Ethical Matters:
If God is the Answer, What is the Question?

You can argue about God forever, and not change your mind. Believers and non-believers often talk at cross-purposes, both failing to grasp what is really going on when we argue about God. God might be the answer to a yearning for justice, or harmony, significance or freedom. Or God might be the answer to the shadows where our intellect cannot go. So where do we go when the facts run out? Philosophy.

Philosophy experts Prof Christopher Insole and Dr Stephen Law discuss the role of philosophy in going beyond the limits of reason to a place where we might find empathy for all our fellow persons, each engaged in the struggle to live a meaningful life.

Christopher Insole is a professor in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham. His work is concerned with the relationship between fundamental metaphysical and doctrinal commitments, and patterns of thought in meta-ethics and practical reasoning. He has written publications on realism and anti-realism, the relationship between theology and political liberalism, and the role of theology within Kant’s metaphysics, epistemology and ethics.

Stephen Law is a philosopher, writer and academic researcher. He is Director of Philosophy and the Certificate of Higher Education at Oxford University. Stephen has written many best-selling introductions to philosophy and critical thinking, including The Philosophy Gym, A Very Short Introduction to Humanism and Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole. He is the editor of Think, the Royal Institute of Philosophy’s journal.

Age Recommendation:

16+

Price:

*A £2 venue levy is applied to each ticket purchased. This levy helps to support us in covering the costs of keeping our grade II listed building running and our doors open.*

In advance: • Supporter £15 • Standard £10 • Living Support £6 • Student £7     (+ £2 venue levy)
On the Door: • Supporter £16 • Standard £11 • Living Support £7 • Student £8  (+ £2 venue levy)
Online: • Standard £7   (+ £2 venue levy)

Access Information:

This event is in the Brockway Room, which is located on the ground floor. The talk will also be livestreamed.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp), Cafe (street access, step-free). There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.