University of Leeds
School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science
PhD
Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics
Philosophy of Religion
  •  109
    Analyzing Aseity
    with Jon Robson
    Canadian Journal of Philosophy 50 (2): 251-267. 2020.
    The doctrine of divine aseity has played a significant role in the development of classical theism. However, very little attention has been paid in recent years to the question of how precisely aseity should be characterized. We argue that this neglect is unwarranted since extant characterizations of this central divine attribute quickly encounter difficulties. In particular, we present a new argument to show that the most widely accepted contemporary account of aseity is inconsistent. We then c…Read more
  •  248
    A New Paradox of Omnipotence
    Philosophia 43 (3): 759-785. 2015.
    In this paper, I argue that the supposition of divine omnipotence entails a contradiction: omnipotence both must and must not be intrinsic to God. Hence, traditional theism must be rejected. To begin, I separate out some theoretical distinctions needed to inform the discussion. I then advance two different arguments for the conclusion that omnipotence must be intrinsic to God; these utilise the notions of essence and aseity. Next, I argue that some necessary conditions on being omnipotent are ex…Read more
  •  83
    Does absence make atheistic belief grow stronger?
    with Jon Robson
    International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 79 (1): 49-68. 2016.
    Discussion of the role which religious experience can play in warranting theistic belief has received a great deal of attention within contemporary philosophy of religion. By contrast, the relationship between experience and atheistic belief has received relatively little focus. Our aim in this paper is to begin to remedy that neglect. In particular, we focus on the hitherto under-discussed question of whether experiences of God’s absence can provide positive epistemic status for a belief in God…Read more