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33Trinity and PolytheismFaith and Philosophy 21 (3): 281-294. 2004.This paper develops an interpretation of the doctrine of the Trinity, drawn from Augustine and the Athanasian Creed. Such a doctrine includes divinity claims (the persons are divine), diversity claims (the persons are distinct), and a uniqueness claim (there is only one God). I propose and defend an interpretation of these theses according to which they are neither logically incompatible nor do they do entail that there are three (or four) gods
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12Augustinian perfect being theology and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and JacobInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 69 (2): 139-151. 2011.All of the ingredients for what has become known as Anselmian perfect being theology were present already in the thought of St. Augustine. This paper develops that thesis by calling attention to various claims Augustine makes. It then asks whether there are principled reasons for determining which properties the greatest possible being has and whether an account of what contributes to greatness can settle the question whether the greatest possible being is the same as the God of Abraham, Isaac, …Read more
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3Review of Dean-Peter Baker (ed.), Alvin Plantinga (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2009 (10). 2009.
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5Review of Ontological Arguments by Graham Poppy (review)Review of Metaphysics 52 (1): 163-164. 1998.The central thesis of this book is that “there are perfectly general grounds on which [the author] can dismiss the possibility of a dialectically effective ontological argument [for God’s existence]”. Since there is no other purpose ontological arguments can achieve, they are “completely worthless”.
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20Thalberg on the Irreducibility of EventsAnalysis 39 (1). 1979.Several debates in contemporary metaphysics provoke us to ask what an event is. One theory, Pioneered by chisholm, Develops the analogy between the occurrence of events and the truth of corresponding propositions. I call these propositional analyses. It is unclear whether their adherents wish to jettison our event-Concepts, And replace them with concepts from another category, Such as semantics. The other theory of what events are that I scrutinize, Namely kim's and goldman's property-Exemplific…Read more
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9Proxy consent and counterfactual wishesJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 8 (4): 405-416. 1983.I discuss conditions for the validity of proxy consent to treatment on behalf of an incompetent person. I distinguish those incompetents who, when previously competent, expressed an opinion on the treatment in question from those who were never competent or who, though previously competent, never expressed an opinion on the proposed treatment. In the former case valid proxy consent usually requires respecting the stated wishes of the patient. The latter case is more difficult. I consider a widel…Read more
Rochester, New York, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |