Richard Carrier

[9thdoctor]

I’ve been checking out some YouTube material by Richard Carrier, and I’m impressed with him. He’s very knowledgeable and skilled in the theism/atheism debate arena, and gives effective defense of the mythicist position concerning the historicity of Jesus. I don’t have particularly strong feelings on that matter, I’m with George Walsh in regarding the existence of the historical Jesus as probable, but I wouldn’t firmly commit myself. Fact 1: there were itinerant preachers with devoted followings who got in trouble with the law in 1^st century Palestine. Fact 2: Jesus became a mythical figure at some point, and that he was from the beginning is a possibility, if you could attach a probability to it, it would have to be greater than zero. Anyway, I only heard of this guy because I was researching Bart Ehrman’s latest book, which is an attack on the mythicist position.

I dig a little deeper and I find he’s written a book on Ethics, and he sounds like he’s got some Objectivism influence. Good critique of Kant, though calmer than you'll ever see on OO. Then I dig yet deeper, and find that he’s made some comments that were Objectivist-unfriendly. Though nothing too different from what GHS wrote about Craig Biddle a day or two ago, complaining about bad scholarship. Grist for the mill on OL. Now here’s one of his compat’s complaining that in the last few months he's gone over to the Ayn Rand dark side, though it being published today one must make allowances that it could be a joke:

http://freethoughtbl...se-in-disguise/

Here's part one of his talk on Ethics, the rest in on YouTube.

[9thdoctor]

Now here’s one of his compat’s complaining that in the last few months he's gone over to the Ayn Rand dark side, though it being published today one must make allowances that it could be a joke:

http://freethoughtbl...se-in-disguise/

And my conspiratorial instincts have just gotten a fresh dose of positive reinforcement...it was a joke.

[caroljane]

Now here’s one of his compat’s complaining that in the last few months he's gone over to the Ayn Rand dark side, though it being published today one must make allowances that it could be a joke:

http://freethoughtbl...se-in-disguise/

And my conspiratorial instincts have just gotten a fresh dose of positive reinforcement...it was a joke.

Carrier is way cute..no joke!