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7Leibniz’s Metaphysics (review)Philosophical Review 112 (2): 270-273. 2003.Late in his life Leibniz famously recounted his philosophical conversion, at the young age of fifteen, from scholasticism to mechanism. Most Leibniz scholars have accepted Leibniz’s claim in this regard and have read his early works in philosophy and physics as various attempts to work out some variant of the mechanist position. However, Leibniz also makes it clear that he later came to realize the inadequacy of mechanism and, most would argue, this realization led him to reintroduce substantial…Read more
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14Intellect, Will, and Freedom in LeibnizThe Leibniz Review 4 11-12. 1994.In this paper I claim that there are three primary dimensions to the issue of freedom in Leibniz’s work. The first, and most widely discussed, is the logical dimension. When discussing this dimension, Leibniz is concerned primarily about the relationship between freedom and modality: what does it mean for choice to be contingent? The second dimension is the theological one. When discussing this dimension, Leibniz is interested in considering such issues as the relationships between divine knowle…Read more
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59Critical Review of Cover and Hawthorne on Leibnizian ModalityThe Leibniz Review 10 73-86. 2000.In the introduction to Substance and Individuation in Leibniz, Jan Cover and John Hawthorne inform us that the aim of the book is to “grasp more clearly the metaphysical problems of individuation by taking seriously how these are played out in the hands of one influential philosopher standing as the important mediary between scholastic and modern philosophers.” Were the book to succeed in this modest aim it would be a significant achievement. In fact, it achieves this aim and a good deal more. O…Read more
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65The Evolution of Religion: Adaptationist AccountsIn Melville Y. Stewart (ed.), Science and Religion in Dialogue, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 437--457. 2010.This chapter contains sections titled: * I Introduction * II One Preliminary * III Adaptationist Theories * IV Punishment Theories * V Commitment Signaling * VI Group Selection * V Conclusion * Notes * References
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69Pre-Leibnizian Moral NecessityThe Leibniz Review 14 1-28. 2004.The mature Leibniz frequently uses the phrase “moral necessity” in the context of discussing free choice. In this essay I provide a seventeenth century geneology of the phrase. I show that the doctrine of moral necessity was developed by scholastic philosophers who sought to retain a robust notion of freedom while purging bruteness from their systems. Two sorts of bruteness were special targets. The first is metaphysical bruteness, according to which contingent events or states of affairs occur …Read more
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62Evolutionary Accounts of Religion: Explaining or Explaining AwayIn Melville Y. Stewart (ed.), Science and Religion in Dialogue, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 472--478. 2010.This chapter contains sections titled: * Notes * References
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84The believing primate: scientific, philosophical, and theological reflections on the origin of religion (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2009.Over the last two decades, scientific accounts of religion have received a great deal of scholarly and popular attention both because of their intrinsic interest and because they are widely as constituting a threat to the religion they analyse. The Believing Primate aims to describe and discuss these scientific accounts as well as to assess their implications. The volume begins with essays by leading scientists in the field, describing these accounts and discussing evidence in their favour. Phil…Read more
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59Ask and it will be given to you: Michael J. Murray and Kurt MeyersReligious Studies 30 (3): 311-330. 1994.Consider the following situation. It is the first day of school, and the new third-grade students file into the classroom to be shown to their seats for the coming year. As they enter, the third-grade teacher notices one small boy who is particularly unkempt. He looks to be in desperate need of bathing, and his clothes are dirty, torn and tight-fitting. During recess, the teacher pulls aside the boy's previous teacher and asks about his wretched condition. The other teacher informs her that he a…Read more
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110Scientific Explanations of Religion and the Justification of Religious BeliefIn Michael J. Murray & Jeffrey Schloss (eds.), The Believing Primate: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections on the Origin of Religion, Oxford University Press. pp. 168. 2009.Accession Number: ATLA0001788486; Hosting Book Page Citation: p 168-178.; Language(s): English; Issued by ATLA: 20130825; Publication Type: Essay
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184Leibniz on divine foreknowledge of future contingents and human freedomPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 55 (1): 75-108. 1995.The Prevolitional Condition: The subjunctive conditionals of human freedom known by God must have their truth value prior to any free decree of God, i.e., be known prevolitionally.
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258Deus absconditusIn Daniel Howard-Snyder & Paul Moser (eds.), Divine Hiddenness: New Essays, Cambridge University Press. pp. 63. 2001.
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45The Problem of Evil in Early Modern PhilosophyThe Leibniz Review 12 103-106. 2002.In recent years historians of modern philosophy have begun to pay much more attention to the theological thought of both major and minor figures in the period. These theological views are interesting and important in their own right, but they also provide substantial insights into the interconnections between, and the motivations for, many philosophical positions these figures advocate. This volume continues this recent tradition by providing an engaging look at the ways in which key figures in …Read more
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18Pre-Leibnizian Moral NecessityThe Leibniz Review 14 1-28. 2004.The mature Leibniz frequently uses the phrase “moral necessity” in the context of discussing free choice. In this essay I provide a seventeenth century geneology of the phrase. I show that the doctrine of moral necessity was developed by scholastic philosophers who sought to retain a robust notion of freedom while purging bruteness from their systems. Two sorts of bruteness were special targets. The first is metaphysical bruteness, according to which contingent events or states of affairs occur …Read more
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37Leibniz’s Proposal for Theological Reconciliation among the ProtestantsAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 76 (4): 623-646. 2002.Between 1701 and 1705 Leibniz focused on the task of securing theological reunion between Lutherans and Calvinists, the two major Protestant sects at the time. Doing so, he believed, required reconciliation on two key topics, namely, the doctrine of the Eucharist, and the doctrine of election. To bring unity on the second issue, Leibniz composed a lengthy treatise based on a commentary on the Thirty-nine articles of the Church of England. This treatise stakes out a position springing from Leibni…Read more
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20You can't always get what you want: Evolution and true beliefsBehavioral and Brain Sciences 32 (6): 533-534. 2009.McKay & Dennett (M&D) convincingly argue against many proposals for adaptively functioning misbelief, but the conclusion that true beliefs are generally adaptive does not follow. Adaptive misbeliefs may be few in kind but many in number; maladaptive misbeliefs may routinely elude selective pruning; reproductively neutral misbeliefs may abound; and adaptively grounded beliefs may reliably covary with but not truthfully represent reality
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62TheodicyIn Thomas P. Flint & Michael Rea (eds.), The Oxford handbook of philosophical theology, Oxford University Press. 2008.From Leibniz's time until the mid-1970s, the word ‘theodicy’ was used to describe attempts to explain God's permission of evil. Since the mid-1970s, however, it has taken on a more refined sense among philosophers of religion – a change that can be attributed to Alvin Plantinga's book God, Freedom and Evil. In this work, Plantinga distinguishes between two types of explanations of evil that theists might construct. The first type is offered in response to arguments that the coexistence of God an…Read more
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31Leibniz on Divine Foreknowledge of Future Contingents and Human FreedomThe Leibniz Review 2 18-19. 1992.Despite Russell’s protestations to the contrary, it has become evident that Leibniz had more than a passing interest in a number of the problems plaguing seventeenth century philosophical theology. In published work, correspondence, and private notes, Leibniz spends significant energy sorting through numerous solutions to the standard problems. Not least among these was the perennial problem of how to reconcile divine foreknowledge and providence and human freedom. In this essay I discuss how Le…Read more
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11The Problem of Evil in Early Modern Philosophy (review)The Leibniz Review 12 103-106. 2002.In recent years historians of modern philosophy have begun to pay much more attention to the theological thought of both major and minor figures in the period. These theological views are interesting and important in their own right, but they also provide substantial insights into the interconnections between, and the motivations for, many philosophical positions these figures advocate. This volume continues this recent tradition by providing an engaging look at the ways in which key figures in …Read more
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