. Grothe, Colin McGinn explores variouskinds of skepticism, giving his concerns about radical fallibilism andcertain post-modern critiques of knowledge. He explains how he iscertain that ghosts and Gods don't exist. He details how atheistic theprofession of philosophy is, and how the tolerance shown whilephilosophers criticize each other serves as a model for goodcitizenship. He tells the reasons that led to his religious skepticismand atheism. He examines William Shakespeare as a philosopher, theproblem of evil in Shakespeare's plays, and other philosophicalsubjects found in Shakespeare such as epistemology, ethics, life afterdeath, happiness and the meaning of life. He also explains how gettinginto Shakespeare as a professional philosopher impacted his philosophy.

 

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