What is Faith? – Part 7
I’m going to take a detour and temporarily set Mr. Swinburne’s characterization of the Thomist view of faith aside. But I will continue to examine the Thomist view of faith, specifically as presented by Dr. Norman Geisler. As Jeff Lowder has recently shown, Dr. Geisler’s case for Christianity is a failure. IMHO Jeff won that … What is Faith? – Part 7
What is Faith – Part 6
I have noticed a problem of unclarity in my own thinking and writing about the Thomist view of faith. Before I go further in discussing Swinburne’s characterization of the Thomist view of faith, I want to briefly consider the point of unclarity or ambiguity in my previous discussion of this view of faith. I have … What is Faith – Part 6
Spot the Fallacy #2: Fine-Tuning and the Prior Probability of Theism
Note: This post is another post in our series of articles designed to engage non-philosophers. Despite the title, you don’t need to literally name a fallacy assuming there is one. What these posts are really designed to do is to get you to describe, in plain English, why the argument (or objection) presented isn’t successful. … Spot the Fallacy #2: Fine-Tuning and the Prior Probability of Theism
What is Faith? – Part 5
We have been examining the Thomist view of faith, as characterized by Richard Swinburne in Faith and Reason (FAR). In order to avoid the implication that one must reason in a circle in order to have ‘faith in God’, a supporter of the Thomist view of faith can draw a distinction between beliefs about God … What is Faith? – Part 5
On Atheism and Brightness
I’m often told that atheists are really smart when it comes to religion. Then I read their replies to moral arguments for God’s existence and cry out, “WTF?” Take this argument: If no G, then no O. But O. Therefore, G. Why the f&*^ would anyone think it’s even relevant to bring up X, Y, … On Atheism and Brightness
What is Faith? – Part 4
We have looked at a simple and widespread understanding of ‘faith in God’: Definition 1 Person P has faith in God IF AND ONLY IF P believes that God exists. One problem with Def. 1 is that the devil himself would have ‘faith in God’ based on this definition, and thus this could hardly be considered to … What is Faith? – Part 4
New Series: Spot the Fallacy #1
Let E be some piece of evidence and T be theism. Now consider the following argument. E1 favors T. E2 favors T. . . . En favors T. ————– Therefore, T is probably true. (Aside: You could swap out N=naturalism for T and the same fallacy would apply.) Can you spot the fallacy? If you’re … New Series: Spot the Fallacy #1
What is Faith? – Part 3
I said that I was not going to walk slowly through the rest of Chapter 4 of Faith and Reason (FAR), by Richard Swinburne. But there is a lot going on in the next few paragraphs of Chapter 4, and I find myself wanting to make several comments on them. So, contrary to my previous … What is Faith? – Part 3
Swinburne’s Argument from Religious Experience – Part 6
I will now try to wrap up this series of posts on Swinburne’s Argument from Religious Experience (AFR). I don’t have any big bold conclusion that I’m driving toward, just a few observations, clarifications, and an objection or two. One thing I have done is to make use of the concepts of dependence and … Swinburne’s Argument from Religious Experience – Part 6
Swinburne’s Argument from Religious Experience – Part 5
Here is a brief plot summary of the movie Harvey: Due to his insistence that he has an invisible six-foot rabbit for a best friend, a whimsical middle-aged man is thought by his family to be insane – but he may be wiser than anyone knows. James Stewart played Elwood P. Dowd, the “whimsical middle-aged man” … Swinburne’s Argument from Religious Experience – Part 5