Aug 28 2011

I guess Euthyphro wasn’t available for this episode of Mr Deity

Categories:

Atheism, Humor

by PZ Myers

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29 comments

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1

Zeno

28 August 2011 at 12:50 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The return of the original haircut is a welcome miracle.

But I didn’t understand Mr. Deity’s endorsement of French “foreign lesions.”
2

Beatrice, anormalement indécente

28 August 2011 at 12:51 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

He he ..”What if we just made them really stupid?”
3

Tim DeLaney

28 August 2011 at 1:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

This is one of Brian Dalton’s finest. Hilarious!
4

shane

28 August 2011 at 1:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Zeno

Listen to the comment right before when the philosopher mentions “fiat”. I missed it the first time and had to rewind.
5

Tim DeLaney

28 August 2011 at 1:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Shane:

Are you referring to “Honest to me”?

The first time through, I missed “Fiat” and was puzzled by the French diversion. Thanks for clearing it up.
6

Zeno

28 August 2011 at 1:31 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

;-) I was kidding, Shane.
7

Ramel

28 August 2011 at 1:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Um Fiat is Italian, or was that meant to be part of the joke?
8

Sili

28 August 2011 at 1:43 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

A voice cries in the wilderness.

–o–

But I didn’t understand Mr. Deity’s endorsement of French “foreign lesions.”

Same exoticisation as one that makes Rachel Maddow talk about “Bayzhing”.
9

Tim DeLaney

28 August 2011 at 1:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ramel:

Mr. Deity is “not a detail guy”, by his own description. “Amy [i.e. Lucy or Lucifer] is in the details.” (From a previous episode)
10

Caine, Fleur du Mal

28 August 2011 at 1:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ramel:

Um Fiat is Italian, or was that meant to be part of the joke?

Um, do you have a dictionary? ;)

fi·at noun

1. an authoritative decree, sanction, or order: a royal fiat. Synonyms: authorization, directive, ruling, mandate, diktat, ukase.

2. a fixed form of words containing the word fiat, by which a person in authority gives sanction, or authorization.

3. an arbitrary decree or pronouncement, especially by a person or group of persons having absolute authority to enforce it: The king ruled by fiat.

Origin:
1625–35; < Latin: let it be done, 3rd singular present subjunctive of fierī to become
11

Tim DeLaney

28 August 2011 at 1:50 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I garbled it. I should have said: “Lucy [i.e. Lucifer, played by Amy] is in the details.” (From a previous episode)
12

Sili

28 August 2011 at 2:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Um, do you have a dictionary? ;)

Ramel meant the car Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino.

I know what a ford is, and the university city has nothing to do with being found on road, dead, even if its students might regularly be.
13

Ramel

28 August 2011 at 2:06 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Caine

I know what the word means, and how the joke links it to the car manufacturer. I just wasn’t sure if getting the country wrong was part of the joke, generally when he screws up the details his advisors will call him on it.
14

Hercules Grytpype-Thynne

28 August 2011 at 3:20 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I just wasn’t sure if getting the country wrong was part of the joke

Yes, it was.
15

Woof

28 August 2011 at 3:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Loved the YouTube ad for christianmingle.com…
16

ManOutOfTime

28 August 2011 at 3:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Once again proving that the godless have no understanding of theology, no moral core, no sense of humor or irony or metaphor. Not!

This guy has a gift and a rare potential to raise consciousness so I hope he can continue – he’s got my support. If I still lived in SoCal, I would let Mr. and Mrs. Deity live in my garage – that underpass doesn’t look very cozy.
17

Dr. I. Needtob Athe

28 August 2011 at 4:35 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

That was one of the better Mr. Deity episodes. I even read up on Euthyphro before watching it so that I’d understand what you were getting at.
18

Silvia Possas

28 August 2011 at 7:23 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Ramel
The deity doesn’t know the name of Thomas Aquinas, doesn’t know what the philosopher means when saying fiat, so it’s kind of obvious that getting the national origin of the car is part of the joke.
@ Zeno
As for “foreign lesions”, he is actually making a reference to the Foreign Legion –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Foreign_Legion
19

Zeno

28 August 2011 at 7:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@ Zeno
As for “foreign lesions”, he is actually making a reference to the Foreign Legion –

I guess I was being way too subtle. Usually not a problem for me.
20

Samphire

29 August 2011 at 3:44 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If Mr Deity says a Fiat is french then that is good enough for me. However, for a good protestant car I prefer a Chrystler.

But let us all praise Him with one Accord.

etc. etc.
21

andyo

29 August 2011 at 7:11 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“theologistics” haha
22

Aud

29 August 2011 at 5:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

By French foreign legions, I thought he was referring to Herpes…? :-P
23

David Marjanović, OM

29 August 2011 at 5:56 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Origin:
1625–35; < Latin: let it be done, 3rd singular present subjunctive of fierī to become

“Let it become a car”. “O, may it become a car!”

Also Fehler in allen Teilen, “errors in all parts”. Or, more nastily, für Italiener ausreichende Technik, “technology sufficient for Italians”.

Fix it again, Tony!
24

Kel

29 August 2011 at 7:34 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The funny thing, at least I find, is that there’s a ffairly easy way out of the Euthyphro dilemma – take the first horn and put God’s commands as being an expression of that moral knowledge. It gives a satisfactory account of good, it puts God’s commands as good, and the only downside is that God is not necessary for morality. It seems a small sacrifice for the ground gained by doing so.

Though when I’ve argued this in the past, there was a great reluctance to accept this reasoning – it seemed that even though one could make a much more compelling case for a divine command theory, it was better to keep God as necessary than to have God as wise.
25

susan

30 August 2011 at 12:28 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Christopher DiCarlo was really good at that!
26

Hazuki

30 August 2011 at 1:14 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@Kel

If it’s easy why not take it? Why not become Christian if it makes sense to? There’s got to be something else at play here.
27

Kel

30 August 2011 at 1:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

My reasons for not being a Christian have nothing to do with the Euthyphro dilemma, so what good would it do me to believe on that basis? My argument has to with those who argue for divine command theory, who I think would be in a better position conceptually to adopt the stance of moral realism.
28

Markita Lynda, healthcare is a damn right.

31 August 2011 at 12:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

“Fiat” t’s also the first thing God said in the Bible: “Fiat lux”–”Let there be light.”

Someone else once added, “Fiat Fiat”

–”Let there be a small car.”
29

Tigger_the_Wing

2 September 2011 at 6:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Samphire,

If Mr Deity says a Fiat is french then that is good enough for me. However, for a good protestant car I prefer a Chrystler.

But let us all praise Him with one Accord.

etc. etc.

Ah, but a good Catholic car would be a Pontiffiac convertible.