It made me think of something Christopher Hitchens, about a year before his death, said in his closing statement during a debate with William Dembski;
“When Socrates was sentenced to death for his philosophical investigations and for blasphemy, for challenging the gods of the City, and he accepted his death, he did say, well, if we are lucky, perhaps I’ll be able to hold conversation with other great thinkers and philosophers and doubters too. In other words, that the the discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble, what is pure, and what is true could always go on. Why is that important, why would I like to do that? Because that’s the only conversation worth having. And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don’t know but I do know that it’s the conversation I want to have while i’m still alive.”
You mention towards the end of the podcast about the origins of the concepts of heaven and hell. I don’t know if you have read Bart Ehrman’s book, Heaven and Hell, A History of the Afterlife but I thought it was a good read.
Thank you. I do have Ehrman's Heaven and Hell, A History of the Afterlife but I have not read it yet. But I bought it to take a deeper look into that history. Thank you for the comments and for listening.
Great episode.
It made me think of something Christopher Hitchens, about a year before his death, said in his closing statement during a debate with William Dembski;
“When Socrates was sentenced to death for his philosophical investigations and for blasphemy, for challenging the gods of the City, and he accepted his death, he did say, well, if we are lucky, perhaps I’ll be able to hold conversation with other great thinkers and philosophers and doubters too. In other words, that the the discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble, what is pure, and what is true could always go on. Why is that important, why would I like to do that? Because that’s the only conversation worth having. And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don’t know but I do know that it’s the conversation I want to have while i’m still alive.”
You mention towards the end of the podcast about the origins of the concepts of heaven and hell. I don’t know if you have read Bart Ehrman’s book, Heaven and Hell, A History of the Afterlife but I thought it was a good read.
Thank you. I do have Ehrman's Heaven and Hell, A History of the Afterlife but I have not read it yet. But I bought it to take a deeper look into that history. Thank you for the comments and for listening.