Dieu, l'âme et le corps. Un séminaire de métaphysique à partir de Richard Swinburne

Dieu, l’âme et le corps. Un séminaire de métaphysique à partir de Richard Swinburne // God, soul and body. A metaphysical seminar on Richard Swinburne

Nous avions projeté un séminaire intitulé RICHARD SWINBURNE ON DIVINE MIND AND HUMAN SOUL du 16 au 18 juin 2021. L’épidémie de coronavirus a empêché qu’il se tienne. Notre projet est maintenant d’organiser ce séminaire, en étendant quelque peu son propos. L’œuvre de Richard Swinburne, l’un des principaux philosophes britanniques d’aujourd’hui, défend un nouveau programme de théologie naturelle. Les trois livres que sont The Coherence of Theism (Oxford University Press 1977, 2^nd ed. 2016), The Existence of God (1979, 2^nd ed. 2004, traduction française par P. Clavier : La Probabilité du théisme, Vrin 2015), Faith and Reason (1981, 2^nd ed. 2005) en sont les piliers. Le séminaire portera plus précisément sur deux aspects de la philosophie de Swinburne : sa conception de la nature de Dieu (esprit omniprésent, libre, créateur, etc.) et sa conception de l’homme comme substance essentiellement mentale. Cette deuxième thèse consiste en une défense par Swinburne d’un dualisme des substances, inspiré de Descartes. Le livre le plus récent de Swinburne, Are We Bodies or Souls ? (Oxford UP, 2019), précisent encore cette conception de la nature de l’homme.

Le séminaire se tiendra sur zoom : voir les informations de connexion après le programme.

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Richard Swinburne is one of today's leading philosophers. He is Emeritus Professor of the Christian Religion at the University of Oxford. A large part of his work is devoted to the rational defence of theism. It is mainly presented in three books that are as many "classics" of contemporary philosophy: The Coherence of Theism (Oxford University Press 1977, 2^nd ed. 2016), The Existence of God (1979, 2^nd ed. 2004, French translation by P. Clavier: La Probabilité du théisme, Vrin 2015), Faith and Reason (1981, 2^nd ed. 2005).

In order to advocate the thesis of the existence of God and the main doctrines of Christian religion, Swinburne developed a complete metaphysics and epistemology the justification of our beliefs, including religious ones. One of the characteristics of his metaphysics is also the defence of fundamental theses on the very nature of God and on the nature of human beings. Swinburne’s conception of the Divine mind is exposed in particular in The Christian God (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1994). Swinburne’ s account of human beings as souls is to be found in his The Evolution of Soul (Oxford University Press 1986, revised ed. 1997), and in his Mind, Brain, and Free Wil (2013). Swinburne's most recent book, Are We Bodies or Souls? (2019), exposes it again for itself. Swinburne defends a substance dualism, based on an amended version of the Cartesian argument.

The aim of this seminar is to approach Swinburne's metaphysics of Christian religion by examining the connection between his thesis on the nature of God and his thesis on the nature of human beings. Swinburne conceives of God as a person without a body (that is, a spirit), and of humans as being essentially souls, that is non-material beings, whose material part (the body) is only contingent, and especially does not constitute the foundation of his personal identity. To which extent both theses are linked? In particular, conceiving of God as a person may be linked with substance dualism. But is substance dualism consistent with the metaphysics of theism?

Be that as it may, the seminar will deal with two fundamental questions of metaphysics: What kind of being is God? What kind of beings are we?  And, thirdly: to which extent both kinds are analogous? The seminar will also deal also with issues of epistemology and metaphysics, present in Swinburne’s work, whose examination can make us understand better and discuss with more accuracy the questions of what kind of being is God and what kind of beings we are.

The invited participants at this seminar are academics in the field of analytical philosophy, acquainted with Swinburne's work, and wishing to discuss the issues raised by it. This seminar offers a great opportunity of directly asking Richard Swinburne, and discussing in detail some of the tenets of his theistic system.

The seminar will begin with a lecture given by Richard Swinburne. Then each speaker will present a paper devoted to a topic developed un Swinburne’s work.

This seminar is a continuation of that organized in 2019 on the epistemology of theism. It brings together some of the participants from the previous seminar and opens it up to other collaborations. He is also a descendant of the four lectures organized by Darek Łukasiewicz and Roger Pouivet, in Bydgoszcz (University Kazimierz Wielki), Poland, and in Nancy, which dealt with questions of philosophy of religion, from the point of view of logical coherence and metaphysical possibility. It is therefore linked to the third axis (Philosophy: System, Metaphysics, Logics) of the Research Center Archives Henri Poincaré.

The seminar will be given and attended on zoom: see the link and login information under the program.