Michaelmas Term 2025
All members of the university and their guests are welcome.
|
Geach on Sin and Intellectual Confusion Professor Roger Pouivet Université de Lorraine Abstract:
Peter Geach defends the thesis of the noetic consequences of Original Sin: our intellect is corrupted. Sin is as much an epistemological category as it is a moral one. Geach presents this thesis in relation to philosophy, but it can be generalised to intellectual life in general. Since few epistemologists are prepared to accept this doctrine, let us ensure that Geach defends it properly and that it is not a rhetorical device. Let us also ensure that there are reasons that can be put forward in its favour. This means taking the doctrine of Original Sin seriously – something that all Christians do. This doctrine is not an abstract view, but the concrete and disturbing backdrop to our entire intellectual life. This doctrine reveals the role in our lives of the will to truth as well as the nature of Truth, which is God himself. Geach has thus proposed a specifically Christian intellectual ethic. When 8:30 to 10 pm (Refreshments from 8:15pm) Tuesday 21 October Week 2 Where Large Senior Common Room Oriel College, Oxford |
Some Challenges of Monotheism for Prayer and of Prayer for Monotheism Dr Harriet Harris University of Edinburgh With apologies, the speaker has had to withdraw from the meeting of the Joseph Butler Society scheduled for Thursday 13 November and the event has therefore been cancelled.
We hope to hold this talk on another occasion, and apologise for cancelling at short notice. Abstract: If you are given a commission to write about monotheism and prayer, a plethora of issues arise, not least the problematic history of the concept of ‘monotheism’, and the tussle between whether prayer opens an aperture through which God can act, or whether prayer has no expediency and is a ‘royal waste of time’. Different concepts of monotheism can incline us one way or another, and this is what I will explore alongside asking whether ‘monotheism’ is a useful lens for understanding prayer at all. When 8:30 to 10 pm (Refreshments from 8:15pm) Thursday 13 November Week 5 Please note that this meeting has been cancelled. Where Large Senior Common Room Oriel College, Oxford |
