Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
In the Fall 2025, I attended a philosophy of religion workshop at Christopher Newport University. Thank you very much to those who donated money to help pay for the trip!
While I was there, I sat down one evening with Matthew Adelstein( @deliberationunderidealcond5105) to discuss the talk he gave on what the Anthropic Argument.
Matthew is an undergraduate philosophy major at the University of Michigan. He runs the substack called "Bentham's Bulldog." Click the link below to check it out.
benthams.substack.com
The Anthropic Argument bascially says that your existence is more likely on theories where more people exist, which means you should think the actual number of people is the maximum it could be — and that's much more probable on theism than on atheism.
If The Analytic Christian has helped you think more carefully about Christian philosophy, you can support the work for $5/month at patreon.com/theanalyticchristian.
You can also read my writing on philosophy of religion at theanalyticchristian.substack.com.
Timestamps:
00:00 The argument in one sentence
03:00 Defending premise two: the maximum number of people
06:00 Defending premise three: why this favors theism
11:00 The Self-Indication Assumption (premise one)
16:00 Does the maximum number of people exist all at once?
18:00 Does SIA imply a Trinitarian heresy?
In the Fall 2025, I attended a philosophy of religion workshop at Christopher Newport University. Thank you very much to those who donated money to help pay for the trip!
While I was there, I sat down one evening with Matthew Adelstein( @deliberationunderidealcond5105) to discuss the talk he gave on what the Anthropic Argument.
Matthew is an undergraduate philosophy major at the University of Michigan. He runs the substack called "Bentham's Bulldog." Click the link below to check it out.
benthams.substack.com
The Anthropic Argument bascially says that your existence is more likely on theories where more people exist, which means you should think the actual number of people is the maximum it could be — and that's much more probable on theism than on atheism.
If The Analytic Christian has helped you think more carefully about Christian philosophy, you can support the work for $5/month at patreon.com/theanalyticchristian.
You can also read my writing on philosophy of religion at theanalyticchristian.substack.com.
Timestamps:
00:00 The argument in one sentence
03:00 Defending premise two: the maximum number of people
06:00 Defending premise three: why this favors theism
11:00 The Self-Indication Assumption (premise one)
16:00 Does the maximum number of people exist all at once?
18:00 Does SIA imply a Trinitarian heresy?
