Alma 32 Seminar

Posted on June 2, 2008
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I thought I’d mention this in a full post rather than on the sideblog (which is rather crowded today from all the great philosophical posts I’ve read – many of which I intend to get back to and comment on). Over at Feast Upon the Word they are doing an online seminar on Alma 32 with its own blog.

Over the years I’ve posted a lot on Alma 32. Some of my views have definitely evolved. For instance I’ve moved considerably away from seeing it as a pragmatic method towards viewing it as much more limited towards ethics.

Here are some of the posts:

Aug 19, 2004 – Pragmatic arguments for belief in God. A claim that Alma 32 can only say if words are good not if they are real.

Oct 12, 2004 – This is when I started to move away from the pragmatic reading. (I also link to some of Jim Faulconer’s notes on Alma 32) Here I’m moving towards seeing Alma 32 in terms of an equating of aesthetics and the Good.

Oct 20, 2004 – A narrow post discussing Alma 32, happiness and Getier examples. An interesting short argument well worth checking out.

Shape of Agency – A collection of posts on various metaphors taken philosophically (and in a Heideggarian like fashion). I think this relates to the central metaphor of Alma 32 which I think is quite similar to Heidegger’s notion of the clearing. I’ve been meaning to rewrite this all as a paper for some time but just haven’t had the time.

Jan 2, 2005 – Peirce and the notion of faith and doubt. The relation of faith and a willingness to act.

Jan 4, 2007 – Largely a response to and argument against reading Alma as espousing a “William James”-like view of truth as “good for.” I don’t think that does justice to what James actually believed but it’s a common misreading of James and pragmatism. This was in response to a post at Sunstone on Alma 32 as a logical fallacy. This was also part of a larger series I did on Mormon epistemology of religion.

There are a few others that are relevant but I figured I’d put that up for anyone interested. I’ll also try to contribute to the discussion of Alma 32 over at the online seminar.

Related posts:

  1. William James
  2. Will to Believe and Context
  3. Death, Embodiment and Grace
  4. Pragmatism and Nihilism
  5. Heidegger on Dewey
  6. Philosophy and Theology Posts from Around

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