SUNY Fredonia professor of philosophy, Dr. Dale Tuggy, will present the lecture, “Apparently Contradictory Religious Beliefs,” as part of the university’s Brown Bag Lecture series on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at noon in Williams Center Room S-104.
Dr. Tuggy will be introduced by fellow philosophy professor Dr. Stephen Kershnar. The event is free, refreshments will be served, and it is open to all campus and community members.
Professor Tuggy specializes in the philosophy of religion, metaphysics and early modern philosophy. His lecture will specifically address the idea of religion and contradiction beginning with the premise that the world’s religions assert what appear to be contradictions - God is exactly one person, but also three; Jesus is man, but is also the one God; God is not man; and everyone is enlightened, but some are not. Since the basis of logic asserts that all contradictory claims are false, it would seem to follow that a reasonable person should eschew the religious beliefs in question. But as Professor Tuggy will discuss, the contradictions of religious belief are also part of their holy mysteries.
Dr. Tuggy earned his Ph.D. from Brown University, and since 2000 has taught in the department of philosophy at SUNY Fredonia. His recent publications include “Three Roads to Open Theism,” in the publication Faith and Philosophy (forthcoming); “Necessity, Control and the Divine Command Theory,” (in the publication, Sophia, 2004); and “Reid’s Philosophy of Religion” (in The Cambridge Companion to Thomas Reid 2003). Dr. Tuggy is currently working on papers about Trinitarian theories, “mysteries,” and agent causation.
The Brown Bag Lecture series, sponsored by the College of Arts and Humanities, offers informal talks on the first Wednesday of each month featuring new creative and scholarly work by members of the SUNY Fredonia faculty. Each 30-minute talk and/or presentation is followed by a brief discussion.
For more information on the lecture series, interested persons should contact Dr. David Kinkela or Dr. Natalie Gerber (series directors) or call 716-673-3876 or 716-673-3855.
