Alvin Plantinga

Christian Apologists Ignore the Best Objections to the Moral Argument

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(Redated post originally published on 2 August 2014) To be precise, there are many kinds of moral arguments for theism. The question in the title is really talking about what we might call “ontological” or “metaphysical” moral arguments, the kind which claim that we need God in order to have an “ontological foundation” for objective … Christian Apologists Ignore the Best Objections to the Moral Argument

In Defense of Dwindling Probability – Part 2

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I see that Plantinga’s skeptical argument refers to “Dwindling Probabilities” rather than “Dwindling Probability”.  Sorry about my failure to get the name of this topic quite right. I should mention that I did not learn about this sort of skeptical argument from the Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga.  I learned about the Multiplication Rule of probablity … In Defense of Dwindling Probability – Part 2

Hypocrisy on Moral Arguments, Arguments from Evil, and Logical Inconsistency

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Many theists are fond of linking the problem of evil with a moral argument for God’s existence. The idea is that by making an argument from evil against God’s existence, the atheist has supposedly contradicted herself since the the argument from evil presupposes an objective evil and objective evil, in turn, presupposes God’s existence. Since … Hypocrisy on Moral Arguments, Arguments from Evil, and Logical Inconsistency

A Very Rough Sketch of an Objection to Quentin Smith’s Argument for Moral Realism

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In his book, Ethical and Religious Thought in Analytic Philosophy of Language, Quentin Smith defends an argument for moral realism which he calls the argument from veridical seeming. In this post, I’m going to sketch a brief objection to (4) based on what I will call “naturalistic evolution.” According to this objection, naturalistic evolution furnishes naturalistic … A Very Rough Sketch of an Objection to Quentin Smith’s Argument for Moral Realism

Plantinga on the Alleged “Irrationality” of Atheism

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I want to comment on Gary Gutting’s recent interview of Alvin Plantinga in the New York Times. Unless otherwise indicated, the quotations are quotations of Plantinga. Still, that’s not nearly sufficient for atheism. In the British newspaper The Independent, the scientist Richard Dawkins was recently asked the following question: “If you died and arrived at the … Plantinga on the Alleged “Irrationality” of Atheism

Thoughts about Plantinga’s Interesting Paper on “Naturalism, Theism, Obligation, and Supervenience”

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I’ve been studying Plantinga’s very interesting paper, “Naturalism, Theism, Obligation, and Supervenience.” (See here for Ex-Apologist’s very brief post about it.) Plantinga’s stated goal is to show that metaphysical naturalism cannot accommodate realism about moral obligation by “displaying the failure of the most natural way of arguing” that metaphysical naturalism can accommodate moral realism, viz., … Thoughts about Plantinga’s Interesting Paper on “Naturalism, Theism, Obligation, and Supervenience”