|
 Building
a home philosophy library
Lyn
May and Steve Deery
The
nineteenth in a series of articles advising on how to build your
own home philosophy library.
No.
19 Richard Swinburne, The Coherence of Theism
The
philosophy of religion has a long history covering a diverse range
of theistic concerns. However, most contemporary philosophers are
concerned with the issue of whether theism can have a rational justification.
Our recommendations reflect these current concerns.
Richard
Swinburne addresses the central theistic claim that God exists.
Whether this belief is true, or whether we can know it to be true,
is not the principal concern of his The Coherence of Theism.
Instead Swinburne questions the coherence of the statement. Some
may feel this is philosophical nit-picking, but a proposition has
to be coherent to stand any chance of being true.
So
what are the basic conditions for any proposition to be coherent?
At the very least it must be meaningful and grammatical. Given the
brevity of the theistic claim at hand the issue of coherence doesn't
seem to present much of a problem. However, this is really an issue
about the properties we associate with God, like benevolence, omnipotence,
and wisdom. The question then becomes, are they coherent concepts
and do they form a coherent set? Swinburne argues that these qualities
are coherent on both counts as long as we attribute the ordinary
meanings to these terms.
Swinburne
concludes that there is a rational justification for the belief
that God exists, but only as a contingent being. This is not likely
to convince everyone. Theists and atheists could both take him to
task, as we shall see.
The
Coherence of Theism by Richard Swinburne (Clarendeon)
A
new book will be featured early August 2002.
Join
Our Café mailing list
To
receive *very* short messages, letting you know when the Café
has been updated, just fill in your email address below - and press
submit.
[If
you wish to unsubscribe from the mailing list, simply fill in your
subscriber email address, select "Unsubscribe", and press Submit.]
Previous recommendations
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
|
