In this book's companion volumes (Warrant: The Current Debate and Warrant and Proper Function... more In this book's companion volumes (Warrant: The Current Debate and Warrant and Proper Function), I examined the nature of epistemic warrant, that quantity, enough of which distinguishes knowledge from mere true belief; in this book, I turn to the question of whether Christian belief can be justified, rational, and warranted. Among objections to Christian belief, we can distinguish between de facto objections and de jure objections, i.e., between those that claim that Christian belief is false (de facto objections) and those that claim that Christian belief, whether or not true, is at any rate unjustifiable, or rationally unjustified, or irrational, or not intellectually respectable, or in some other way rationally unacceptable (de jure objections). The main question of this book is the question of whether there are any viable de jure objections to Christian belief; I argue that there are not. In Part I (Chs. 1 and 2), I consider and address an initial objection to my project: the...
Modern western empirical science has surely been the most impressive intellectual development sin... more Modern western empirical science has surely been the most impressive intellectual development since the 16 th century. Religion, of course, has been around for much longer, and is presently flourishing, perhaps as never before. (True, there is the thesis of secularism, according to which science and technology, on the one hand, and religion, on the other, are inversely related: as the former waxes, the latter wanes. Recent resurgences of religion and religious belief in many parts of the world, however, cast considerable doubt on this thesis.) The relation between these two great cultural forces has been tumultuous, many-faceted, and confusing. This entry will concentrate on the relation between science and the theistic religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam and theistic varieties of Hinduism and Buddhism, where theism is the belief that there is an all-powerful, all-knowing perfectly good immaterial person who has created the world, has created human beings ‘in his own image,’ and...
The Possible and the Actual: Readings in the Metaphysics of …
14 Actualism and Possible Worlds ALVIN PLANTINGA Calvin College The idea of possible worlds has b... more 14 Actualism and Possible Worlds ALVIN PLANTINGA Calvin College The idea of possible worlds has both promised and, I believe, delivered understanding and insight in a wide range of topics. Pre-eminent here, I think, is the topic ...
... a subterranean current of argument for that position. Perhaps we can approach the matter as f... more ... a subterranean current of argument for that position. Perhaps we can approach the matter as follows. A striking feature of the intellectual situation is persistent disagreement about such matters of deep human concern as religion, morality and, for that matter, philosophy. ...
I WISH to discuss Professor Malcolm's absorbingly powerful defense of a version of Anselm&#x... more I WISH to discuss Professor Malcolm's absorbingly powerful defense of a version of Anselm's ontological proof for the existence of God.' Professor Malcolm believes "that in Anselm's Proslogion and Responsio editoris there are two ...
JUSTIFICATION AND THEISM Alvin Plantinga The question is: how should a theist think of justificat... more JUSTIFICATION AND THEISM Alvin Plantinga The question is: how should a theist think of justification or positive epistemie status? The answer I suggest is: a belief В has positive epistemie status for S only if S's faculties are ...
In this book's companion volumes (Warrant: The Current Debate and Warrant and Proper Function... more In this book's companion volumes (Warrant: The Current Debate and Warrant and Proper Function), I examined the nature of epistemic warrant, that quantity, enough of which distinguishes knowledge from mere true belief; in this book, I turn to the question of whether Christian belief can be justified, rational, and warranted. Among objections to Christian belief, we can distinguish between de facto objections and de jure objections, i.e., between those that claim that Christian belief is false (de facto objections) and those that claim that Christian belief, whether or not true, is at any rate unjustifiable, or rationally unjustified, or irrational, or not intellectually respectable, or in some other way rationally unacceptable (de jure objections). The main question of this book is the question of whether there are any viable de jure objections to Christian belief; I argue that there are not. In Part I (Chs. 1 and 2), I consider and address an initial objection to my project: the...
Modern western empirical science has surely been the most impressive intellectual development sin... more Modern western empirical science has surely been the most impressive intellectual development since the 16 th century. Religion, of course, has been around for much longer, and is presently flourishing, perhaps as never before. (True, there is the thesis of secularism, according to which science and technology, on the one hand, and religion, on the other, are inversely related: as the former waxes, the latter wanes. Recent resurgences of religion and religious belief in many parts of the world, however, cast considerable doubt on this thesis.) The relation between these two great cultural forces has been tumultuous, many-faceted, and confusing. This entry will concentrate on the relation between science and the theistic religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam and theistic varieties of Hinduism and Buddhism, where theism is the belief that there is an all-powerful, all-knowing perfectly good immaterial person who has created the world, has created human beings ‘in his own image,’ and...
The Possible and the Actual: Readings in the Metaphysics of …
14 Actualism and Possible Worlds ALVIN PLANTINGA Calvin College The idea of possible worlds has b... more 14 Actualism and Possible Worlds ALVIN PLANTINGA Calvin College The idea of possible worlds has both promised and, I believe, delivered understanding and insight in a wide range of topics. Pre-eminent here, I think, is the topic ...
... a subterranean current of argument for that position. Perhaps we can approach the matter as f... more ... a subterranean current of argument for that position. Perhaps we can approach the matter as follows. A striking feature of the intellectual situation is persistent disagreement about such matters of deep human concern as religion, morality and, for that matter, philosophy. ...
I WISH to discuss Professor Malcolm's absorbingly powerful defense of a version of Anselm&#x... more I WISH to discuss Professor Malcolm's absorbingly powerful defense of a version of Anselm's ontological proof for the existence of God.' Professor Malcolm believes "that in Anselm's Proslogion and Responsio editoris there are two ...
JUSTIFICATION AND THEISM Alvin Plantinga The question is: how should a theist think of justificat... more JUSTIFICATION AND THEISM Alvin Plantinga The question is: how should a theist think of justification or positive epistemie status? The answer I suggest is: a belief В has positive epistemie status for S only if S's faculties are ...
Uploads
Papers by alvin Plantinga