The ontological argument has been attacked through history most recently by richard dawkins in the god delusion. Nov 30, 1973 god, freedom, and evil is a challenging book to think through yet it offers a sound defense to the logical problem of evil. Alvin plantinga, for instance, has advanced a concept of transworld depravityessentially the idea that in any possible world where a given person has substantial free will, that person. Thus peter van inwagen, throughout his book the problem of evil, frequently claims that various propositions are true for all we know, and in the detailed contents section at the beginning of his book, he offers the following characterization of the idea of a defense.
God, freedom and evil is a short work, originally published in the mid1970s, wherein plantinga addresses issues pertaining to the existence of god. Ontological arguments stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Are the evils in the world strong evidence against the existence of an allpowerful and allgood god. Plantingas version of the defense is a famous attempt on the problem of evil. This argument, if proved to be true, would refute the cosmological argument for gods existence. The possibility of more modest variants on defenses and theodicies, based on the. Different versions of the ontological argument, the socalled modal versions of the argument, which arguably avoid the part of anselms argument that treats existence as a predicate, began to emerge.
Its an interesting argument near the beginning of the book, which kripke admits never seems to convince. On the other hand, rebutting the argument requires showing only that it is possible that god and evil coexist. The use and abuse of theodicy horizons cambridge core. Plantinga on the free will defense hugh lafollette east tennessee state university i in his recent book god, freedom, and evil, alvin plantinga for mulates an updated version of the free will defense which, he argues, successfully counters all attacks by the atheist. Gressis a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy. Many arguments fall under the category of the ontological, but they tend to involve arguments about the state of being or existing. This article conceives this phrase as a label for a certain purely intellectual problemas opposed to an emotional, spiritual, pastoral, or theological problem and as opposed to a good many other possible categories of problem as well. The basic idea here is that at least many kinds of evil are not the result of gods actions, but of the free actions of human beings. The fact that there is much evil in the world that is to say, the fact that many. More specifically, ontological arguments tend to start with an a priori theory about the organization of the universe. The problem of evil disproved by the free will defense the problem of evil states that because evil exists the existence of a triomni being, which we typically refer to as god, is impossible.
Unlike the logical argument from evil, which holds that the existence of god so defined is logically incompatible with some known fact about evil, the. This book alvln and exemplifies the philosophy of religion, or philosophical reflection on central themes of religion. The book draws upon the authors prior works, the nature of necessity and god and other minds. Review of god, freedom, and evil latter day inkling. Aug 23, 2019 this book alvln and exemplifies the philosophy of religion, or philosophical reflection on central themes of religion. Despite the overuse of the word in movies, political speeches. The knowledge defense says that evil must exist in order for us to have.
Alvin carl plantinga born 1932 is an american analytic philosopher who works primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology particularly on issues involving epistemic justification, and logic. A popular response to the problem of evil contends that there is a necessary connection between free will and the existence of moral or humancaused evil. The ontological argument kenneth einar himma modal versions of the ontological argument william rowe. God, freedom and evil discusses and exemplifies philosophy of religion or philosophical reflection on central themes of religion. Ontological arguments for the existence of god alvin plantinga the ontological argument simplified lynne rudder baker and gareth b. Plantinga closes this section by affirming that the existence of evil in the world has no effect on the likelihood of gods existence. In other words, ontological arguments are arguments from what are typically alleged to be none but analytic, a priori and necessary premises to the. This type of religious theodicy has been advanced by a number of christians, with a variant of it being found, for example, in peter van inwagens book, the problem of evil 2006, 85ff. It is not, of course, a full theodicy, since it does not account for the suffering of nonhuman animals, at least before the fall. Many people immediately respond to the problem of evil, as stated above, by saying that the problem with the argument is that it ignores free well. Plantingas presentation of the free will defense against the problem of evil takes up the first part of the book.
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. God, freedom, and evil by alvin plantinga apologetics. Buy a cheap copy of god, freedom, and evil book by alvin plantinga. The problem of evil stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Plantinga does well in explaining this isnt bedtime reading and pushing through pages of theorem after theorem is a lot different than reading cs lewis or one of the other great christian thinkers who rely on literate metaphor and a sort of common sense philosophy cushioned under beautiful prose on human nature, the world, etc. An ontological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of a phenomenon that uses ontology.
Beyond good and evil 5 of 301 germans invented gunpowderall credit to them. Plantingas argument is a defense against the logical problem of evil as. And if they are, should we conclude that such a god does not, in all likelihood, exist. Since gods knowledge of the world is complete omniscience, and. God, freedom, and evil is a challenging book to think through yet it offers a sound defense to the logical problem of evil. The ontological argument in the second main section, plantinga focuses on a very misunderstood argument for the existence of god the ontological argument, which was originally set out. Plantingas free will defense project gutenberg self. The problem of evil disproved by the free will defense essay. As plantinga expounds it,8 the free will defense rests on these two philosophical claims, which it adds to the theological assumptions l 3. Oxford university press usa publishes scholarly works in all academic disciplines, bibles, music, childrens books, business books, dictionaries, reference books, journals, text books and more. Plantinga on the free will defense hugh lafollette. In this article tristan stone, head of religious studies and theology at harris westminster academy, defends the ontological argument and assesses its strengths.
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. One must respect the limits of this form of argumentation, and plantinga is the epitome of this. God, freedom, and evil kindle edition by plantinga. Plantinga and the ontological argument springerlink. A classic work in the philosophy of religion, plantingas god, freedom, and evil is the single most influential text on the problem of evil in the past fifty years. God, freedom, and evil christian book distributors. The present essay distinguishes two ways to settle the problem of evil, defense and theodicy, as practiced in contemporary christian philosophical theology. Pdf one version of the freewill argument relies on the claim that, other. The modal logic version of these forms of defense of the ontological argument has been the most significant development. God, freedom, and evil chapters 28 20 jul 20, he starts with anselms version, looks at objections and addresses them freedkm they seem to misunderstand the actual argument, or adjusts the premises to answer objections. God, freedom, and evil alvin plantinga free download as pdf file. Pdf one version of the freewill argument relies on the claim that, other things being. 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.
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. This book discusses and exemplifies the philosophy of religion, or philosophical reflection on central. However, this is not theodicy proper an actual reason why god allows evil and suffering but merely a defense a. However, this is not theodicy proper an actual reason why god allows evil and suffering but merely a defense a possible reason god allows evil and suffering. The proponent of the free will defense also faces another problem. He does an interesting job of juxtaposing choicefree will against both theological. Ontological argument project gutenberg selfpublishing. Mackie sees plantingas freewill defense as incoherent. Mar 08, 2018 other objections like the amount of moral evil and the presence of natural evil are also considered and competently responded to. Reassessing plantingas ontological argument for god. But defending the idea that evil is a privation would require a defense of the more general, classical metaphysics on which it rests. The ontological defense says that good could not exist without evil. Plantingas treatment is marked by an intriguing turn in god and other minds 12 he examines a number of variants of the argument and concludes that they arc one and all unsuccessful.
It argues that christian theology can defend christian belief from the charge of inconsistency, but that when it attempts to explain why and how god permits or wills evil. Many arguments fall under the category of the ontological, and they tend to involve arguments about the state of being or existing. Many atheists believe that the correct answer to both of these questions is. Finally, in the appendix, i address quinean objections to quantified modal logic. Jun 28, 2014 ap judges that the cosmological and teleological arguments are failures, but that the ontological argument holds some promise. Chapter 6 the problem of evil and the existence of god author. The free will defense shows that the existence of god is compatible, both logically and probabilistically, with the existence of evil. This is why we allow the books compilations in this website. He expresses doubt about whether plantinga has adequately dealt with the problem of evil. 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. Ap judges that the cosmological and teleological arguments are failures, but that the ontological argument holds some promise. Beyond good and evil planet publish free pdf ebooks.
Apr 25, 2019 it seems that, although plantingas free will defense may be able to explain why god allows moral evil to occur, it cannot explain why he allows natural evil. Oct 05, 2019 this book discusses and exemplifies the philosophy of religion, or philosophical reflection on central. God freedom and evil alvin plantinga 1 book free pdf god freedom and evil alvin plantinga pdf god freedom and evil alvin plantinga when people should go to the books stores, search initiation by shop, shelf by shelf, it is truly problematic. 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. This account, he con tends, shows that it is not within gods power as. Some see the free will defense as a hallmark of apologetic desperation. Gressis a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of. According to rowe, we can allow someone to define god anyway he or she wants, yet it will not follow from that definition that such a being. There are many ways to understand the phrase the problem of evil. But the nomaximality premise of the rival to plantingas ontological argument seems in no relevant way different from nu. In their book, teilhards seven stages of suffering.
An ontological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of god that uses ontology. Job insisted on his innocence, to which the book of job also testifies. The argument from evil or problem of evil is the argument that an allpowerful, allknowing, and perfectly good god would not allow anyor certain kinds ofevil or suffering to occur. Thus peter van inwagen, throughout his book the problem of evil.
A crucial premiss of this proof is the claim that god is a necessarily existent being, i. From 1963 to 1982, plantinga taught at calvin college before accepting an appointment as the john a. A philosophy of evil by lars fredrik handler svendsen. The problem of evil perennially vexes theology, but many theologi. The final score was theism wins over atheism, 1 to 0. God, freedom, and evil kindle edition by plantinga, alvin. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Davis claremont mckenna college alvin plantinga is one of the top christian philosophers in the world today. It seems that, although plantingas free will defense may be able to explain why god allows moral evil to occur, it cannot explain why he allows natural evil. Plantingas contribution stated that when the issue of a comprehensive doctrine of freedom is added to the. A spiritual path for transformation louis savery and patricia.
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