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772O'Connor's Cosmological ArgumentIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion Volume, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2010.This paper criticises the cosmological argument that Tim O'Connor provides in his book *Theism and Ultimate Explanation*.
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994Review of *God and Design* (edited by Neil Manson) (review)Sophia 43 (1): 127-131. 2004.This is a review of Neil Manson (ed.) *God and Design*. The collected essays cover a wide spectrum of opinion, and will be required reading for anyone interested in contemporary debate on arguments for design.
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117Theism and Atheism: Opposing Viewpoints in Philosophy (edited book)Gale. 2019.This book is a discussion of a wide range of topics that bear on the existence of God. For each topic, there is a chapter by one (or more) theists, and a chapter by one (or more) atheists. Topics: (1) Definition; (2) Method; (3) Logic; (4) Doxastic Foundations; (5) Religious Experience; (6) Faith and Revelation; (7) Miracles; (8) Religious Diversity; (9) Causation and Sufficient Reason; (10) A Priori; (11) Our Universe; (12) Human History; (13) Human Beings; (14) Ethics; (15) Meaning; (16) Evil …Read more
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891Knowledge, Belief and God: New Insights in Religious Epistemology Edited by Matthew A. Benton, John Hawthorne and Dani Rabinowitz (review)Analysis 79 (2): 381-384. 2019.This is a review of *Knowledge, Belief and God: New Insights in Religious Epistemology* (edited by Matthew Benton, John Hawthorne, and Dani Rabinowitz). The review briefly discusses the contributed essays by Benton and Isaac Choi.
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2862The Tristram Shandy ParadoxPhilosophia Christi 4 (2): 335-349. 2002.This paper is a response to David Oderberg's discussion of the Tristram Shandy paradox. I defend the claim that the Tristram Shandy paradox does not support the claim that it is impossible that the past is infinite.
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1433Evidential Arguments from Evil and Skeptical TheismPhilo 8 (2): 84-94. 2004.In this paper we respond to criticisms by Michael Bergmann and Michael Rea in their “In Defense of Sceptical Theism : A Reply to Almeida and Oppy,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 83.
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50History of Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand (edited book)Springer. 2014.This two volume works provides a comprehensive history of philosophy in Australia and New Zealand. Volume one provides a chronological history, with one chapter devoted to the early years in which idealism dominated Australasian philosophy, and then chapters that cover each of the decades from the second world war. Volume two provides a thematic history, with treatment of most of the major areas to which Australasian philosophers have made significant contributions.
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735Wagering on an Ironic God: Pascal on Faith and Philosophy by Thomas S. Hibbs (review)Journal of the History of Philosophy 56 (2): 372-373. 2018.This is a short review of Thomas S. Hibbs' book: *Wagering on an Ironic God: Pascal on Faith and Philosophy*.
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34Early Modern Philosophy of Religion: The History of Western Philosophy of Religion Volume 3Acumen Publishing. 2013.The History of Western Philosophy of Religion brings together an international team of over 100 leading scholars to provide authoritative exposition of how history's most important philosophical thinkers - from antiquity to the present day - have sought to analyse the concepts and tenets central to Western religious belief, especially Christianity. Divided chronologically into five volumes, The History of Western Philosophy of Religion is designed to be accessible to a wide range of readers, fro…Read more
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981On Functional Definitions Of Art: A Response to RoweBritish Journal of Aesthetics 33 (1): 67-71. 1993.This paper is a critical assessment of M. W. Rowe's functional definition of art.
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634The Semantics of MediaAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 79 (4): 582-583. 2001.Book Information The Semantics of Media. By Jeff Ross. Dordrecht, Kluwer. 1997. Pp. vii + 137. £56.75.
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153A companion to philosophy in Australia & New Zealand (edited book)Monash University Publishing. 2010.This work is a companion to philosophy in Australia and New Zealand. It contains over two hundred entries on: Australasian philosophy departments; notable Australasian philosophers; significant events in the history of Australasian philosophy; and areas to which Australasian philosophers have made notable contributions.
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230The Best Argument Against GodPalgrave-Macmillan. 2013.Preface -- Introduction -- Preliminary matters -- Some big ideas -- Minimal theism and naturalism -- Standard theism and naturalism -- Conclusion.
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75The Antipodean philosopher (edited book)Lexington Books. 2011.v. 1. Public lectures on philosophy in Australia and New Zealand -- 2. Interviews with Australian and New Zealand philosophers
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889Pruss, motivational centrality, and probabilities attached to possibility premises in modal ontological argumentsEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 4 (2): 65-85. 2012.This paper is a critique of a paper by Alex Pruss. I argue that Pruss's attempt to motivate acceptance of the key possiblity premise in modal ontological arguments fails.
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897Colonizing the galaxiesSophia 39 (2): 117-142. 2000.Paper presented in East-West Symposium on Science, Philosophy and Religion, Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy Meeting with Australasian Association of Philosophy Annual Conference, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, July 1999.
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1253Salmon on the contingent a priori and the necessary a posterioriPhilosophical Studies 73 (1). 1994.This paper is an examination of the contingent a priori and the necessary a posteriori. In particular, it considers -- and assesses -- the criticisms that Nathan Salmon makes of the views of Saul Kripke.
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961Leftow 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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945Countable fusion not yet proven guilty: it may be the Whiteheadian account of space whatdunnitAnalysis 57 (4): 249-253. 1997.I criticise a paper by Peter Forrest in which he argues that a principle of unrestricted countable fusion has paradoxical consequences. I argue that the paradoxical consequences that he exhibits may be due to his Whiteheadean assumptions about the nature of spacetime rather than to the principle of unrestricted countable fusion.
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1006Response 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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801Judging theistic argumentsSophia 37 (2): 30-43. 1998.This paper is a response to an earlier paper by Mark Nelson in which he argues for the claim that the best judges of the merits of arguments for the existence of God are theists whose belief in God is properly basic. I criticise Nelson's argument, and pursue some questions about the significance of the conclusion for which he argues.
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1377Objection 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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6309Arguments for the existence of GodOxford Bibliographies Online. 2012.This is the text of my OBO entry on arguments for the existence of God.
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550Contemporary Readings in the Foundations of Metaphysics (review)Australasian Journal of Philosophy 77 (4): 519-521. 1999.Book review.
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2225Godelian ontological argumentsAnalysis 56 (4): 226-230. 1996.This paper aims to show that Godel's ontological argument can be parodied in much the same kind of way in which Gaunilo parodied Anselm's Proslogion argument. The parody in this paper fails; there is a patch provided in "Reply to Gettings" (Analysis 60, 4, 2000, 363-7).
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2621Theism in Western PhilosophyIn Charles Taliaferro, Victoria S. Harrison & Stewart Goetz (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Theism, Routledge. pp. 11. 2012.This chapter provides a quick sketch of the history of western philosophy of religion as it bears on theism.
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773On behalf of the foolAnalysis 71 (2): 304-306. 2011.This paper responds to a previous paper by Gary Matthews and Lynne Rudder Baker. Their paper, in turn, was a response to my reply to an even earlier paper of theirs. (The relevant bibliographical details are in this paper.) They claim to have a new, improved, simple ontological argument. I argue that the new, simple ontological argument is not, in any way, improved.
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546Review 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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880Facing facts?Australasian Journal of Philosophy 82 (4). 2004.In his recent book, Stephen Neale provides an extended defence of the claim that Gödel's slingshot has dramatic consequences for fact theorists (and, in particular, for fact theorists who look with favour on referential treatments of definite descriptions). I argue that the book-length treatment provides no strengthening of the case that Neale has made elsewhere for this implausible claim. Moreover, I also argue that various criticisms of Neale's case that I made on a previous occasion have met …Read more
Areas of Specialization
| Philosophy of Religion |
Areas of Interest
| Epistemology |
| Metaphysics |
| Philosophy of Language |