Paul Draper

The Evidential Argument from Biological Evolution: Part 1

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Many conservative Christians and lay atheists alike claim that if biological evolution is true, then God does not exist. Ironically, while many conservative Christians have attacked evolution because it supposedly entails atheism, only one contemporary atheist philosopher has argued that evolution is evidence for atheism: Paul Draper. Draper defends an evidential argument from evolution for naturalism. … The Evidential Argument from Biological Evolution: Part 1

Link: Darwin’s Argument from Evil by Paul Draper

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Draper’s chapter was published in Yujin Nagasawa (ed.), Scientific Approaches to the Philosophy of Religion. Palgrave Macmillan. 49 (2012). It’s available online for free courtesy of Google Books. LINK Your name Your email Subject Your message (optional)

Quote of the Day by Paul Draper

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“Suppose Wykstra is right that, if there is a God, then we shouldn’t expect to know what God’s reasons for producing or allowing certain evils are. Then it follows that our ignorance of those reasons (i.e. the failure of the project of theodicy) is not strong evidence against theism. It does not follow, however, that … Quote of the Day by Paul Draper

Draper’s Reply to Welty

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Philosopher Greg Welty wrote a brief response to Paul Draper’s brief summary of his position regarding God and the burden of proof. Here is Draper’s reply to Welty. Greg Welty has written an interesting reply to my post on “God and the Burden of Proof”.  He does a very good job of explaining my argument (for … Draper’s Reply to Welty

The Evidential Argument from Moral Agency Revisited: A Reply to Jerry Coyne

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1. Introduction Biologist Jerry Coyne recently blogged about an argument I’ve called the “evidential argument from moral agency” (EMA). The argument was formulated by (then-agnostic, now-atheist) Paul Draper in an article in the American Philosophical Quarterly. (See here for a free copy.) I’ve blogged about the argument twice: see here and here.  It appears that … The Evidential Argument from Moral Agency Revisited: A Reply to Jerry Coyne

Evidential Asymmetry, Scientific Confirmation of Prayer, and Horrific Evils

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1. The General Case One of the most important (and equally most often forgotten) lessons that Bayes’s Theorem can teach us about evidence is that the strength of evidence is a ratio. To be precise, let H1 and H2 be rival explanatory hypotheses, B be the relevant background information, and E be the evidence to … Evidential Asymmetry, Scientific Confirmation of Prayer, and Horrific Evils