Naturalism Defeated?

Naturalism Defeated?
Author: James K. Beilby
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2002
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780801487637

Plantinga's argument is aimed at metaphysical naturalism or roughly the view that no supernatural beings exist. Naturalism is typically conjoined with evolution as an explanation of the existence and diversity of life. Plantinga's claim is that one who holds to the truth of both naturalism and evolution is irrational in doing so. More specifically, because the probability that unguided evolution would have produced reliable cognitive faculties is either low or inscrutable, one who holds both naturalism and evolution acquires a "defeater" for every belief he/she holds, including the beliefs associated with naturalism and evolution.

The Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism

The Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism
Author: Jim Slagle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2021-07-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350173118

Intro -- Half-title Page -- Series Page -- Dedication -- Title Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Part 1 Context -- 1 The Cartesian Dream -- 2 Quinean Tonic -- 3 Naturalized Epistemology Reformed -- Part 2 Preliminaries -- 4 Terms of Engagement -- 5 The Evolution of the Evolutionary Argument -- 6 Elimination Game -- Part 3 Argument -- 7 The Probability Thesis -- 8 The Defeater Thesis -- 9 The End of the Argument -- Part 4 Objections -- 10 Analogies, Coherence, and Evolution -- 11 Expanding the Target -- 12 Loose Ends -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography of the EAAN -- Index -- Copyright.

Where the Conflict Really Lies

Where the Conflict Really Lies
Author: Alvin Plantinga
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2011-08-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199812101

In this long-awaited book, pre-eminent analytical philosopher Alvin Plantinga argues that the conflict between science and theistic religion is actually superficial, and that at a deeper level they are in concord.

The Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism

The Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism
Author: Jim Slagle
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2021-06-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350173126

Contemporary discussions in metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of mind are dominated by the presupposition of naturalism. Arguing against this established convention, Jim Slagle offers a thorough defence of Alvin Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism (EAAN) and in doing so, reveals how it shows that evolution and naturalism are incompatible. Charting the development of Plantinga's argument, Slagle asserts that the probability of our cognitive faculties reliably producing true beliefs is low if ontological naturalism is true, and therefore all other beliefs produced by these faculties, including naturalism itself, are self-defeating. He critiques other well-known epistemological approaches, including those of Descartes and Quine, and deftly counters the many objections against the EAAN to conclude that metaphysical naturalism should be rejected on the grounds of self-defeat. By situating Plantinga's argument within a wider context and showing that science and evolution cannot entail naturalism, Slagle renders this most common metaphysical view irrational. As such, the book advocates an important reconsideration of contemporary thought at the intersection of philosophy, science and religion.

The Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism

The Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism
Author: Jim Slagle
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2021
Genre: Evolution (Biology)
ISBN: 9781350173149

"Contemporary discussions in metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of mind are dominated by the presupposition of naturalism. Arguing against this established convention, Jim Slagle offers a thorough defence of Alvin Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism (EAAN) and in doing so, reveals how it shows that evolution and naturalism are incompatible. Charting the development of Plantinga's argument, Slagle asserts that the probability of our cognitive faculties reliably producing true beliefs is low if ontological naturalism is true, and therefore all other beliefs produced by these faculties, including naturalism itself, are self-defeating. He critiques other well-known epistemological approaches, including those of Descartes and Quine, and deftly counters the many objections against the EAAN to conclude that metaphysical naturalism should be rejected on the grounds of self-defeat. By situating Plantinga's argument within a wider context and showing that science and evolution cannot entail naturalism, Slagle renders this most common metaphysical view irrational. As such, the book advocates an important reconsideration of contemporary thought at the intersection of philosophy, science and religion."--

World Without Design

World Without Design
Author: Michael Cannon Rea
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2002
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0199247609

"Philosophical naturalism has dominated the Western academy for well over a century. According to Michael Rea, however, there is an important sense in which naturalism's status as orthodoxy is without rational foundation, and the costs of embracing it are surprisingly high. The goal of World without Design is to defend these two claims, with special attention to the second." "The first part of the book aims to provide a fair and historically informed characterization of naturalism. The second part argues for the striking thesis that naturalists are committed to rejecting realism about material objects, materialism, and perhaps realism about other minds. Rea concludes by examining two alternative research programs: intuitionism and supernaturalism, and argues for the conclusion that, under certain circumstances, intuitionism is self-defeating."

Teleosemantics

Teleosemantics
Author: Graham Macdonald
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2006-09-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0199270260

Teleosemantics seeks to explain meaning and other intentional phenomena in terms of their function in the life of the species. This volume of new essays from an impressive line-up of well-known contributors offers a valuable summary of the current state of the teleosemantics debate.

Knowledge of God

Knowledge of God
Author: Alvin Plantinga
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2009-02-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1444301314

Is belief in God epistemically justified? That's the question at the heart of this volume in the Great Debates in Philosophy series, with Alvin Plantinga and Michael Tooley each addressing this fundamental question with distinctive arguments from opposing perspectives. The first half of the book contains each philosopher's explanation of his particular view; the second half allows them to directly respond to each other's arguments, in a lively and engaging conversation Offers the reader a one of a kind, interactive discussion Forms part of the acclaimed Great Debates in Philosophy series

Reason in the Balance

Reason in the Balance
Author: Phillip E. Johnson
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1998-06-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830819294

Phillip E. Johnson exposes the flawed underpinnings of naturalism in this discussion of evolution, sex education, abortion, God, the search for a grand unified theory in physics, what our public schools should teach, the basis of law and more.

On Alvin Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism

On Alvin Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument Against Naturalism
Author: Emmett Frank Mashburn
Publisher:
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

Alvin Plantinga's Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism (EAAN) begins with the following simple idea: the evolutionary process of natural selection selects organisms due to adaptive behaviors, but not necessarily due to true beliefs. If this notion is even possibly true, then it is also possible that some (or many) of our own beliefs are not veridical and that our reasoning processes may not successfully point to truths (but are merely evolutionarily advantageous). Once the deliverances and processes of our cognitive faculties have been thus called into question, it seems improper to provide an argument that one can trust one's cognitive faculties and processes (because such an argument requires the presupposition of what one is trying to prove). The reflective metaphysical naturalist, upon seeing this, realizes that she has a defeater for her belief in the reliability of her cognitive faculties, and this eventuates into a defeater for all of her beliefs (including the belief in naturalism). So, a belief in naturalism, when conjoined with a belief in current evolutionary theory, puts the reflective naturalist in an epistemically undesirable (i.e., irrational) position. It is better, Plantinga says, to discard one's belief in metaphysical naturalism. Plantinga's argument is not a globally skeptical one. His ultimate goal is to persuade people to give up naturalism as a metaphysical explanation, and to adopt theism instead. EAAN is an argument against naturalism that is intended to open a door for some later argument for theism; EAAN in itself is not an argument for theism. In this paper, I attempt to: (1) explain EAAN via its historical development and refinement; (2) examine what I feel to be some of the most important critiques of EAAN (along with some of Plantinga's responses); (3) put the argument in an Extended Summary in Logical Form; (4) comment upon the Extended Summary and, in the process of discussing the premises, settle upon what I feel to be the two main contested premises of EAAN; and, (5) conclude that Plantinga's argument has thus far survived attack, and explain why I expect it to continue to do so in the future.