Alvin Plantinga (Contemporary Philosophy in Focus)

247 Pages·2007·0.95 MB·English

by  Deane-Peter Baker

P1:JZP
0521855310pre CUNY806B/Baker 0521855310 April30,2007 7:39
This page intentionally left blank
ii
P1:JZP
0521855310pre CUNY806B/Baker 0521855310 April30,2007 7:39
Alvin Plantinga
Few thinkers have had as much impact on contemporary philosophy as has
Alvin Plantinga. The work of this quintessential analytic philosopher has in
manyrespectssetthetoneforthedebateinthefieldsofmodalmetaphysicsand
epistemology, and he is arguably the most important philosopher of religion
of our time. In this volume, a distinguished team of today’s leading philoso-
phersaddressthecentralaspectsofPlantinga’sphilosophy–hisviewsonnat-
ural theology, his responses to the problem of evil, his contributions to the
field of modal metaphysics, the controversial evolutionary argument against
naturalism, his model of epistemic warrant and his view of epistemic defeat,
his argument for warranted Christian belief, his response to the challenge of
religiouspluralism,andhisrecentworkonmind-bodydualism.Alsoincluded
isanappendixcontainingPlantinga’softenreferredto,butpreviouslyunpub-
lished, lecture notes entitled “Two Dozen (or so) Theistic Arguments,” with
asubstantialprefacetotheappendixwrittenbyPlantingaspecificallyforthis
volume.
Deane-PeterBakerisaSeniorLecturerintheSchoolofPhilosophyandEthics
attheUniversityofKwaZulu-Natal(SouthAfrica).HeistheauthorofTayloring
ReformedEpistemology:CharlesTaylor,AlvinPlantingaandtheDeJureChallenge
toChristianBelief.
i
P1:JZP
0521855310pre CUNY806B/Baker 0521855310 April30,2007 7:39
ii
P1:JZP
0521855310pre CUNY806B/Baker 0521855310 April30,2007 7:39
Contemporary Philosophy in Focus
ContemporaryPhilosophyinFocusoffersaseriesofintroductoryvolumes
tomanyofthedominantphilosophicalthinkersofthecurrentage.Eachvol-
umeconsistsofnewlycommissionedessaysthatcovermajorcontributionsof
apreeminentphilosopherinasystematicandaccessiblemanner.Comparable
inscopeandrationaletothehighlysuccessfulseriesCambridgeCompanions
to Philosophy, the volumes do not presuppose that readers are already inti-
matelyfamiliarwiththedetailsofeachphilosopher’swork.Theythuscombine
expositionandcriticalanalysisinamannerthatwillappealtostudentsofphi-
losophy and to professionals as well as to students across the humanities and
socialsciences.
forthcomingvolumes:
JerryFodoreditedbyTimCrane
SaulKripkeeditedbyAlanBerger
DavidLewiseditedbyTheodoreSiderandDeanZimmermann
BernardWilliamseditedbyAlanThomas
publishedvolumes:
StanleyCavelleditedbyRichardEldridge
PaulChurchlandeditedbyBrianKeeley
DonaldDavidsoneditedbyKirkLudwig
DanielDennetteditedbyAndrewBrookandDonRoss
RonaldDworkineditedbyArthurRipstein
ThomasKuhneditedbyThomasNickles
AlasdairMacIntyreeditedbyMarkMurphy
RichardRortyeditedbyCharlesGuignonandDavidHiley
JohnSearleeditedbyBarrySmith
CharlesTayloreditedbyRuthAbbey
iii
P1:JZP
0521855310pre CUNY806B/Baker 0521855310 April30,2007 7:39
iv
P1:JZP
0521855310pre CUNY806B/Baker 0521855310 April30,2007 7:39
Alvin Plantinga
Edited by
DEANE-PETER BAKER
UniversityofKwaZulu-Natal
v
CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521855310
© Cambridge University Press 2007
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2007
ISBN-13 978-0-511-28940-8 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-10 0-511-28940-5 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-85531-0 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-85531-4 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-67143-9 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-67143-4 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
P1:JZP
0521855310pre CUNY806B/Baker 0521855310 April30,2007 7:39
Contents
Contributors page ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction:AlvinPlantinga,God’sPhilosopher 1
deane-peterbaker
1 NaturalTheology 15
grahamoppy
2 EvilandAlvinPlantinga 48
richardm.gale
3 TheModalMetaphysicsofAlvinPlantinga 71
johndivers
4 NaturalTheologyandNaturalistAtheology:Plantinga’s
EvolutionaryArgumentAgainstNaturalism 93
ernestsosa
5 TwoApproachestoEpistemicDefeat 107
jonathankvanvig
6 Plantinga’sModelofWarrantedChristianBelief 125
jamesbeilby
7 PluralismandProperFunction 166
kellyjamesclark
8 Plantinga’sReplacementArgument 188
petervaninwagen
vii
P1:JZP
0521855310pre CUNY806B/Baker 0521855310 April30,2007 7:39
viii Contents
Appendix:TwoDozen(orso)TheisticArguments 203
alvinplantinga
SelectBibliography 229
Index 231