Stephen Hawking, Physics, and Theism

hawking, authority, testimony, science, physicsMy first “official” podcast  is now available on iTunes! Here’s the iTunes link. If you don’t have iTunes, you can listen on Sound Cloud. Feedback on the podcast, including production features, is welcome.

I interview Dr. Kenny Boyce, Asst. Prof. of Philosophy at the University of Missouri. This episode focuses on the work of Stephen Hawking, who passed away on March 14, and the implications of his work for philosophy and theology.

We start with a discussion of Hawking and his contributions to science, and then delve into how his work on the origins of the universe affects two important arguments for theism. These two arguments, the “cosmological argument” and the “fine-tuning” argument” both face challenges from Hawking. If you aren’t familiar with these two arguments, you can see an excellent explanation for each in these videos:

Hawking’s ideas about how the universe may have started pose a problem for the Kalam version of the Cosmological argument, and his work on the possibility of a multi-verse can undermine the strength of the fine-tuning argument. In the podcast, Dr. Boyce and I explore these challenges and offer some possible responses in defense of theism.

Next Episode

My next episode will be Part 2 of the interview with Dr. Boyce and will take us a little deeper into the philosophical implications of Hawking’s theories.

Kenny Boyce

Dr. Boyce (the one on the right.)

Kenny’s website.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *