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185The Turing testStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2003.This paper provides a survey of philosophical discussion of the "the Turing Test". In particular, it provides a very careful and thorough discussion of the famous 1950 paper that was published in Mind.
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213On an argument about reference to future individualsPhilosophical Quarterly 45 (178): 84-87. 1995.This paper critically examines Roger Teichmann's defence of the claim that it is impossible to refer to future individuals. (Bibliographical details are provided in the article.)
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1016Arguments from Moral EvilInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 56 (2/3). 2004.In this paper, I argue that -- contrary to widely received opinion -- logical arguments from evil are well and truly alive and kicking.
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173Review of D. Jacquette, Meinongian logic (review)Mind 107 (428): 877-908. 1998.This is a review of *Meinongian Logic* (by Dale Jacquette).
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451More than one flaw: Reply to MillicanSophia 46 (3): 295-304. 2007.Millican (Mind 113(451):437–476, 2004) claims to have detected ‘the one fatal flaw in Anselm’s ontological argument.’ I argue that there is more than one important flaw in the position defended in Millican (Mind 113(451):437–476, 2004). First, Millican’s reconstruction of Anselm’s argument does serious violence to the original text. Second, Millican’s generalised objection fails to diagnose any flaw in a vast range of ontological arguments. Third, there are independent reasons for thinking that …Read more
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1212Minimalism and truthNoûs 31 (2): 170-196. 1997.This paper canvasses the various dimensions along which theories of truth may disagree about the extent to which truth is minimal.
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69We present a probabilistic extension to active path analyses of token causation. The extension uses the generalized notion of intervention presented in : we allow an intervention to set any probability distribution over the intervention variables, not just a single value. The resulting account can handle a wide range of examples. We do not claim the account is complete --- only that it fills an obvious gap in previous active-path approaches. It still succumbs to recent counterexamples by Hiddles…Read more
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492Review : 'God and Design', ed. by N. Manson (review)Sophia 43 (1): 127-31. 2004.Review of Neil Manson's excellent anthology on arguments for design.
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231Evolution vs creationism in Australian schoolsIn Warren Bonett (ed.), The Australian Book of Atheism,, Scribe. pp. 139-53. 2010.This paper discusses the teaching of -- and opposition to the teaching of -- evolutionary theory in Australian schools in the early twenty-first century.
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584Semantics for propositional attitude ascriptionsPhilosophical Studies 67 (1). 1992.This paper provides a semantics for propositional attitude ascriptions. (In this respect, the title of the paper is quite well chosen.)
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731Molinism and divine prophecy of free actionsReligious Studies 50 (2): 1-10. 2014.Among challenges to Molinism, the challenge posed by divine prophecy of human free action has received insufficient attention. We argue that this challenge is a significant addition to the array of challenges that confront Molinism.
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642Review: Daniel A. Dombrowski: Rethinking the Ontological Argument: A Neoclassical Theistic Response (review)Mind 117 (467): 690-693. 2008.Critical review of Daniel Dombrowski's "Rethinking the Ontological Argument".
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705Perfection, near-perfection, maximality, and Anselmian TheismInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 69 (2): 119-138. 2011.Anselmian theists claim (a) that there is a being than which none greater can be conceived; and (b) that it is knowable on purely—solely, entirely—a priori grounds that there is a being than which none greater can be conceived. In this paper, I argue that Anselmian Theism gains traction by conflating different interpretations of the key description ‘being than which no greater can be conceived’. In particular, I insist that it is very important to distinguish between ideal excellence and maximal…Read more
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979DisagreementInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 68 (1-3): 183-199. 2010.There has been a recent explosion of interest in the epistemology of disagreement. Much of the recent literature is concerned with a particular range of puzzle cases (discussed in the Cases section of my paper). Almost all of the papers that contribute to that recent literature make mention of questions about religious disagreement in ways that suggest that there are interesting connections between those puzzle cases and real life cases of religious disagreement. One important aim of my paper is…Read more
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400Response to GettingsAnalysis 60 (4): 363-367. 2000.This article is a reply to Michael Gettings' criticisms of a previous paper of mine on Godel's ontological argument. (All relevant bibliographical details may be found in the article.) I provide a patch to my previous -- faulty -- attempt to provide a parody of Godel's ontological argument on the model of Gaunilo's parody of Anselm's Proslogion 2 argument.
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298Late-Twentieth-Century atheismIn Graham Oppy & Nick Trakakis (eds.), Twentieth-Century Philosophy of Religion: The History of Western Philosophy of Religion, Volume 5, Routledge. pp. 301-12. 2009.This chapter provides a brief account of atheistic philosophy of relgion in the second half of the twentieth century.
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1427The ontological argumentIn Paul Copan & Chad V. Meister (eds.), Philosophy of religion: classic and contemporary issues, Blackwell. 2008.General discussion of ontological arguments. (Extended the discussion of ontological arguments in the then current version of my SEP entry on ontological arguments.)
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1055Critical notice of J.P. Moreland's Consciousness and the Existence of God: A Theistic ArgumentEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 3 (1): 193-212. 2011.This paper is a detailed examination of some parts of J. P. Moreland's book on "the argument from consciousness". (There is a companion article that discusses the parts of the book not taken up in this critical notice.).
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326"Humean" Supervenience?Philosophical Studies 101 (1): 77-105. 2000.As with many aspects of David Lewis’s work, it is hard to provide a better summary of his views than he provided himself. So the following introduction to what the Humean Supervenience view is will follow the opening pages of Lewis (1994a) extremely closely. But for those readers who haven’t read that paper, here’s the nickel version.
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574Weak agnosticism defendedInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 36 (3). 1994.Agnosticism has had some bad press in recent years. Nonetheless, I hope to show that agnosticism can be so formulated that it is no less philosophically respectable than theism and atheism. This is not a mere philosophical exercise; for, as it happens, the formulated position is--I think--the one to which I subscribe. I include a qualification here since it may be that the position to which I subscribe is better characterised as fallibilist atheism--but more of that anon
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2255On defining art historicallyBritish Journal of Aesthetics 32 (2): 153-161. 1991.This paper is an extended critical discussion of Jerrold Levinson's historical definition of art. I try out various different avenues of attack; it is not clear whether any of them is ultimately successful.
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268Analysis of Existing: Barry Miller's Approach to God, by Elmar J. Kremer: New York: Bloomsbury, 2014, pp. xiv + 143, AU$148 (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 93 (2): 409-410. 2015.Review of Kremer's book on Barry Miller's approach to God. (I have discussed Miller's argument from contingency in other publications.)
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171Contemporary Readings in the Foundations of Metaphysics (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 77 (4): 519-521. 1999.Book review.
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1512From the Tristram Shandy Paradox to the Christmas Shandy Paradox: Reply to OderbergArs Disputandi 3 172-195. 2003.This paper is a response to David Oderberg's criticisms of a previous paper of mine. (Bibliographical details are provided in the article.)
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610The Ontological Argument (Cambridge Classic Philosophical Arguments Series) (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2018.In this Introduction, we begin with two relatively uncontroversial matters: the broad contours of the history of discussion of ontological arguments, and the major topics that require discussion in connection with ontological arguments. We then move on to consideration of the much more difficult task of the characterisation of ontological arguments—i.e. the task of saying exactly what ontological arguments are and explaining how they differ from, say, cosmological, teleological, and moral argume…Read more
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316Natural theologyIn Deane-Peter Baker (ed.), Alvin Plantinga: Contemporary Philosophy in Focus, Cambridge University Press. pp. 15-47. 2007.This paper is a careful examination of the various approaches that Alvin Plantinga has taken towards natural theology over the course of his academic career (from *God and Other Minds* to *Warranted Christian Belief*). In his earliest works, Plantinga has a very clear and strict conception of the project of natural theology, and he argues very clearly (and correctly) that that project fails. In his middle works, Plantinga has a tolerably clear and slightly less strict conception of the project o…Read more
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1655Anselm and the ontological argumentIn Jeff Jordan (ed.), Philosophy of Religion: The Key Thinkers, Continuum. pp. 22-43. 2011.This chapter gives an exposition and critique of Anselm's Proslogion II argument.
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170Review of "Bangs, crunches, shrieks, whispers" by J Earman (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 76 (2): 352-4. 1998.Positive review of John Earman's *Bangs, Crunches, Shrieks, Whispers*.
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494Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology (review)Faith and Philosophy 13 (1): 125-133. 1996.This paper is a critical review of *Big Bang Cosmology* by Quentin Smith and William Lane Craig. (The book is a collection of previously published papers; most are concerned, in one way or another, with kalam cosmological arguments for the existence of God.).
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |