68. Dr. Michael Ruse — A Darwinian Meaning to Life

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2019

⏱️ 99 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Michael Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science, at Florida State University. He has written or edited more than 50 books. His new book is “A Meaning to Life,” which we discuss on the show, as well as:

Dr. Ruse’s early life growing up as a Quaker in England and how this influenced his thinking about religion
why he is a bulldog against creationism but has a soft spot in his heart for religion
why we should not read religious texts literally, but allegorically, and when we do there are great truths to be found, just as there is in great literature
his beef with the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett
how Darwinism is a religion
Darwinian existentialism
how a naturalist can still find morals, values, and meaning in life through the laws of nature, particularly human and social nature
what’s wrong with academia today, and
what advice he would give to someone asking how to lead a meaningful life.

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This Science Salon was recorded on January 16, 2019.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	We post these conversations on average once a week as part of the larger mission of the Skeptic Society and Skeptic magazine.
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0:30.8	PayPal, Patreon through through our Shop Skeptic site by check through the mail or even on the phone.
0:40.8	My guest next is Dr. Michael Ruse. He is the Lucile T. Work Meister, Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of science at Florida State University.
0:54.9	He's written or edited more than 50 books.
0:58.7	His new book is a meaning to life,
1:02.1	not the meaning to life, but a meaning to life, which we discuss on the show as well as a lot of other subjects such as, for example,
1:10.0	Dr. Ruse's early life growing up as a Quaker in England and how this influenced his thinking about religion.
1:18.0	Why he's a bulldog against creationists, but has a soft spot in his heart for religion.
1:24.0	Why we should not read religious texts literally, but allegorically,
1:30.0	and when we do, he feels there are great truths to be found just as there is in great literature.
1:37.5	His beef with the new atheists like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Denet.
1:41.7	How Darwinism is a religion.
1:44.0	I find that rather unusual way to think of it,
1:47.5	but he has a whole chapter in his book on Darwinism as a religion,
1:50.2	as well as Darwinian existentialism.
1:53.0	So I push him on what he means by existentialism.
1:56.0	This whole business of existence precedes essence and how in the world that could be Darwinian.
2:01.0	Well, he explains how. How a naturalist can still find
	...

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