Philosophy of religion is a pretty huge field, but it’s probably way too Christian. Nearly no one, for example, publishes rigorous, constructive, analytic philosophy in the Hindu tradition.
Akshay Gupta, an independent philosopher who earned his PhD from Cambridge, is a rare and glowing exception. (You can find his papers here).
I’m pretty sympathetic to Hinduism. I argued here that it’s the most probable religion, and have defended my case in two debates and a couple podcasts. But I’m not fully sold—at least not yet. In this conversation, I rattle off my top six objections to Hinduism, and Akshay gives his replies.
Topics touched on, included:
The theological diversity of Hinduism, and whether that makes a probabilistic case for it more tricky.
The fact that 95% of Hindus live in India. Like, why India?
Why did God/the gods declare cows sacred? Why not chickens? Wouldn’t that have reduced animal suffering more, given that many more chickens are factory farmed, and in far worse conditions?
Doesn’t the doctrine of karma, as I argued in “Karma, Desert, and Battery Hens”, imply that factory farming is probably good?
Doesn’t karma imply that we aren’t morally obligated to help those suffering?
Why isn’t Hindu revelation as clear and well-defined as Catholicism’s?
The discussion was great, especially the bits about karma, where my disagreements were the strongest.
Happy listening!
[Also, sorry for the choppy audio. In a fairer legal system you could chop off my hands for it. In the meantime, I hope you’ll settle for this apology, a million tiny kisses, and an imaginary bucket of gold.]
Hindu Philosopher SCHOOLS me on Hinduism