G_d Without Arguments
I am beginning to think that the writer of this book is trying to see if we as readers are really paying attention to the chapter headings.
Chapter 6 was supposed to be about “Knowing G_d Without Arguments: Does Theism Need A Basis?” Instead, they argued theism against atheism like they have been doing for the entire book. All be it, the book is an interesting read, no matter how inconsistently its content is formatted.
This chapter noted some ideas from a few dead, white, old men. Three to be exact. Nicholas Wolterstroff makes a failed attempt at explaining what evidentialism is, leaving me trying to describe it in my own words once words again. Evidentialism is what you get when you either believer or disbelieve something based on the evidence at hand. It is the philosophers term for being undecided. Of course you know just as well as I do that people normally don’t think that way. Either you think there is a G_d or you do not. So evidentialism ends up being criticized on the very next page. They ended up building an argument when there was not suppose to be one. Obviously, evidentialism is not supposed to co-exist with religion.
Plantinga was next up to bat. Him, I liked a lot. He had a “so what is your point?” attitude about his opponents that left me laughing several times. I agreed with him on many of his points. Plantinga was used in another not so lucrative attempt to explain properly basic beliefs are what we base our other beliefs on in order for them to be considered rational by others. Plantinga then explains that using the Properly Basic Beliefs Formula does not mean that the belief is true. He than states that an individual can still believe in G_d when others believe G_d is not real, which is the closest this chapter came to doing what they set out to do.
Alston finishes up by discussing religious experience and religious knowledge. This was interesting logic. Does your religious experience qualify as a form of knowledge? I think it does. I stated in a previous paper that we get our religious education from the Man himself and it’s a personal thing that is what I was expecting them to just say in this chapter instead of pleading cases and arguing. Alston later says something that lead me to believe we would not have gotten along well had we known each other. He says “G_d has decreed that a human being will be aware of His presence in any clear and unmistakable fashion only when certain special and difficult conditions are satisfied.”I think we would have to talk that over.
Tags: Basic Beliefs Formula, Evidentialism, Reason + Religious Belief
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