Reason and belief in god by alvin plantinga paperback. But good arguments, on each side, enriche appreciation of issues and understanding of alternatives. When attitudes are genuine though candid, friendly though resolute, arguments can enhance knowledge about god or. This book traces the historical lineages of alvin plantingas religious epistemology from plato through augustine and calvin. Plantinga and warranted belief common sense atheism.
Several writers use the word god very broadly to include belief in any unseen spiritual agencies. The burden of the freewill defense is that it is possible that it was not within. Is alvin plantinga arguing gods existence based on popularity. Reason and belief in god alvin plantinga, nicholas wolterstorff download bok. The second essay is william alstons christian experience and christian belief. Adversarial proceedings about god, as if in a court of law, can provide insights. 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.
According to the classical foundationalist, some proposi tions are properly or rightly basic for a person and some are not. Dawkins and daniel dennett whose recent breaking the spell is his contribution to this genre are the touchdown twins of current academic atheism. Although plantinga cannot remember ever not having been convinced. Even in the deductive cases, perhaps at least one premise can be plausibly denied in each case. Moreover, a selfevident proposition is personrelative. The logical problem of evil leibriz the best of all possible worlds theodicy god, who possess perfect, power, knowledge, and goodness, would chose to bring about the best possible world. Two dozen or so theistic arguments by alvin plantinga.
Plantinga argues that belief in god can, like perceptual or memory belief, be properly basic. Nov 30, 2009 in this interview at notre dame, simon smart talks to plantinga about god, richard dawkins and personal faith. Alvin plantinga contemporary philosophy in focus cambridge university press. 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 paper i shall try to develop and defend this position. Wolterstorff eerdmans, 1983 advice to christian philosophers, published by the university of notre dame and in faith and philosophy i, 3 july, 1984. Belief in god is not properly basic common sense atheism.
Plantinga evaluates the issue of whether we are rationally justified in believing in god. Recognized worldwide as a leading christian philosopher, plantinga probes what exactly is meant by the claim that religious and. What is the force of plantingas properly basic belief argument without the popularity of belief in god. Is alvin plantinga arguing gods existence based on. 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. The logical problem of evil leibriz the best of all possible worlds theodicy god, who possess perfect, power, knowledge, and goodness, would chose to. Alvin plantingas religious belief without evidence. The christian doesnt need natural theology, either. Are we entitled to believe without evidence or certainty. Alvin plantingas reformed epistemology includes two arguments against classical foundationalism.
Foundationalism and the justification of religious belief. I think it is clear, however, that calvin would say the same thing about belief in gods existence. In his widely praised warranted christian belief oxford, 2000 alvin plantinga discussed in great depth the question of the rationality, or sensibility, of christian belief. Belief in god is not properly basic 477 grasping or understanding the meanings of their terms. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. He says, what reformed thinkers really mean to hold, i think, is that belief in god need not be based on argument or evidence from other propositions at all.
God, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga download bok. The ontological argument for gods existence was first laid out in the form we see today by anselm of canterbury 10331109 who was a monk living in france and england and writing about. The free will defense it is not possible for god to ensure that his free creatures would always do goo and never do wrong. But before i begin, it is of great import to understand reformed epistemology, since it is the premise of plantingas entire theological work. Religious belief as properly basic, alvin plantinga 5. Alvin carl plantinga born 1932 is an american analytic philosopher who works primarily in the. Jeremy randel koons 2011 philosophical quarterly 61 245. Of course christians may disagree, at least in emphasis, as to how to think of god. 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. Wolterstorff eerdmans, 1983 advice to christian philosophers, published by the university of notre dame and in faith and philosophy i.
In his discussion of natural theology arguments to prove the existence of god and natural atheology arguments for the falsehood of theistic belief plantinga focuses on two of the traditional arguments. Reason and belief in god alvin plantinga and nicholas wolterstorff, editors university of notre. A defeater of the claim that belief in gods existence is properly basic. They hold that it is perfectly rational to accept belief in god without accepting it on the basis of any other beliefs or propositions at all. It focuses upon this epistemology as a philosophical interpretation of what is generally taken to be a narrow theological doctrine. Worldviews and the epistemic foundations of theism core. Jun 03, 2009 plantinga then says that for christians, belief in god can be properly basic, and thus its okay for christians to believe in god without any evidence.
God, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga free download as pdf file. The existence of god, furthermore, is not among the propositions that are properly basic. Request pdf there is no sensus divinitatis inspired by alvin plantinga. Philosophy of religion paperback brian davies oxford. He argues that a belief in god can be rational without proofs of gods existence. Here the subject for discussion is not belief in the existence of god, but belief that god is the author of the scriptures. In the actual world i am writing up this blog post, but i could have decid. More specifically, plantinga argues that belief in god is properly basic, and due to a religious externalist epistemology, he claims. 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. Dec 04, 2009 alvin plantinga, professor of philosophy at the university of notre dame, discusses the reasons for god with simon smart from the centre for public christian. Plantinga famously argues against evidentialism that belief in god can be properly basic. In reason and belief in god i mention a bunch of circumstances that according to calvinand i think hes rightcall forth belief in god. The author provides a textually based and closely reasoned introduction to the epistemological ideas of plato, augustine, calvin.
But first we must achieve a deeper understanding of the evidentialist. The philosophical quarterly 61 georgetown university. Plantinga and the epistemology of christian belief. Plantinga and the rationality of religious belief springerlink. Apr 15, 20 plantinga aims to clarify their thinking. In this book plantinga presents the same ideas in a briefer, much more accessible fashion. Jun 20, 2010 the great pumpkin objection is an attempt to show that plantingas understanding of theism as a properly basic belief can be reduced to absurdity, but the objection does no such thing. Alvin plantinga, reason and belief in god philpapers. 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.
As is typically done, we might think of a possible world as a complete way that things might have been. Carrier thinks this conflicts with his own view, that one cannot properly believe anything without evidence. The god delusion is an extended diatribe against religion in general and belief in god in particular. Externalism, proper inferentiality and sensible evidentialism. Jan 08, 20 when searching for god, majority opinion counts for little. Intellectual sophistication and basic belief in god. Only by disputations and debate may truths about god emerge. Download fulltext pdf plantinga on god, freedom, and evil article pdf available in international journal for philosophy of religion 122. Faith and rationality investigates the rich implications of what the contributors call calvinistic or reformed epistemology. Alvin plantingas the reformed objection to natural.
Apr 23, 2014 some arguments for god s existence are more popular than others. Augustine 354430 was the bishop of hippo, also in north africa. Reassessing plantingas ontological argument for god. Alston argues that certain christian experiences the presence of god, the moving of the hs, etc. The cosmological argument is a family of arguments which seek to demonstrate the existence of a sufficient reason. Those that are not, are rationally accepted only on the basis of evidence, where the evidence must trace back, ultimately, to what is properly basic. I dont believe them on the basis of any other propositions. In the reformed objection to natural theology, plantinga explains the basics of reformed epistemology. Alvin plantinga, gods philosopher 3 he resolved to become a philosopher. The bestknown defender of reformed epistemology is alvin plantinga. Dec 03, 2008 per the issue of proof, some of the arguments are deductive, but i take it that plantinga, like most christian philosophers, believes the evidence for god is suggestive, but falls short of proof, at least of the irresistible sort. Alvin plantingas the reformed objection to natural theology.
This is the view of knowledgeenunciated by calvin, further developed by barththat sees belief in god as its own foundation. Plantingas explanation of properly basic beliefs was never intended to show that theism is true. Alvin plantinga famously defends a version of the ontological argument that makes use of the notion of possible worlds. God, in faith and rationality, alvin plantinga and nicholas. Plantinga provides a summary of his evolutionary argument against naturalism, as well as giving a personal reflection on the highs and lows of a life of faith. God is defined as a necessary being a priori and as such cannot be used in the way plantinga tries to use it without poofing it into existence as soon as he drops it is possible in the second phrase of p2 if it is possible that god exists, then it is possible god exists in some possible worlds would be. Abraham perkins school of theology alvin plantingas warranted christian belief is a landmark book on the rationality of christian belief. An incorrigible proposition is one which a person could neither mistakenly believe nor disbelieve. Knowledge and christian belief by alvin plantinga, paperback. Nov 25, 20 alvin plantinga is one of the worlds top christian philosophers. This book discusses and exemplifies the philosophy of religion, or philosophical reflection on central. This article is brought to you for free and open access by the religious. Plantingas argument once plantinga refutes the first premise of the evidentialist objectors argument against theism that one. In reason and belief in god, i suggested that such propositions as.
Is the modal ontological argument for god a sound proof. During the last part of his essay plantinga argues that belief in god is properly basic. This splendid shorter rendering of that books proposals makes them accessible to general readers and to students outside the field of philosophy. The ontological argument for god s existence was first laid out in the form we see today by anselm of canterbury 10331109 who was a monk living in france and england and writing about. Philosophy and the grammar of religious belief pp 332347 cite as. In that work plantinga argued that if our belief in other minds is rational without propositional or physical evidence, then belief in god is also rational. The first grew out of his earlier argument in god and other minds 1967. But the epistemology of cognitive faculties such as perception and memory which produce psychologically. A philosophically serious yet accessible investigation of the rationality of christian belief in his widely praised warranted christian belief oxford, 2000 alvin plantinga discussed in great depth the question of the rationality, or sensibility, of christian belief. Reason and belief in god, faith and rationality, ed. The mature theist commits himself to belief in god. The author provides a textually based and closely reasoned introduction to the epistemological ideas of plato, augustine, calvin, plantinga, and several other writers and shows the continuity of a certain approach to the knowledge of god. According to reformed epistemology, belief in god can be rational and justified even without arguments or evidence for the existence of god. More specifically, plantinga argues that belief in god is properly basic, and due to a.