John Neely | Hawkeye Community College (original) (raw)
Papers by John Neely
ETC, 2023
Unspeakable Conversations, an essay written by the late Harriet McBryde Johnson, contains Johnson... more Unspeakable Conversations, an essay written by the late Harriet McBryde Johnson, contains Johnson's extremely personal and candid reflections on her interactions with Peter Singer, an Australian moral philosopher and Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. She disagrees strongly with Peter Singer's views on selective infanticide of disabled infants, though she struggles to defend her own view because as an atheist she can see that Singer's views are reasonable. In this essay, I defend Johnson's view against that of Singer by showing how Singer is able to be both reasonable and wrong at the same time.
Academia Letters, 2021
Interestingly, the beginning of modern philosophy can be traced to a very intentional attempt to ... more Interestingly, the beginning of modern philosophy can be traced to a very intentional attempt to place the Christian faith on a rational foundation. In the introduction to his Meditation of First Philosophy Descartes writes: I have always considered that the two questions respecting God and the Soul were the chief of those that ought to be demonstrated by philosophical rather than theological argument. For although it is quite enough for us faithful ones to accept by means of faith the fact that the human soul does not perish with the body, and that God exists, it certainly does not seem possible ever to persuade infidels of any religion, indeed, we may almost say, of any moral virtue, unless, to begin with, we prove these two facts by means of the natural reason. And inasmuch as often in this life greater rewards are offered for vice than for virtue, few people would prefer the right to the useful, were they restrained neither by the fear of God nor the expectation of another life; and although it is absolutely true that we must believe that there is a God, because we are so taught in the Holy Scriptures, and, on the other hand, that we must believe the Holy Scriptures because they come from God (the reason of this is, that, faith being a gift of God, He who gives the grace to cause us to believe other things can likewise give it to cause us to believe that He exists), we nevertheless could not place this argument before infidels, who might accuse us of reasoning in a circle. (p. 250) As this quote shows, Descartes purpose for writing his Meditations is to put belief in the existence of God and the immortality of the soul on a rational foundation. Without such a
Drafts by John Neely
The question of what it is exactly that raises beliefs into knowledge goes back over two thousand... more The question of what it is exactly that raises beliefs into knowledge goes back over two thousand years to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. According to Plato, a person is said to have knowledge of something if: the person believes the thing in question. (2) the thing in question is true. (3) the person has some sort of justification for believing the thing in question is true. To help illustrate this, consider an old rickety bridge spanning over a chasm. You may believe the bridge is able to hold you up, and it may even be true that it will hold you up, but you do not know it will hold you up unless you have some reason to justify your belief. For example, if you walk over the bridge and it holds you up, then you actually know the bridge is able to hold you up. Walking across the bridge elevates your belief into knowledge. In the book below, Justified Faith, I’m interested in the following questions: when it comes to things of God, what sort of justification is necessary to cross over the bridge from belief into knowledge? Is it even possible to cross over this bridge in a rational way? Or must one take a leap of faith to cross over such a chasm?
I’m interested in these questions because there are people today who assert that it is not possible to know for sure the Christian faith is true. All we can have are mere beliefs with no way to elevate those beliefs to knowledge. As I hope to show, this is not the case. While it is true that Christians who take God and His Word seriously must live by faith and not by sight, for that is what the Bible says, it is also true the Bible has much to say about knowledge and how God makes Himself known to us. In this book, I hope to get to the bottom of how faith and knowledge relate to one another, when it comes to knowing the truth of the Christian faith. In the process, we see that there are many good reasons for believing the things of God are true. We will also see, however, that it is not these reasons alone that elevate our belief in God into knowledge.
ETC, 2023
Unspeakable Conversations, an essay written by the late Harriet McBryde Johnson, contains Johnson... more Unspeakable Conversations, an essay written by the late Harriet McBryde Johnson, contains Johnson's extremely personal and candid reflections on her interactions with Peter Singer, an Australian moral philosopher and Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. She disagrees strongly with Peter Singer's views on selective infanticide of disabled infants, though she struggles to defend her own view because as an atheist she can see that Singer's views are reasonable. In this essay, I defend Johnson's view against that of Singer by showing how Singer is able to be both reasonable and wrong at the same time.
Academia Letters, 2021
Interestingly, the beginning of modern philosophy can be traced to a very intentional attempt to ... more Interestingly, the beginning of modern philosophy can be traced to a very intentional attempt to place the Christian faith on a rational foundation. In the introduction to his Meditation of First Philosophy Descartes writes: I have always considered that the two questions respecting God and the Soul were the chief of those that ought to be demonstrated by philosophical rather than theological argument. For although it is quite enough for us faithful ones to accept by means of faith the fact that the human soul does not perish with the body, and that God exists, it certainly does not seem possible ever to persuade infidels of any religion, indeed, we may almost say, of any moral virtue, unless, to begin with, we prove these two facts by means of the natural reason. And inasmuch as often in this life greater rewards are offered for vice than for virtue, few people would prefer the right to the useful, were they restrained neither by the fear of God nor the expectation of another life; and although it is absolutely true that we must believe that there is a God, because we are so taught in the Holy Scriptures, and, on the other hand, that we must believe the Holy Scriptures because they come from God (the reason of this is, that, faith being a gift of God, He who gives the grace to cause us to believe other things can likewise give it to cause us to believe that He exists), we nevertheless could not place this argument before infidels, who might accuse us of reasoning in a circle. (p. 250) As this quote shows, Descartes purpose for writing his Meditations is to put belief in the existence of God and the immortality of the soul on a rational foundation. Without such a
The question of what it is exactly that raises beliefs into knowledge goes back over two thousand... more The question of what it is exactly that raises beliefs into knowledge goes back over two thousand years to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. According to Plato, a person is said to have knowledge of something if: the person believes the thing in question. (2) the thing in question is true. (3) the person has some sort of justification for believing the thing in question is true. To help illustrate this, consider an old rickety bridge spanning over a chasm. You may believe the bridge is able to hold you up, and it may even be true that it will hold you up, but you do not know it will hold you up unless you have some reason to justify your belief. For example, if you walk over the bridge and it holds you up, then you actually know the bridge is able to hold you up. Walking across the bridge elevates your belief into knowledge. In the book below, Justified Faith, I’m interested in the following questions: when it comes to things of God, what sort of justification is necessary to cross over the bridge from belief into knowledge? Is it even possible to cross over this bridge in a rational way? Or must one take a leap of faith to cross over such a chasm?
I’m interested in these questions because there are people today who assert that it is not possible to know for sure the Christian faith is true. All we can have are mere beliefs with no way to elevate those beliefs to knowledge. As I hope to show, this is not the case. While it is true that Christians who take God and His Word seriously must live by faith and not by sight, for that is what the Bible says, it is also true the Bible has much to say about knowledge and how God makes Himself known to us. In this book, I hope to get to the bottom of how faith and knowledge relate to one another, when it comes to knowing the truth of the Christian faith. In the process, we see that there are many good reasons for believing the things of God are true. We will also see, however, that it is not these reasons alone that elevate our belief in God into knowledge.