M — Nietzsche Part 1: "God is Dead"

What does Friedrick Nietzsche's famous declaration that "God is dead" actually mean? Is his claim vindicated by science? Why should we even care? This episode explores these topics and others such as where Jordan Peterson and the New Atheists go wrong in interpreting Nietzsche, David Foster Wallace's claim that we all worship something whether we're aware of it or not, and my own cast of characters grappling with real-life problems related to these questions. Some Sources/Further Reading: The Portable Nietzsche translated by Walter Kaufmann Basic Writings of Nietzsche translated by Walter Kaufmann From Rationalism to Existentialism: The Existentialists and Their Nineteenth-century Backgrounds by Robert C. Solomon Existentialism  by Robert C. Solomon Nietzsche, A Very Short Introduction by Michael Tanner This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace Is God Dead? No, but belief has declined slightly by David Masci and Gregory A. Smith Religious Landscape Study: Belief in God by Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study: Views about human evolution by Pew Research Center Few Americans turn to religious leaders for advice when making major life decisions by Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Study: Importance of religion in one's life by Pew Research Center Tarek Zaher is a PhD student studying political philosophy. You can find him on Twitter @Zaher_Tarek

Om Podcasten

Welcome to The Science of Philosophy where we evaluate philosophic ideas scientifically. Nearly every philosopher throughout history makes claims about the world which trespass overtly into the realm of science. But we know that if we want to arrive at the truth, just thinking about it or scraping together a few biased anecdotes is utterly inadequate in getting there. Therefore, if philosophy is ever going to be more than the mere asking of questions, which art often does better anyway, it has to integrate science into itself. That is the spirit with which this podcast will embark. Each episode we'll go through the philosophy of an idea or a particular thinker and see what the relevant scientific research has to say about it. Some ideas will be proven correct, some will remain ambiguous, and some will be flat out wrong. If this sounds like something that could be valuable to you, feel free to listen and subscribe. Tarek Zaher is a PhD student studying political philosophy. You can find him on twitter @Zaher_Tarek.