An evaluation of alvin plantingas religious epistemology. He argues that a belief in god can be rational without proofs of gods existence. In a word, they hold that belief in god is properly basic. Since en is relevant to the truth of r, the inscrutability of r on en gives the adherent of en a reason to withhold belief in r.
Reason and belief in god alvin plantinga belief in god is the heart and center of the christian religion as it is of judaism and islam. In this book plantinga presents the same ideas in a briefer, more accessible fashion. The scientific community is united as united as it gets in the belief that the universe is contingent that it had a cause outside itself. Back in the 1950s, when the philosopher alvin plantinga was getting his start, there were scarcely more religious believers in academic philosophy departments. Of course christians may disagree, at least in emphasis, as to how to think of god. A study of theological responses to alvin plantingas aquinas. Alvin plantinga distinguishes between a free will theodicy which states that free will is the reason that god does not prevent suffering and a free will defence which suggests that free will might be gods reason for failing to prevent suffering. Yet one is warranted to believe in god, he says, unless compelling evidence against belief is presented. Plantinga reason and belief in god pdf reason and belief in god. Nicholas paul wolterstorff born 1932 is an american philosopher and a liturgical theologian. Plantinga has argued at length that christian belief can have. God and other minds is a 1967 book by the american philosopher of religion alvin plantinga which rekindled philosophical debate on the existence of god in angloamerican philosophical circles by arguing that belief in god was like belief in other minds. An introduction to the thought of alvin plantinga crossway.
Read download god and other minds pdf pdf download. Alvin plantinga and nicholas wolterstorff notre dame. He spent nineteen years as a professor at calvin college, then eighteen years at the university of notre dame, and returned to calvin college in 2010. His externalist epistemology, called proper functionalism, is a form of epistemological reliabilism. Plantinga exploded onto the scene with what he called reformed epistemology, which holds that evidence is not necessary for warranted belief in god. This was, at least in large part, due to the influence of positivism on the philosophical terrain. Mar 15, 2015 alvin plantingas knowledge and christian belief was written as a synopsis of his much larger work. Voltaire once swam the atlantic for example is surely implausible indeed, there is a clear sense in which it is impossible. Both have argued that there is a profound connection between what and how we know and what there is, such that one cannot do good epistemology without delving deeply into ontology. In other words, say plantinga and friends, belief in god is more like believing other people have minds than it is like a proof in the natural sciences.
The god delusion is an extended diatribe against religion in general and belief in god in particular. T his is a collection of philosophical papers by alvin plantinga. The ethics of belief and two conceptions of christian faith. In the actual world i am writing up this blog post, but i could have decid. Themes from richard swinburne, bergmann and brower, eds. Alvin plantingas view of warrant may be seen as rejection of premise 1. It does not make god the conclusion of a syllogism, leaving it to us whether we think the. Alvin plantinga famously defends a version of the ontological argument that makes use of the notion of possible worlds. Plantinga on god, freedom, and evil article pdf available in international journal for philosophy of religion 122. Alvin plantinga s magisterial warranted christian belief is one of the most important works on the epistemology of religious belief within the last century. Matthew flannagan, phd, university of otago, is a researcher and a teaching pastor at takanini community church in auckland, new zealand. Apr 25, 2017 in 1980, time magazine called alvin plantinga the leading protestant philosopher of god. Charting a middle way between the extremes represented by alvin plantinga and richard swinburne, garth hallett explores the thesis that if belief in other minds is rational and true as it surely is, so too is belief in god.
A study on the rational justification of belief in god, cornell university press, ithaca 1967. Alvin plantinga hand, it is narrower than that of causal or natural necessity. Rbg plantingas essay with the title reason and belief in god. En is evidence, for the naturalist, that calls into question his belief in r. Alvin plantinga is regarded as one of the foremost religious philosophers of the contemporary era. I shall restrictthis paper to a consideration of plantingas explicit and developed epistemological views conccrning religious belief.
Two dozen or so theistic arguments lecture notes by alvin plantinga ive been arguing that theistic belief does not in general need argument either for deontological justification, or for positive epistemic status, or for foley rationality or alstonian justification. Reason and belief in god, in faith and rationality. The reason for god, timothy keller georgia state university. Reassessing plantingas ontological argument for god. In the reformed objection to natural theology, plantinga explains the basics of reformed epistemology. In doing so, he considers the natural theologians arsenal, the atheologians response, and whether belief in god can be salvaged from the analogy of other minds. Plantinga evaluates the issue of whether we are rationally justified in believing in god. Reason and belief in god, faith and rationality, ed. Plantinga thinks it likely that if there is a god, he wants us to know him, and has given us a way of knowing him.
Although plantinga cannot remember ever not having been convinced. Alvin plantingas properly basic belief religion refuted. Description of the book knowledge and christian belief. Obrien professor of philosophy at the university of notre dame. Can belief in god be justified in the absence of evidence. Alvin plantinga, god, freedom and evil excerpts pdf c. Plantinga then goes on to ask if theistic belief is warrantbasic, i. Contrary to stereotypes, this did not make young alvin a bookish nerd indeed, he was an enthusiastic participant in high school football, basketball and tennis.
If knowledge then god james anderson 2 necessity and historical success of natural theology. Blaise pascal, the wager pdf william james, the will to believe link w. Dawkins and daniel dennett whose recent breaking the spell is his contribution to this genre are the touchdown twins of current academic atheism. This week we are finishing plantingas reason and belief in god, which we started two weeks ago. Eighteenth century intellectuals as distinguished from dol phins simply lacked the physical equipment for this kind of feat. Alvin plantinga and nicholas wolterstorff notre dame, in. Believing against the evidence bertrand russell, why i am not a christian pdf. In this paper i shall try to develop and defend this position. Belief in god is the heart and center of the christian religionas it is of judaism and islam. The belief in the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent.
Warranted christian belief but is by no means a quick and easy read. Evolutionary naturalism the belief in the combination of naturalism and evolution is. University of notre dame press 1983, 1693, and in warranted christian belief new york. His modal ontological argument for foundational religious necessity is seen as an almost. Belief in god is the heart and center of the christian religion as it is of judaism and islam. Atheism on this sort of basis would be justified only if the explanatory power of theism were the only reason for belief in god. Withholding belief in r clearly would have disastrous.
Jeremy randel koons 2011 philosophical quarterly 61 245. Towards a reformed epistemology and its educational. Thats the question at the heart of this volume in the great debates in philosophy series, with alvin plantinga and michael tooley each addressing this fundamental question with distinctive arguments from opposing perspectives. Growing up among dutch calvinist immigrants in the midwest, mr. Nov 25, 20 alvin plantinga is one of the worlds top christian philosophers. God and other theoretical entities stephen maitzen in his nowclassic god and other minds, alvin plantinga embarked on the project that we have since come to know as reformed epistemology. Over 10 million scientific documents at your fingertips.
Faith and reason paper 15% due jan 16 for this assignment you will read. If knowledge then god james anderson 5 the belief that humans are the product of undirected naturalistic evolutionary processes. In this paper, i seek to elaborate and critically examine alvin plantingas narrative on the basicality of religious beliefs. Alvin plantingas the reformed objection to natural theology. Alvin plantinga on receiving the 2017 templeton prize the field museum, chicago, september 24, 2017. Abraham perkins school of theology alvin plantingas warranted christian belief is a landmark book on the rationality of christian belief. Plantingas work turns more strongly to philosophical theology, philosophical articulation of the nature of god, and what comes to be known as reformed epistemology, the notion that religious belief can be rational without appeal to evidence or argument.
Writing in 1974, alvin plantinga reported that a multitude of philosophers have held that the existence of evil is at least an embarrassment for those who accept belief in god, and, getting a bit more specific about the. Plantinga argues that belief in god can, like perceptual or memory belief, be properly basic. In the second case, however, the problem is to figure out whether evil and suffering is good reason to believe that the theistic god does not exist. From a oneness pentecostal perspective the book has shortcomings. As is typically done, we might think of a possible world as a complete way that things might have been. Evil and omnipotence plantinga, alvin the free will defense hick, john. Pdf contemporary epistemology of religion may conveniently be treated as a debate. May 15, 2017 plantinga notes, however, that a basic belief in god is potentially defeasible. Reformed epistemology is the title given to a broad body of epistemological viewpoints relating to god s existence that have been offered by a group of protestant christian philosophers that includes alvin plantinga, william alston, and nicholas wolterstorff among others. Plantingas epistemology of religious belief springerlink.
Alvin plantinga on the god delusion darryl burling. And even then, agnosticism would be the justified attitude, not atheism. On that account as it stands, a good argument could take as premises propositions that have some but less than maximal intuitive support, and take as. Plantinga defends the argument against a formidable array of criticisms. Catherines college, oxford, one of the questions that preoccupied me was this. Even so, keller is always aware of his audience and does not get bogged down in academic jargon. God, 2 divine attributes, 3 arguments for the existence of god, together with small sections on 4 god and morality and 5 religious belief, and 6 aspects of the problem of evil. That is, the belief in god could, in principle, be revised or discarded in the face of contrary evidence. This belief is thus irrational, since it is selfdefeating. This splendid shorter rendering of that books proposals makes them accessible to general readers and to students outside the field of philosophy. Two dozen or so theistic arguments 205 exist have some but much less than maximal intuitive support. A typical case of ambivalence between fideism and evidentialism dr. Belief in god is the heart of the christian religion as it is of judaism and islam. The probability of r on en, plantinga plausibly maintains, is inscrutable by us.
The philosophical quarterly 61 georgetown university. I remember my unfruitful experience of trying to comprehend alvin plantingas god, freedom, and evil. He is currently noah porter professor emeritus philosophical theology at yale university. Alvin plantinga proof and belief in god the reformed. While it is only 126 pages not including index, plantinga wrote about subjects that should cause the reader to slow down in order to think through much of what has been written. In the first case, our relationship with god is strained. Feb 09, 2014 this is the first in a series of interviews about religion that i will conduct for the stone. I plantingas presentation of the free will defense is a landmark in contemporary discussions of the problem of evil. We lack any reason to think it is immoral to believe in god or that belief in god is less defensible morally or rationally than any other controversial position in the philosophical literature.
Philosophy of religion comprehensive exam reading list. Wolterstorff eerdmans, 1983 advice to christian philosophers, published by the university of notre dame and in faith and philosophy i, 3 july, 1984. The naturalism that dawkins embraces, furthermore, in addition to its intrinsic unloveliness and its dispiriting conclusions about human beings and their place in the universe. Feb 11, 2012 biola university center for christian thought presents guest speaker dr. Obrien professor of philosophy emeritus at the university of notre dame and the inaugural holder of the jellema chair in philosophy at calvin college. Does the theist have an epistemic advantage over the. Gods existence insures the reliability of human cognitive faculties, argues descartes, so knowledge of gods existence blocks doubts raised by the possibility that one is being deceived by an evil demon. And even so, the justified attitude would be agnosticism with respect to the moon, not amoonism. Philosopher alvin plantinga believes there are two to three dozen very good arguments. It is exciting to see the core ideas of that great work presented here in a more succinct and accessible format. This is to suggest that belief in god is a direct or immediate belief, not a belief that is formed on the basis of rational inference or evidence. I plantinga s presentation of the free will defense is a landmark in contemporary discussions of the problem of evil. Philosopher sticks up for god by jennifer schuessler there are no atheists in foxholes, the old saying goes.
Plantinga, alvin 1983, reason and belief in god in plantinga and. Alvin plantinga, gods philosopher 3 he resolved to become a philosopher. The first essay is plantinga s reason and belief in god. Its a great introduction to the thought he more fully develops later on primarily in the warrant series. The first half of the book contains each philosophers explanation of his particular view. Reason and belief in god alvin plantinga and nicholas wolterstorff, editors university of notre. Plantinga alvin pdf plantinga alvin pdf plantinga alvin pdf download. Rather than a body of argument s, reformed epistemology refers more to the epistemological stance that. Epistemology and christian belief the puritan board. This is one of plantinga s earlier essays on reformed epistemology and is highly recommended. Students will gain an understanding of the relevant science including evolutionary biology and psychology and the relationship of these with issues in theology and religious belief including the doctrine of creation, the existence of the soul, and lifeafter dead. This leads to trouble with the previous explanation of goodness for an argument.
Articles 2016 law, cause, and occasionalism, in reason and faith. As plantinga expounds it,8 the free will defense rests on these two philosophical claims, which it adds to the theological assumptions l 3. Our annual christmas tradition is to read something from the philosophy of religion. Clifford, the ethics of belief pdf the first writing exercise, the creditno credit paper, will be handed out. Plantinga is widely known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics and christian apologetics. Jellema chair of philosophy at calvin college, and was.
Here we addressed considerations from contemporary science, in particular finetuning. But good arguments, on each side, enriche appreciation of issues and understanding of alternatives. A prolific writer with wideranging philosophical and theological interests, he has written books on aesthetics, epistemology, political philosophy, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and. Jan 08, 20 when searching for god, majority opinion counts for little. More specifically, plantinga argues that belief in god is properly basic, and due to a religious externalist epistemology, he claims belief in god could be justified independently of evidence. Christian church as repressing and inhibiting the growth. The god delusion is full of bluster and bombast, but it really doesnt give even the slightest reason for thinking belief in god mistaken, let alone a delusion. Evil makes a strong case against gods existence mackie, j. Alvin plantinga, reason and belief in god, in faith and rationality, ed. Part one intro to philosophy weeks one and two summer 2017 created date. Plantinga alvin pdf belief pdftk builder portable chip in god is the heart and center of the christian religionas it is of judaism and islam. Visiting fellow at balliol college, university of oxford. God has in fact revealed himself, but merely claims that there is no reason to think that beliefs about god arent properly basic and that, if god exists, belief that god exists probably has sufficient warrant to count as knowledge.
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