The sacred and revolutionary books of hyperrationalism, pythagoreanism, ontological mathematics, social capitalism, 100% inheritance tax, left wing meritocracy, jacobinism, and so much more. In god and other minds, in the nature of necessity, and in god, freedom, and evil, for example, plantinga, starting out from an examination of john l. The book draws upon the authors prior works, the nature of necessity and god and other minds. William rowe is one of the leading thinkers in contemporary philosophy of religion. Although he is best known for his contributions to the problem of evil, he has produced innovative and influential work across a wide array of subjects at the interface between philosophy and religion. Plantinga developed his modal version of the ontological argument for the existence of god in his two controversial books, the nature of necessity 1974. Plantinga is one of the most respected and influential philosophers today. This is far and away one of the best books ive ever read on the subject of evil real evil. Obrien professor of philosophy emeritus at the university of notre dame and has written groundbreaking books on the problem of evil, god and science, and philosophical. Alvin plantinga quotes author of god, freedom, and evil. Godelian ontological arguments 1996 oppy draws attention to an objection to godelian ontological. And by real evil i mean, simply, evil as ive experienced it out in the real world. Plantinga presents the logical problem of evil as set out by the famous philosopher j.
God, freedom, and evil by alvin plantinga librarything. The best books on the existence of god ed feser on five. Mackie sees plantingas freewill defense as incoherent. In order for god to be compatible with evil, god must only allow the evils that would, in turn, lead to a greater amount of good and must take the route that leads to the least amount of evil to gain the greatest amount of good. 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. Alvin plantingas freewill defense is a logical argument developed by the american analytic philosopher alvin plantinga and published in its final version in his 1977 book god, freedom, and evil. If the reader wants to think of the book summary as a scoreboard, it was atheism logical problem of evil and theism the ontological argument going toetotoe. In part one i gave an introduction to the problem of evil. The first person to propose a version of the argument was the medieval philosopher st. The second thought is that given the way the world is, it could not have been the result of an accident, and this defines the argument from design. In fact, he goes as far as to say gratuitous evil necessarily exists if god were to create a universe all such evils are, in and of themselves, gratuitous or pointless. Is the modal ontological argument for god a sound proof. Plantingas free will defense project gutenberg self.
Mackie argued that the existence of evil and the existence of an allgood, allpowerful god are logically incompatible. But for this to be so, there must not be even a possible morally justifying reason for god to permit evil this post. Study 229 philo 1 study guide 2018 19 trickett flashcards from studyblue on studyblue. The other problem with this defense of the ontological argument threatens to undermine the advantages provided by a topdown approach. Logical problem of evil internet encyclopedia of philosophy. True a fideist maintains that faith is a matter of subjective commitment, not a matter of belief grounded in objective evidence. Finally, in the appendix, i address quinean objections to quantified modal logic. Thats the kind of argument that an atheist would have to develop in order to get the problem of evil off the ground as an objection to theism.
Without evidence or argume copy brandeis university. The book ist worth buying for the other content as well. Today, well begin with alvin plantingas modal ontological argument for god. Thus peter van inwagen, throughout his book the problem of evil. Reassessing plantingas ontological argument for god. Plantingas argument is a defense against the logical problem of evil as. Ap judges that the cosmological and teleological arguments are failures, but that the ontological argument holds some promise. God, freedom, and evil kindle edition by plantinga.
Plantingas contribution stated that when the issue of a comprehensive doctrine of freedom is added to the. Gratuitous evil and the burden of proof the good book. The cosmological argument, the teleological argument, and the ontological argument are three traditional arguments within the project of natural theology. Especially interesting is plantingas exposure of the problem of evil. By the s5 axiom of modal logic, it follows that that if possibly there is a maximally great being, there is a maximally great being. Ontological mathematical gnosis the purpose of your. Plantingas free will defense, then, cannot serve as a morally. The second half is dedicated to defending an argument for the existence of god that relies on reason alone, called the ontological argument.
Readers interested in more of oppys writings on ontological arguments should consult his book, ontological arguments and belief in god. Themes from richard swinburne, bergmann and brower, eds. The first is the a priori ontological defense of god, which is completely logic based. A defense of an ontological argument given an appropriate notion of maximal greatness, maximal greatness entails maximal greatness in all worlds. All ontological arguments are either invalid or questionbegging. The fourth part in a series on the problem of evil designed for people studying philosophy of religion at asa2 level. The free will defense, however, shows that the existence of god is compatible, both logically and probabilistically, with the existence of evil. Defense of modal ontological arguments by a famous ordinary language philosopher. John identifies a number of defenses of the existence of god.
There are many ways to understand the phrase the problem of evil. Of the impossibility of an ontological proof william l. Plantinga basically uses a possible world analysis. Finally, the soulmaking theodicy smt contends that god allows some evil because it builds positive character in the victims or in others which outweighs the negative value of the. The existence of such evil gives us good grounds to doubt the existence of god or to deny gods existence, even though it doesnt count as a strict proof. According to the book, kants view is a compromise between what two epistemological views. God, freedom and evil is a short work, originally published in the mid1970s, wherein plantinga addresses issues pertaining to the existence of god.
Alvin plantingas modal ontological argument made simple way back when i was just a wee lad in my twenties, i read an anthology edited by alvin plantinga on the ontological argument. An ontological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of god that uses ontology. The soul building defense was created in mind that evil and god coexist in our world. Kelly james clark, associate professor of philosophy at calvin college, earned his doctorate at university of notre dame where he studied with alvin plantinga, the most prominent defender of reformed epistemology. For it is not at all clear, mackie says, that a rational person can treat the question of whether to accept either plantingas argument or its nomaximality rival as a tossup, as if we would be within our epistemic rights to choose whichever. Plantingas modal ontological argument includes many of the aspects of anselms original argument but includes various additions and changes. More specifically, ontological arguments tend to start with an a priori theory about the organization of the universe. Plantingas wellreceived book god, freedom and evil, written in 1974, gave his response to what he saw as the incomplete and uncritical view of theisms criticism of theodicy. God, freedom, and evil by alvin plantinga goodreads. The free will defense fwd maintains that god has to allow the existence of some evil in order to preserve human free will e. In other words, ontological arguments are arguments from what are typically alleged to be none but analytic, a priori and necessary premises to the. The final score was theism wins over atheism, 1 to 0. It had selections from all the versions of the argument, beginning with st.
Transworld depravity and unobtainable worlds richard otte the logical problem of evil. He addresses several prima facie objections that might come against idealism from the problem of evil, and he suggests how these concerns. Articles 2016 law, cause, and occasionalism, in reason and faith. The ontological defense says that good could not exist. Many arguments fall under the category of the ontological, and they tend to involve arguments about the state of being or existing. The possibility of more modest variants on defenses and theodicies, based on.
The problem of evil stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Ontological arguments stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Therefore, there is no allpowerful, allknowing, allgood being. Mackies essay evil and omnipotence 1955, in which mackie had defended an incompatibility version of the argument from evil, focuses mainly on the question of whether the existence of god is compatible with the existence of evil, although there are also short discussions of whether the existence of god is compatible with the. Mackie stated that the following three propositions cannot all be true at the. Plantingas presentation of the free will defense against the problem of evil takes up the first part of the book.
For recall that the ontological argument depends on a further greatmaking property the possession of which can generate an. Idealism and the problem of evil, gregory trickett discusses the recent emphasis on idealism as a metaontological framework for describing creation, particularly from the perspective of berkeleyan immaterialism. The book is well reasoned, impassioned, and refreshingly free from hysterical descriptions of what mr. The argument from evil god might have reasons that we cannot comprehend for allowing evil to existdifference between a theodicy and a defense is a defense simply claims to be a real possibility, while a theodicy claims to be trueonly real defense is the free will defense. Ontological arguments are arguments, for the conclusion that god exists, from premises which are supposed to derive from some source other than observation of the worlde. Mind you this a philosophical argument for the socalled problem of evil, plantinga himself states that this book is not for a pastoral response. Analysis of anselms ontological argument essay custom. Here, plantinga attempted to use the philosophical concept of possible worlds to show the necessary nature of gods existence. Alvin plantingas modal ontological argument made simple. Alvin plantingas version of the free will defense 1 is an attempt to refute the logical problem of evil, the argument that to posit the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent god in an evil world constitutes a logical contradiction. Mackie stated that the following three propositions cannot all be true at the same time. If there were an allpowerful, allknowing, allgood being, there would be no unnecessary evil in the world. Plantingas free will defense argues that it is possible that god, though omnipotent, could not have. But defending the idea that evil is a privation would require a defense of the.
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