|
 Building
a home philosophy library
Lyn
May and Steve Deery
The
twentieth in a series of articles advising on how to build your
own home philosophy library.
No.
20 Alvin Plantinga, God, Freedom and Evil
Plantinga's
impressively titled God, Freedom and Evil is concerned with
the issue of whether there can be a rational justification for theism.
He sees two potential problems involved in a justification - the
problem of evil and a plausible argument for God's existence.
The
problem of evil is represented as the strongest argument in the
atheist's armoury. The basic idea is that the existence of evil
is inconsistent with an omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good being.
Plantinga argues that the inconsistency is only apparent. As he
sees it, the best argument to rebut the atheist is the free will
defence - that our freedom to choose has a value that outweighs
the evil that may be caused. Now this defence only works if there
could not be a better world that also included free agents. Plantinga's
novel approach to this problem is to introduce the idea of possible
worlds. Roughly speaking, thinking about possible worlds allows
us to evaluate states of affairs that are different from the actual
world.
Possible
worlds also play a central role in Plantinga claim that the traditional
ontological argument as the most plausible argument for God's existence.
However, to be successful, it too needs the miraculous application
of possible worlds. In the end he concedes that he hasn't proven
the existence of God, only that a belief in theism falls within
the norms of rational acceptability.
God,
Freedom and Evil is a slim volume that moves at a cracking pace.
The application of possible worlds to traditional problems in the
philosophy of religion is ingenious and, even more important, comprehensible.
Plantinga's introductory section on possible worlds is the clearest
explanation of this idea we have come across. The clarity displayed
here is consistent with the rest of the book. He also uses some
memorable examples and phrases - such as the idea that 'turp' could
be the unit for measuring moral evil.
God,
Freedom and Evil by Alvin Plantinga (Allen & Unwin) £7.50/$9.50
A
new book will be featured early September 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.
19.
|
