The great polymath Leibniz is famous for his advocacy of the “Principle of Sufficient Reason” (PSR). He states it in various ways throughout his writings, but it basically runs like this: (PSR-1): Necessarily, for everything that exists, there is a sufficient reason why it exists and why it exists as it exists rather than otherwise.… Read More »
Does open theism have any advantages vis-a-vis other theories of divine providence, in particular, theological determinism (hereafter ‘Calvinism’) and theological compatibilism (hereafter ‘Molinism’), with respect to the problem of evil? The answer, I think, is a clear ‘Yes’. Before stating my case, let me briefly define my terms. By Calvinism I mean the view that… Read More »
Did most people up until a couple centuries ago believe that the Earth was flat? Did Christopher Columbus encounter opposition from flat-earthers? Is the idea that the Earth is approximately spherical a discovery of “modern science”? It may come as a surprise to many to learn that the answers to all three of those questions… Read More »
Drange’s third argument (see here) claims that divine immutability, the idea that God is incapable of change in any sense, is incompatible with divine omniscience, the idea that God knows all and only truths. He argues as follows: The Immutability-vs.-Omniscience Argument If God exists, then he is immutable. If God exists, then he omniscient. An… Read More »
There’s an interesting discussion over at Bill Vallicella’s blog about the interaction between faith and reason and the importance of that to the vitality of Western culture. A comment by David Tye is especially illuminating: Athens as traditionally understood could have a conversation with Jerusalem because both Athens and Jerusalem agreed there was something to… Read More »
I teach a course on Critical Thinking each semester and we’re now getting into some formal logic – just scratching the surface, really. But each time I notice that some students catch on very quickly and just accept the principles as I lay them out; others catch on quickly but immediately want to challenge the… Read More »
Since I’m doing a series on incompatible property arguments against God’s existence, I thought it’d be appropo to link to a short discussion between two philosophers – one a theist, the other an atheist – on this issue.
The next several arguments that Drange presents (see here) turn on the idea of divine immutability, that God is incapable of change in any sense, and attempt to draw out a contradiction with other divine attributes. Here’s the first: The Immutability-vs.-Creation Argument If God exists, then he is immutable. If God exists, then he is… Read More »
Haven’t posted much in awhile, but I thought I would do a short series of posts on a group of “incompatible properties” arguments against theism delineated by Theodore Drange. He presents the arguments here. Basically, incompatible properties arguments against theism try to show that theism is false because the concept of God is in some… Read More »
In previous blog posts I’ve discussed two opposing tense logics: (a) Ockhamist and (b) Peircean. Ockhamist tense logic takes as its characteristic axiom the claim that (O) □(∀p)(∀t)(∀u: u