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203To judge from the dust-jacket, this book has received a considerable amount of praise--and not just from the usual suspects. In particular, the publishers seem keen to promulgate the view that there is widespread support for the claim that Overman makes a clear, compelling, and well-argued case for the conclusions which he wishes to defend. However, it seems to me that those cited on the dust-jacket--Pannenberg ("lucid and sobering arguments"), Polkinghorne ("scrupulously argued"), Nicholi ("com…Read more
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282Evil Beyond the Burden of Belief (review)Philo 3 (2): 104-107. 2000.Review of *Suffering Belief: Evil and the Anglo-American Defence of Theism* (by Andrea Weisberger). This paper was originally published at the Secular Web; it was later published in *Philo*. Details here are to the publication in *Philo*.
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208Truth and GodProceedings of the Aristotelian Society: The Virtual Issue 1 (1). 2013.This paper was part of a special online issue on Truth. I critically discuss Peter Geach's paper "Truth and God".
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690Modal theistic argumentsSophia 32 (2): 17-24. 1993.This paper discusses a range of modal ontological arguments. It is claimed that these modal ontological arguments fail because they depend upon controversial assumptions about the nature of modal space.
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436What I believeIn Russell Blackford & Udo Schuklenk (eds.), 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why we are Atheists, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 50-56. 2009.This article gives a brief sketch of the naturalistic beliefs that I hold. It is not intended as a *defence* of those beliefs; the aim of the paper is simply to get the beliefs out onto the table.
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946Minimalism and truth aptnessMind 103 (411). 1994.This paper, while neutral on questions about the minimality of truth, argues for the non-minimality of truth-aptness.
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362Pascal's Wager is a possible bet (but not a very good one): Reply to Harmon Holcomb IIIInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 40 (2). 1996.In "To Bet The Impossible Bet", Harmon Holcomb III argues: (i) that Pascal's wager is structurally incoherent; (ii) that if it were not thus incoherent, then it would be successful; and (iii) that my earlier critique of Pascal's wager in "On Rescher On Pascal's Wager" is vitiated by its reliance on "logicist" presuppositions. I deny all three claims. If Pascal's wager is "incoherent", this is only because of its invocation of infinite utilities. However, even if infinite utilities are admissible…Read more
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405Review 'The Rationality of Theism', ed. by P. Copan and P. Moser (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 82 (3): 535-8. 2004.Critical review of *The Rationality of Theism*, a collection of new essays edited by Paul Copan and Paul Moser.
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507Leftow on God and NecessityEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 6 (3): 5-16. 2014.This paper is a critical examination of some of the major themes of Brian Leftow's book *God and Necessity*.
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1369Sceptical theism and evidential arguments from evilAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 81 (4). 2003.Sceptical theists--e.g., William Alston and Michael Bergmann--have claimed that considerations concerning human cognitive limitations are alone sufficient to undermine evidential arguments from evil. We argue that, if the considerations deployed by sceptical theists are sufficient to undermine evidential arguments from evil, then those considerations are also sufficient to undermine inferences that play a crucial role in ordinary moral reasoning. If cogent, our argument suffices to discredit sce…Read more
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290Physical EschatologyPhilo 4 (2): 148-168. 2001.In this paper, I review evidence which strongly supports the claim that life will eventually be extinguished from the universe. I then examine the ethical implications of this evidence, focusing, in particular, on the question whether it is a bad thing that life will eventually die out.
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93Conflicting worldviewsThe Philosophers' Magazine 59 (59): 90-94. 2012.This article discusses some problems associated with religious disagreement and expertise.
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643'The Divine Lawmaker', by John Foster (review)Faith and Philosophy 23 (1): 111-16. 2006.Short, critical review of John Foster's book *The Divine Lawmaker*
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994Koons' Cosmological ArgumentFaith and Philosophy 16 (3): 378-389. 1999.Robert Koons has recently defended what he claims is a successful argument for the existence of a necessary first cause, and which he develops by taking “a new look” at traditional arguments from contingency. I argue that Koons’ argument is less than successful; in particular, I claim that his attempt to “shift the burden of proof” to non-theists amounts to nothing more than an ill-disguised begging of one of the central questions upon which theists and non-theists disagree. I also argue that hi…Read more
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622Objection to a simplified ontological argumentAnalysis 71 (1): 105-106. 2011.This paper offers a short extension of the dialogue between Anselm and the Fool that is contained in "The Ontological Argument Simplified" by Gary Matthews and Lynne Rudder Baker. My extension of the dialogue ends with the Fool proclaiming that "what looks like an argument of elegant simplicity turns out to be no argument at all".
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953Craig’s Kalam CosmologyPhilo 12 (2): 200-216. 2009.Hypotheses about the shape of causal reality admit of both theistic and non-theistic interpretations. I argue that, on the simplest hypotheses about the causal shape of reality—infinite regress, contingent initial boundary, necessary initial boundary—there is good reason to suppose that non-theism is always either preferable to, or at least the equal of, theism, at least insofar as we restrict our attention merely to the domain of explanation of existence. Moreover, I suggest that it is perfectl…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |