Philosophy of Religion A Guide and Anthology

by Davies, Brian

• ISBN13: 9780198751946
• ISBN10: 019875194X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-14
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Is it possible to be both a philosopher and a religious believer? Is philosophy a friend or foe to religious belief? Does talk of God make sense? Does God exist? What is God? Essential for anyone pondering these and similar questions, Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and Anthology provides a comprehensive, authoritative, and accessible overview of the subject. Carefully edited by Brian Davies, it contains a wide-ranging selection of 65 of the best classical and contemporary writings on the philosophy of religion, together with substantial commentary, introductory material, discussion questions, and detailed guides to further reading. The editorial material sets the selections in context and guides students through the readings. Part I of the book examines the relation between philosophy and religion; Parts II-IV consider the existence and nature of God; Part V addresses the "problem of evil" that has puzzled thinkers for centuries; and Parts VI and VII are devoted to the relationship between morality and religion and to the question of life after death. An extensive treatment of the major issues that Western philosophers have faced in thinking about religion, Philosophy of Religion is an exceptional text. No other book on the market offers this combination of introductory guide along with such a substantial anthology of readings.

Author Biography

Brian Davies is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University. He is a Catholic Priest and Dominican Friar, and is General Editor of the series "Outstanding Christian Thinkers" and the Oxford series "Medieval Minds."

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	xv
General introduction	1	(10)
Advice on further reading	11	(6)
Part I Philosophy and religious belief
Introduction	17	(8)
Faith and reason in harmony	25	(6)
Thomas Aquinas
The ethics of belief	31	(5)
W. K. Clifford
The presumption of atheism	36	(6)
Antony Flew
Religious belief as `properly basic'	42	(53)
Alvin Plantinga
Evidence and religious belief	95	(13)
Norman Kretzmann
Grammar and religious belief	108	(7)
D. Z. Phillips
The groundlessness of religious belief	115	(26)
Norman Malcolm
Questions for discussion	123	(1)
Advice on further reading	124	(5)
Part II The problem of God-Talk
Introduction	129	(12)
How believers find God-Talk puzzling	141	(2)
Augustine of Hippo
God-Talk is evidently nonsense	143	(4)
A. J. Ayer
God-Talk is not evidently nonsense	147	(6)
Richard Swinburne
`Death by a thousand qualifications'	153	(3)
Antony Flew
One way of understanding God-Talk	156	(30)
Thomas Aquinas
Questions for discussion	168	(1)
Advice on further reading	169	(6)
Part III Arguments for God's existence
Introduction	175	(2)
Advice on further reading	177	(2)
Cosmological arguments
Introduction	179	(7)
A concise cosmological argument from the eleventh century	186	(2)
Anselm of Canterbury
A thirteenth-century cosmological argument	188	(3)
Thomas Aquinas
A fourteenth-century cosmological argument	191	(3)
John Duns Scotus
A seventeenth-century cosmological argument	194	(2)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
A modern cosmological argument	196	(6)
Herbert McCabe
Objections to cosmological arguments	202	(11)
Paul Edwards
More objections to cosmological arguments	213	(17)
J. L. Mackie
Why is a cause always necessary?	230	(3)
David Hume
`Whatever has a beginning of existence must have a cause'	233	(6)
G. E. M. Anscombe
Can there be an endless regress of causes?	239	(12)
James A. Sadowsky
Questions for discussion	242	(1)
Advice on further reading	243	(2)
Design arguments
Introduction	245	(6)
Is the world ruled by providence?	251	(2)
Thomas Aquinas
An especially famous design argument	253	(7)
William Paley
We cannot know that the world is designed by God	260	(11)
David Hume
The limits of design arguments	271	(3)
Immanuel Kant
God, regularity, and David Hume	274	(12)
R. G. Swinburne
Can design arguments be defended today?	286	(25)
Robert Hambourger
Questions for discussion	301	(1)
Advice on further reading	302	(2)
Ontological arguments
Introduction	304	(7)
Anselm argues that God cannot be thought not to exist	311	(2)
Anselm of Canterbury
Gaunilo argues that Anselm is wrong	313	(5)
Gaunilo of Marmoutiers
Anselm replies to Gaunilo	318	(9)
Anselm of Canterbury
Descartes defends an ontological argument	327	(3)
Rene Descartes
Descartes replies to critics	330	(7)
Pierre Gassendi
Johannes Caterus
Rene Descartes
A classic repudiation of ontological arguments	337	(5)
Immanuel Kant
A contemporary defence of ontological arguments	342	(20)
Alvin Plantinga
Questions for discussion	353	(1)
Advice on further reading	354	(2)
God and human experience
Introduction	356	(6)
Why `knowing God by experience' is a notion open to question	362	(8)
C. B. Martin
Can we know God by experience?	370	(12)
Peter Donovan
Why should there not be experience of God?	382	(20)
William P. Alston
Questions for discussion	387	(1)
Advice on further reading	388	(5)
Part IV What is God?
Introduction	393	(2)
Advice on further reading	395	(2)
Omnipotent
Introduction	397	(5)
A modern discussion of divine omnipotence	402	(13)
Thomas V. Morris
Why think of God as omnipotent?	415	(7)
Thomas Aquinas
Miracles and laws of nature	422	(8)
Richard Swinburne
Why we should disbelieve in miracles	430	(16)
David Hume
Questions for discussion	436	(1)
Advice on further reading	437	(2)
Knowing
Introduction	439	(7)
Why ascribe knowledge to God?	446	(10)
Thomas Aquinas
Omniscience and human freedom: a classic discussion	456	(9)
Boethius
Problems for the notion of divine omniscience	465	(17)
Nelson Pike
Questions for discussion	473	(1)
Advice on further reading	474	(2)
Eternal
Introduction	476	(6)
Why call God `eternal'?	482	(3)
Thomas Aquinas
God is `everlasting', not `eternal'	485	(20)
Nicholas Wolterstorff
A modern defence of divine eternity	505	(14)
Elenore Stump
Norman Kretzmann
A different modern defence of divine eternity	519	(20)
Paul Helm
Questions for discussion	531	(1)
Advice on further reading	532	(1)
Simple
Introduction	533	(6)
A classic defence of divine simplicity	539	(6)
Thomas Aquinas
Problems with divine simplicity	545	(4)
Thomas V. Morris
A modern defence of divine simplicity	549	(32)
Brian Davies
Questions for discussion	565	(1)
Advice on further reading	566	(5)
Part V The problem of evil
Introduction	571	(10)
Evil shows that there is no God	581	(11)
J. L. Mackie
What is evil?	592	(7)
Augustine of Hippo
Evil does not show that there is no God	599	(15)
Richard Swinburne
God, evil, and divine responsibility	614	(11)
Herbert McCabe
God and human freedom	625	(14)
Thomas Aquinas
Questions for discussion	628	(1)
Advice on further reading	629	(4)
Part VI Morality and religion
Introduction	633	(6)
God as a `postulate' of sound moral thinking	639	(7)
Immanuel Kant
Why morality implies the existence of God	646	(13)
H. P. Owen
Moral thinking as awareness of God	659	(9)
Illtyd Trethowan
Morality does not imply the existence of God	668	(23)
Kai Nielsen
Questions for discussion	682	(1)
Advice on further reading	683	(4)
Part VII People and life after death
Introduction	687	(4)
Philosophy and life after death: the questions and the options	691	(17)
Steven T. Davis
Life after death: an ancient Greek view	708	(13)
Plato
Belief in life after death comes from emotion, not reason	721	(3)
Bertrand Russell
What must be true of me if I survive my death?	724	(11)
Peter Geach
Questions for discussion	732	(1)
Advice on further reading	733	(2)
Index	735