My paper, “Is Theism Incompatible with the Pauline Principle?” has been published in a special issue of Religions, devoted to the topic Do We Now Have A Logical Argument From Evil? The abstract is as follows: This paper criticises James Sterba’s use of the Pauline principle to formulate a logical version of the problem of […]
Entries Tagged as 'Alvin Plantinga'
Is Theism Incompatible with the Pauline Principle? Comments on James Sterba’s Argument from Evil
November 3rd, 2022 Comments Off on Is Theism Incompatible with the Pauline Principle? Comments on James Sterba’s Argument from Evil
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Deontological Argument from Evil · Divine Command Theory · George Berkeley · James Sterba · John Mackie · Pauline Principle · Problem of Evil · Theological Utilitarianism · Utilitarianism
Can a Divine Command Theory Vindicate the Objectivity of Morality: Huemer on Observer Independence, part two
September 12th, 2021 Comments Off on Can a Divine Command Theory Vindicate the Objectivity of Morality: Huemer on Observer Independence, part two
In my last post, I discussed Michael Huemer’s argument that a divine command theory cannot vindicate the objectivity of moral requirements. As I interpret him, the argument is: [1] Our commitment to morality presupposes that moral requirements are objective. [2] Moral requirements are objective just in case there obtain facts about what is right and […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Divine Command Theory · John Foster · Michael Huemer · Objectivism · Robert Adams
Contemporary Philosophy of Religion and NCEA Religious Studies: Part three
October 21st, 2017 Comments Off on Contemporary Philosophy of Religion and NCEA Religious Studies: Part three
This is a talk I gave to the New Zealand Association of Philosophy Teachers annual conference at St Cutherberts College in September this year. Several people have asked me to make this talk available. I have broken my talk up into four parts. Part One introduces what philosophy of religion. In part two I will outline two […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Evidentialism · Kai Neilsen · Marilyn Adams · Phillip Quinn · Reformed Epistemology · Verificationism
Alvin Plantinga Calling for an Argument
February 4th, 2012 6 Comments
We moved house recently but before we got the telephone services disconnected at our old house we rescued this answer-phone message left by our then 9 year old son Noah for Matt – note the attempted American accent: Alvin Calling (Noah had no idea how we worked out it wasn’t really Alvin Plantinga.)
Tags: Alvin Plantinga
In Defense of Reasonable Disagreement
May 30th, 2011 39 Comments
At the close of his 1967 book “God and Other Minds”, Alvin Plantinga argues that if theistic belief is to be dismissed as “irrational”, or in some sense “epistemically sub-par” on the basis that it lacks a rationally compelling argument, then likewise we should also reject belief in other minds, since the best argument for […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Analogical argument · Disagreement · God and Other Minds · Rationality · Reformed Epistemology · Religious Epistemology · Richard Feldman · Theism · Theists
Contra Mundum: Why Does God Allow Suffering?
April 4th, 2011 29 Comments
22 February 2011 “may well be New Zealand’s darkest day”; these were the words of Prime Minister John Key in the aftermath of the earthquake which devastated the South Island’s largest city Christchurch. The death toll is expected to be over 200, many more have been injured, have lost property and now live in fear […]
Tags: Alvin Plantinga · Christchurch Earthquake · Daniel Howard-Snyder · Problem of Evil