Thursday night there will be a debate between William Lane Craig and Sam Harris about the foundation of morality at 6pm on the question “Is the Basis of Morality Natural or Supernatural?”. While both debaters believe that there are objective moral values and duties, Craig argues that morality is and can only be grounded in God while Harris believes that these things can be founded in scientific knowledge about human social biology, for instance.
Here is a brief Q and A from a Notre Dame sponsored website:
Q: What were the motivations in organizing these debates?
A: Last year’s goals – bringing this issue to a head, bringing high-profile speakers to Notre Dame, and perpetuating intellectual life among the student body – were more general. In addition to these, we have several more specific motivations, not the least of which include the opportunity a second debate provides in terms of presenting interesting, informative perspectives on objective morality, or in unifying many individuals and organizations from many disciplines and backgrounds into one campus-wide intellectual initiative. We hope to strike a balance between the “purely academic” and the “purely entertaining,” such that our event will be edifying by itself, but also serve as a catalyst for discussion.
Q: Could you give us a brief summary of the two debaters?
A: In the theist corner, we have William Lane Craig, an analytical philosopher in the evangelical tradition. He’s well known in academic circles for espousing the Kalam Cosmological Argument for the existence of God. He is highly sought-after as a public debater, having spent the last 20 years taking on opposition ranging from new atheists like Hitchens to Catholics, Muslims, and fellow Evangelicals, including the founder of the Jesus Seminar. He has written quite a few books on such topics as faith, God’s existence, and doubt. He’s known as someone who comes down hard on moral relativism.
Sam Harris is a trained neuroscientist and a best-selling atheist author. Most famous for writing The End of Faith and the Letter to a Christian Nation, he argues that science, not religion, can and should provide the basis for objective morality. Religion, for Harris, distracts from real problems that contribute to human suffering and threaten human existence by directing its ire toward “abominations” like gay marriage rather than toward the problems of poverty, genocide, or nuclear proliferation. He’s unique among leaders of the New Atheist movement – the so-called “Four Horsemen of Atheism” – in that he’s not a moral relativist.
Q: What should we expect from a debate between these two are clearly at the opposite ends of the spectrum?
A: You can expect an entertaining debate with arguments that will certainly be new to many and that will, at the very least, represent opinions that aren’t often seen together. Even those who carefully follow the two participants or who are well versed in the opinions that they espouse may get something new out of hearing them in person and watching them pitted against each other for the very first time. We can expect that the biggest effect this debate would have on campus is to get people talking about the issue and consider differently than they did before or, for example, than they did at the end of last year’s debate.
Q: Who do you think is going to ‘win’?
A: Well, I don’t mean to cop out, but I think we – the audience – will be the ultimate winner. At least, that is what the organizers of the event hope. We’re not trying to make this a competition as much as we are attempting to create some sort of impetus or catalyst for discussion.
(taken from thehub.crc.nd.edu)
There has been no word yet about whether this event will be streamed or televised, but it will most likely be transcribed and/or video taped and available shortly after. The debate will be live streaming from Notre Dame’s NDtv.net website.
Here is a video of a TED Talk where Harris outlines his view:
Here is a video where he talks about his new book “The Moral Landscape”
Harris talks about his ideas in a Q&A
Harris’s book reviewed by NYTimes.com
Here Craig responds to a question which seems to represent what is essentially Harris’s position:
here he responds to Harris’s claims in “The Moral Landscape”:
And here he talks about where he believes morality is grounded:
audio link: “Can We Be Good Without God?” – Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008
video link:
“How Can God Be the Ground of Morality” – (RF.org q. #3)
Persistent Questions 
June 6th, 2011 → 6:54 pm
[…] You can preview Craig and Harris’ positions here […]