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255Universal bayesian inference?Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24 (4): 662-663. 2001.We criticise Shepard's notions of “invariance” and “universality,” and the incorporation of Shepard's work on inference into the general framework of his paper. We then criticise Tenenbaum and Griffiths' account of Shepard (1987b), including the attributed likelihood function, and the assumption of “weak sampling.” Finally, we endorse Barlow's suggestion that minimum message length (MML) theory has useful things to say about the Bayesian inference problems discussed by Shepard and Tenenbaum and …Read more
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253Creationism on trialSophia 42 (2): 113-127. 2003.This paper discusses the judgment of Judge William Overton in McLean vs. Arkansas Board of Education (1982), and the subsequent philosophical literature that discusses this judgment.
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253Ontological arguments and belief in GodCambridge University Press. 1995.This book is a unique contribution to the philosophy of religion. It offers a comprehensive discussion of one of the most famous arguments for the existence of God: the ontological argument. The author provides and analyses a critical taxonomy of those versions of the argument that have been advanced in recent philosophical literature, as well as of those historically important versions found in the work of St Anselm, Descartes, Leibniz, Hegel and others. A central thesis of the book is that ont…Read more
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253GodsOxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 2 (1): 231-50. 2009.In this paper, I defend the suggestion that to be God is just to be the one and only god, where to be a god is to be a supernatural being or force that has and exercises power over the natural world but that is not, in turn, under the power of any higher ranking or more powerful category of beings or forces. I then go on to defend the following further claims: (1) there can be no more than one God; (2) ‘God’ is not a title-term; and (3) the use of the name ‘God’ by non-believers is not parasitic…Read more
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251Analysis 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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251Introducing Philosophy of Religion, by Chad Meister (review)Ars Disputandi 10. 2010.Review of Chad Meister's "Introducing Philosophy of Religion".
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250
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244Maydole on Ontological ArgumentsIn Miroslaw Szatkowski (ed.), Ontological Proofs Today, Ontos Verlag. pp. 445. 2012.This paper is an assessment of Robert Maydole's work on ontological arguments. (Bibliographical details are provided in the text.) I argue that Maydole's ontological arguments are unsuccessful.
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240Philosophical Perspectives on InfinityCambridge University Press. 2006.This book is an exploration of philosophical questions about infinity. Graham Oppy examines how the infinite lurks everywhere, both in science and in our ordinary thoughts about the world. He also analyses the many puzzles and paradoxes that follow in the train of the infinite. Even simple notions, such as counting, adding and maximising present serious difficulties. Other topics examined include the nature of space and time, infinities in physical science, infinities in theories of probability …Read more
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236A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy (edited book)Blackwell. 2019.This collection contains chapters under eight headings: (1) Individual Thinkers; (2) Philosophical Movements; (3) Critiques of Theism; (4) Metaphysics; (5) Epistemology; (6) Ethics; (7) Politics; and (8) Critiques of Atheism.
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235Arguing About GodsCambridge University Press. 2006.In this book, Graham Oppy examines arguments for and against the existence of God. He shows that none of these arguments is powerful enough to change the minds of reasonable participants in debates on the question of the existence of God. His conclusion is supported by detailed analyses of the arguments as well as by the development of a theory about the purpose of arguments and the criteria that should be used in judging whether or not arguments are successful. Oppy discusses the work of a wide…Read more
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231The Evidential Problem of EvilIn Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper & Philip L. Quinn (eds.), A Companion to Philosophy of Religion, Wiley‐blackwell. 2010.This chapter contains sections titled: Rowe's Evidential Argument from Evil Draper's Evidential Argument from Evil Concluding Remarks Works cited.
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230AgnosticismKİLİKYA JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY. forthcoming.I endorse the following claims in this paper. (1) Agnosticism is suspension of judgment on existence claims concerning gods and God. (2) Historical agnostics accepted (1) but unwisely insisted on further conditions best set aside. (3) Particular case agnosticism is less problematic than general principle-based agnosticism. (4) Agnostics should suspend judgment on—or, on occasion, reject—atomic claims of the form ‘God is F’.
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230Bruce Langtry's ‘God, the Best and Evil’ is a fine contribution to the literature. Here, I review the contents of the book, and then provide some critical remarks that, as fas as I know, have not been made elsewhere. In particular, I argue that his criticism of my formulations of logical arguments from evil (in my Arguing about Gods) is unsuccessful.
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221Truth 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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218Evolution 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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218O'Connor's Cosmological ArgumentIn Jonathan L. Kvanvig (ed.), Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion Volume 3, Oxford University Press. 2011.This paper criticises the cosmological argument that Tim O'Connor provides in his book *Theism and Ultimate Explanation*.
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212Is There a God?: A DebateLittle Debates About Big Questions. 2021.Each author first presents his own side, and then they interact through two rounds of objections and replies. Pedagogical features include standard form arguments, section summaries, bolded key terms and principles, a glossary, and annotated reading lists.
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208To 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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197Reply to LangtrySophia 40 (1): 73-80. 2001.This paper is a response to Bruce Langtry's criticisms of views advanced in my book *Ontological Arguments and Belief in God*. In particular, the paper discusses his criticisms of "the general objection" to ontological arguments that is developed in that work.
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192On 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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184God, God* and God'In Anthony Fisher & Hayden Ramsay (eds.), Faith and Reason: Friends or Foes in a New Millennium?, Atf Press. pp. 171-186. 2004.This paper compares overall cases for the existence of God, an evil God, and a morally neutral God. It argues that, while atheists can reasonably believe that the overall case for the existence of God is no better than the case for the existence of an evil God, and is perhaps worse than the case for the existence of a morally neutral God, theists can reasonably believe that the case for the existence of God is better than the cases for the existence of an evil God and the existence of a morally …Read more
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183Response to MaydoleIn Miroslaw Szatkowski (ed.), Ontological Proofs Today, Ontos Verlag. pp. 445-68. 2012.This paper is my second contribution to the Szatkowski volume. In the first paper, I provide a critical discussion of Bob Maydole's ontological arguments. In this second paper, I respond to Maydole's critical response to my first paper. My overall verdict is that Maydole does not successfully defend his arguments against my critical attack.
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180The 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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180Gratitude and Resentment: A Tale of Two WeddingsIn Joshua Lee Harris, Kirk Lougheed & Neal DeRoo (eds.), Philosophical Perspectives on Existential Gratitude, Bloomsbury Publishing. 2023.There is an important distinction between two different kinds of expressions of gratitude: propositional expressions of gratitude and prepositional expressions of gratitude. I argue that there is a corresponding distinction between two different kinds of expression of resentment: propositional expressions of resentment and prepositional expressions of resentment. I then argue that theists should suppose neither that propositional expressions of gratitude are prepositional expressions of gratitud…Read more
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176Ontological argumentsThink 19 (55): 11-21. 2020.This is a short introduction to ontological arguments. It begins with a brief characterization of ontological arguments that proceeds mainly by way of example. The rest of the discussion is given over to consideration of what looks like a very simple ontological argument. This consideration turns up many of the issues that arise when more complex ontological arguments are examined.
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169Naturalism and Naturalness: A Naturalist's PerspectiveIn Paul Copan & Charles Taliaferro (eds.), The Naturalness of Belief: New Essays on Theism's Reasonability, Lexington Books. pp. 3-16. 2019.This chapter is an invited contribution to a book on the naturalness of theistic belief. I start by considering ordinary usage of the term 'natural'. I then clarify how I shall use the terms 'naturalism', 'theism', 'worldview' and 'big picture'. I consider the demographic spread of commitment to theistic big pictures and naturalistic big pictures. I consider the distribution of happiness over those committed to theistic big pictures and naturalistic big pictures. I consider the distribution of r…Read more
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169Anselm's First ArgumentIn Charles Tandy (ed.), Death and Anti-Death, Volume 7, Ria University Press. pp. 275-96. 2009.In Proslogion II, Anselm writes: "But surely when this same Fool hears what I am speaking about, namely ‘something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought’, he understands what he hears, and what he understands is in his mind, even if he does not understand that it actually exists. … Even the Fool, then, is forced to agree that something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought exists in the mind, since he understands this when he hears it, and whatever is understood is in the mind." In this …Read more
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164This paper discusses some views defended by Brian Leftow in his book *Time and Eternity*. There is a revised version of this paper that is incorporated into my later book *Describing Gods: An Investigation of Divine Attributes* (CUP, 2014).
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163Review 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*.
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Philosophy of Language |