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36How consciousness creates life-meaning A review of _Understanding Human Conduct: The Innate and Acquired Meaning of Life_ , by Sam S. Rakover, Lanham, Lexington Books, 2021, 198 pp., $95 (hardback), ISBN: 9781793632401 (review)Philosophical Psychology 37 (4): 988-991. 2024.This book is about the meaning of life, which is clearly one of the of the most important – if not the most important – topics one could write about. In Understanding Human Conduct, Sam S. Rakover...
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78An exploration of the evil-god challengeDissertation, University of Birmingham. 2021.The Evil-god challenge attempts to undermine classical monotheism by contending that because belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, omni-malevolent God (the Evil-god hypothesis) is similarly reasonable to belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God (the Good-god hypothesis), the onus is on the classical monotheist to justify their belief in the latter hypothesis over the former hypothesis. This thesis explores the Evil-god challenge by detailing the history and recent developments of t…Read more
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36Loose Canons: The Epistemic Problems of Scriptural TestimonyEssays in Philosophy. 2022.In Abrahamic theism scripture is essential to belief-forming, yet scripture as an epistemic evidence source is plagued with difficulties. In the following article, I argue for a specific reductionist model of scriptural proposition justification utilising an account of scripture as testimony. I contend that for an individual to be justified in a belief sourced from a scriptural proposition, she must appeal to external evidence to “prop up her epistemic bar.” Accordingly, I consider some potentia…Read more
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12The Axiological Status of Theism and Other Worldviews, by Kirk Lougheed. Palgrave-Macmillan, 2020, 279 pp, $109.99 (review)International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 91 (3): 243-247. 2022.
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Book review: Kirk Lougheed (ed.), Four Views on the Axiology of Theism: What Difference Does God Make? (review)Religious Studies. forthcoming.
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103The Coherence of Naturalistic Personal PantheismEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 12 (1): 75. 2020.This paper examines the coherence of naturalistic personal pantheism in an attempt to reconcile pantheism, naturalism, and a personal concept of God. NPP proposes that i) God is identical with the universe, ii) the universe is entirely natural, and iii) God is personal. Several critics of accounts of a God such as this have voiced concerns about a natural — as opposed to a supernatural — God, since a natural God cannot be worship-worthy. In response, I propose a controversial premise — physical …Read more
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8Fornari, Giuseppe. A God Torn to Pieces. The Nietzsche CasePhilosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence 1 (2). 2017.
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87Fluctuating maximal GodInternational Journal for Philosophy of Religion 88 (3): 231-47. 2020.This paper explores a variety of perfect being theism that combines Yujin Nagasawa’s maximal God thesis with the view that God is not atemporal. We argue that the original maximal God thesis still implicitly relies on a “static” view of divine perfections. Instead, following the recent re-evaluation of divine immutability by analytic philosophers, we propose that thinking of divine great-making properties as fluctuating but nevertheless remaining maximal either for every time t or across all tim…Read more
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748Encountering Evil: The Evil-god Challenge from Religious ExperienceEuropean Journal for Philosophy of Religion 12 (3): 0-0It is often thought that religious experiences provide support for the cumulative case for the existence of the God of classical monotheism. In this paper, I formulate an Evil-god challenge that invites classical monotheists to explain why, based on evidence from religious experience, the belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent god is significantly more reasonable than the belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, evil god. I demonstrate that religious experiences substantiate the existen…Read more
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39The possibility of an evil-God: A response to wardThink 18 (51): 37-46. 2019.In his fairly recent article in this journal, ‘The Evil-god Challenge – A Response’, Keith Ward attempts to nullify Stephen Law's evil-god challenge by presenting several arguments intended to demonstrate that an omniscient, omnipotent being cannot conceivably be evil. In this article, I critically respond to each of Ward's arguments to reach the conclusion that an omnipotent, omniscient being could indeed be evil. To achieve this, I claim that neither perfect empathy nor rationality entails ben…Read more
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5A God Torn to Pieces. The Nietzsche Case (review)Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence 1. 2017.
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104The Evil‐god challenge part I: History and recent developmentsPhilosophy Compass 13 (7). 2018.The Evil‐god challenge has enjoyed a flurry of attention after its resurrection in Stephen Law's, 2010 paper of the same name. Intended to undermine classical monotheism, the Evil‐god challenge rests on the claim that the existence of all‐powerful, all‐knowing, all‐evil god (Evil‐god) is roughly as likely as the existence of an all‐powerful, all‐knowing, all‐good god (Good‐god). The onus is then placed on those who believe in Good‐god to explain why their belief should be considered significantl…Read more
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82The Evil‐god challenge Part II: Objections and responsesPhilosophy Compass 13 (8). 2018.The Evil‐god challenge attempts to undermine classical monotheism by arguing that because the existence of an evil god is similar in reasonableness to the existence of a good god, the onus is on the theist to justify their belief in the latter over the former. In the Part I paper, I defined the Evil‐god challenge, distinguished between several types of Evil‐god challenge, and presented its history and recent developments. In this paper, I describe the merits of the challenge, outline and address…Read more
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49How effective is Philosophy for Children in contributing to the affective engagement of pupils in the context of secondary Religious Education?Journal of Philosophy in Schools 4 (1): 102-122. 2017.This paper reports the findings of a predominantly qualitative study that explored the effects of the practice of Philosophy for Children on pupils’ affective engagement.[1] From its conception, the practice of P4C has been linked to the development of caring and collaborative thinking and the study aimed to closely consider that relationship. An appropriate self-designed P4C program was implemented with 75 Year 9 pupils of Religious Education at an independent secondary school in the United Kin…Read more
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University of BirminghamDoctoral student
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
Philosophy of Education |
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Religion |
Philosophy of Education |
Metaphysics and Epistemology |