DOCSLIB.ORG

Nong2019.Pdf (1.651Mb)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Nong2019.Pdf (1.651Mb) This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. The Ideal of Religious Purification: A Critical Enquiry into Hume’s two Concepts of True Religion Yongguang Nong PhD by Research in Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2019 TO MY PARENTS AND MY LOVE 1 Table of Contents Declaration………………………………………………………………………………….6 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….7 Abstract…………………………..…………………………………………………………8 Lay Summary………………………………………...…………………………………….9 Abbreviations……………………………………………………………………..………11 Introduction From Religious Criticism to True Religion……………………...…12 0.1 Hume’s Image as a Religious Critic…………………………………..12 0.2 True Religion and the Setting of the Dialogues……………………...15 0.3 Claims and Overview of the Dissertation…………………………….17 0.4 Methodology……………………………………………………………..21 0.5 Contributions and Limitations………………………………….………21 Chapter 1 Hume’s True religion: Genuine or Tactical? The Negative Readings and their Difficulties………………………………………………….…...23 1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………….23 1.2 The Ironical Readings: Mossner and Price…………………………...24 1.3 The Reconciliatory Readings…………………………………………..29 A. Reconciliation between Hume and the Orthodox: Millican, John and Manning………………………………………………………….31 B. Reconciliation between Philo and Cleanthes: O’Connor…………33 C. Reconciliation between Hume and the Moderates: Penelhum….35 1.4 The Deconstructive Readings: Smith, Flew and Zhou………………38 2 1.5 Hume’s Sincerity: A demonstration……………………………………41 1.6 Summary and Conclusion………………………………………………47 Chapter 2 What is True? The Theistic Readings and their Limitations……...49 2.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………..49 2.2 The Weak Theistic Readings……………………………………………49 A. Gaskin: “Attenuated Deism”…………………………………………50 B. Penelhum and Sessions: “Minimal Deism”………………………..55 C. Livingston and Yoder: “Philosophical Theism”……………………56 D. Immerwahr: “Aesthetic Theism”…………………………………….59 E. Willis: Basic Theism, Moderate Hope and Practical Morality……61 2.3 The Limitations of the Weak Theistic Readings………………………62 2.4 The Strong Theistic Readings…………………………………………..63 A. Pike: Deism from the “Irregular Argument”……………………..…63 B. Nathan’s “Immanent God”…………………………………………..65 C. Hamann’s Fideistic Reading………………………………………..68 D. Hardy’s Calvinistic Reading…………………………………………71 2.5 Hume’s Fideistic Accounts: A new explanation…………..…………...73 2.6 Summary and Conclusion……………………………………………….75 Chapter 3 Two Versions of True Religion: For the Learned and for the Vulgar...................................................................................................77 3.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………..77 3.2 Hume’s Description of False Religion………………………………….78 3.3 The Features of Philo’s True Religion………………………………….82 3 3.4 The Features of Cleanthes’ True Religion……………………………..86 3.5 The Learned and the Vulgar: The Basis for Hume’s Distinction…….93 3.6 Summary and Conclusion…………………………………………..….101 Chapter 4 Minimized Theology: On Philo’s True Religion…………………….103 4.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………103 4.2 Natural Theology: the Regular and Irregular argument…………….104 4.3 The Rareness and Thinness of Philo’s True Religion………………109 4.4 “Remote Probability”: The Epistemological Basis…………………...116 4.5 True Religion as an Application of Moderate Scepticism………..…123 4.6 Summary and Conclusion………………………………………….…..129 Chapter 5 Regulated Popular Religion: On Cleanthes’ True Religion………130 5.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………….130 5.2 The Negative and Positive Sides of Popular Religion……………….131 5.3 The Corruptions of Popular Religion…………………………………..137 5.4 The “Proper Office” of Popular Religion……………………………….142 5.5 The Morality of Popular Religion: A Reconsideration……………..…147 5.6 Summary and Conclusion………………………………………………153 Chapter 6 Hume’s Approaches towards the Realisation of True Religion…154 6.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………….154 6.2 A Philosophical Cure…………………………………………………….155 6.3 An Ideal State Church…………………………………………………..162 6.4 Historical Education and the Progress of Moral Taste………………169 4 6.5 Summary and Conclusion……………………………………………....172 Chapter 7 Hume’s Pragmatic Concern and its Implications…………………..174 7.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………….174 7.2 Hume’s Pragmatic Concern on True Religion………………………..175 7.3 Pragmatic Concern and True Religion in the Enlightenment……….178 7.4 Hume’s True Religion in a Present-day Context……………………..182 7.5 Summary and Conclusion………………………………………………188 REFERENCES……………..………………………………………………….…………189 5 Declaration I, Yongguang Nong, hereby declare the following. The present thesis, submitted for examination in pursuit of a PhD by Research in Philosophy, has been entirely composed by myself, and it has not been submitted in pursuit of any other academic degree, or professional qualification. Signature: Date: 6 Acknowledgements During the course of the writing of this thesis, I received generous help from many people without whom this endeavour would never have been possible. First, I would like to thank my supervisors, Duncan Pritchard and Alasdair Richmond, for their academic guidance, patience and support in the last three years. Their careful comments and encouragement have been essential for the completion of this dissertation. Many thanks also to Professor James Harris, Professor Gordon Graham, Professor David Fergusson, Professor Stewart Brown, Doctor Andre Willis and Doctor Margaret Watkins for their insightful comments on the early drafts of the thesis. I am pleased to offer my gratitude to the organizers and participants of the Bucharest Graduate Conference in Early Modern Philosophy held by Bucharest University in April 2017, and to the Scottish Philosophy Conference held by the Princeton Theological Seminary in March 2018. I deeply thank my family members, especially my parents, for their kind understanding, support and love throughout my years away from home. I am also indebted to Professor Xiangchen Sun, Professor Hui Lin, Professor Chong Hou and Professor Zhibin Xie, whose encouragement and assistance helped me to make the decision to leave China and study Hume’s philosophy in his own university. Special thanks are given to Jasmin Gerhäußer, who inspired me in our many deep and productive conversations, and who spent considerable time in helping me to revise this thesis. I must also thank my close friends Ju Wang, Jingjing Gong, Jianpeng Chen and Li Zou among others for their great company over the last years. Apart from the lovely people mentioned above, this research is generously sponsored by the joint scholarship by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and Edinburgh University. Many thanks for their financial assistance, which ensured that this project went smoothly. I am grateful to the staff of PPLS for their help in many aspects of my academic activities over the years of study. My sincere thanks to all of you. 7 Abstract This thesis explores the implications of Hume’s puzzling concept of true religion. The existing literature tends to either take it as entirely tactical or to read it from a theistic perspective. Focusing mainly on the Dialogues, this dissertation takes another route, arguing that while Hume is serious about the notion of true religion, his concern is pragmatic rather than theistic. The central argument is that Hume has, in fact, provided two very different versions of true religion in the Dialogues: Philo’s version is a minimized theology for “the learned”, while Cleanthes proposes an ideal of regulated popular religion for “the vulgar”. Overall, Hume attempts to find a proper position for religion in a modern society by restricting theology to a limited academic sphere and regulating the priestly power under the civil authority. In particular, Chapters 1 and 2 investigate the arguments and difficulties of the atheistic and theistic readings of Hume’s true religion, showing that true religion is likely to be Hume’s own idea and that his concern about the topic is secular in nature. Chapter 3 presents a textual reading of the statements of true religion by Philo and Cleanthes in the Dialogues, suggesting that their differences originate from Hume’s distinction between “the learned” and “the vulgar”, which is of great significance in his philosophy, as well as throughout his personal life. Chapters 4 and 5 explore the implications of Philo’s and Cleanthes’ concept of true religion respectively, showing that the former admits to a limited form of theism that rests on an epistemological “remote probability”, while the latter explores the potential benefits of popular religion in the moral and political sphere. Chapter 6 reconstructs three approaches to achieving the ideal of true religion from Hume’s texts: a philosophical cure, a tolerant state church, and historical education for the progress
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Philosophic Study of Religion (With Editorial
    ; THE PHILOSOPHIC STUDY OF RELIGION. BY GEORGE A. BARROW. THE age of the opposition of religion to philosophy has gone by not, however, as has been sometimes said, to give place to an era of good feeling, which is virtually a triumph for the philos- opher, but to be succeeded by a period of indifference to pJiilosophy. The religious leader of to-day does not oppose, he disregards, phi- losophy. Academic circles have not recognized this to any extent, but to an outsider nothing is more marked than the weariness of even educated laymen with any form of philosophical discussion. They care less for it than they do for the old dogmatic sermons of our fathers. The movement of our religious and church life to-day is more practical, we say, and rightly. I do not, however, believe that this is due to any depreciation of philosophy on the part of the religious man, but only to the feeling that the philosopher has not con- sidered him. The study I have undertaken in this paper is to find and set forth the explanation of this disregard. In the modern philosophical study of religion there are three directions of advance. The interest that undoubtedly does exist on the part of the student of philosophy towards religion takes the form either of a study of theism, of the science of religion, or of the philosophy of religion. Theism exists either as the philosophic form of orthodox theology, or as the philosophic construction of monism or absolutism. In the first case we have the same attitude to religion whether we are dealing with an advocate of the idea of a divine revelation above reason, or with a man who draws his arguments for that revelation from current philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • A Philosophical Investigation of the Nature of God in Igbo Ontology
    Open Journal of Philosophy, 2015, 5, 137-151 Published Online March 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojpp http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojpp.2015.52016 A Philosophical Investigation of the Nature of God in Igbo Ontology Celestine Chukwuemeka Mbaegbu Department of Philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria Email: [email protected] Received 25 February 2015; accepted 3 March 2015; published 4 March 2015 Copyright © 2015 by author and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract In its general task, philosophy as an academic or professional exercise is a conscious, critical, per- sonal reflection on human experience, on man, and how he perceives and interprets his world. This article specifically examines the nature of God in Igbo ontology. It is widely accepted by all philosophers that man in all cultures has the ability to philosophize. This was what Plato and Aris- totle would want us to believe, but it is not the same as saying that man has always philosophized in the academic meaning of the word in the sense of a coherent, systematic inquiry, since power and its use are different things altogether. Using the method of analysis and hermeneutics this ar- ticle sets out to discover, find out the inherent difficulties in the common sense views, ideas and insights of the pre-modern Igbo of Nigeria to redefine, refine and remodel them. The reason is sim- ple: Their concepts and nature of realities especially that of the nature of God were very hazy, in- articulate and confusing.
    [Show full text]
  • God Is Not a Person (An Argument Via Pantheism)
    International Journal for Philosophy of Religion (2019) 85:281–296 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-018-9678-x ARTICLE God is not a person (an argument via pantheism) Simon Hewitt1 Received: 22 November 2017 / Accepted: 3 July 2018 / Published online: 6 July 2018 © The Author(s) 2018 Abstract This paper transforms a development of an argument against pantheism into an objection to the usual account of God within contemporary analytic philosophy (’Swinburnian theism’). A standard criticism of pantheism has it that pantheists cannot ofer a satisfactory account of God as personal. My paper will develop this criticism along two lines: frst, that personhood requires contentful mental states, which in turn necessitate the membership of a linguistic community, and second that personhood requires limitation within a wider context constitutive of the ’setting’ of the agent’s life. Pantheism can, I argue, satisfy neither criterion of personhood. At this point the tables are turned on the Swinburnian theist. If the pantheist cannot defend herself against the personhood-based attacks, neither can the Swinburnian, and for instructively parallel reasons: for neither doctrine is God in the material world; in the pantheist case God is identical with the world, in the Swinburnian case God transcends it. Either way both the pantheist and the Swinburnian are left with a dilemma: abandon divine personhood or modify the doctrine of God so as to block the move to personhood. Keywords Pantheism · Divine personhood · Apophaticism · Divine language Is God a person? Since the advent of philosophy of religion in the analytic tradi- tion the consensus of opinion has favoured answering this question in the afrma- tive (as we will see in due course).
    [Show full text]
  • Religion-And-The-Challenges.Pdf
    RELIGION AND THE CHALLENGES OF SCIENCE Does science pose a challenge to religion and religious belief? This question has been a matter of long•standing debate • and it continues to concern not only scholars in philosophy, theology, and the sciences, but also those involved in public educational policy. This volume provides background to the current ‘science and religion’ debate, yet focuses as well on themes where recent discussion of the relation between science and religion has been particularly concentrated. The first theme deals with the history of the interrelation of science and religion. The second and third themes deal with the implications of recent work in cosmology, biology and so•called intelligent design for religion and religious belief. The fourth theme is concerned with ‘conceptual issues’ underlying, or implied, in the current debates, such as: Are scientific naturalism and religion compatible? Are science and religion bodies of knowledge or practices or both? Do religion and science offer conflicting truth claims? By illuminating contemporary discussion in the science•religion debate and by outlining the options available in describing the relation between the two, this volume will be of interest to scholars and to members of the educated public alike. This page intentionally left blank Religion and the Challenges of Science Edited by WILLIAM SWEET St Francis Xavier University, Canada and RICHARD FEIST Saint Paul University, Canada © William Sweet and Richard Feist 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
    [Show full text]
  • Theistic Critiques of Atheism William Lane Craig Used by Permission of in the Cambridge Companion to Atheism, Pp
    Theistic Critiques Of Atheism William Lane Craig Used by permission of In The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, pp. 69-85. Ed. M. Martin. Cambridge Companions to Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, 2007. SUMMARY An account of the resurgence of philosophical theism in our time, including a brief survey of prominent anti-theistic arguments such as the presumption of atheism, the incoherence of theism, and the problem of evil, along with a defense of theistic arguments like the contingency argument, the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, and the moral argument. THEISTIC CRITIQUES OF ATHEISM Introduction The last half-century has witnessed a veritable revolution in Anglo-American philosophy. In a recent retrospective, the eminent Princeton philosopher Paul Benacerraf recalls what it was like doing philosophy at Princeton during the 1950s and '60s. The overwhelmingly dominant mode of thinking was scientific naturalism. Metaphysics had been vanquished, expelled from philosophy like an unclean leper. Any problem that could not be addressed by science was simply dismissed as a pseudo-problem. Verificationism reigned triumphantly over the emerging science of philosophy. "This new enlightenment would put the old metaphysical views and attitudes to rest and replace them with the new mode of doing philosophy." [1] The collapse of the Verificationism was undoubtedly the most important philosophical event of the twentieth century. Its demise meant a resurgence of metaphysics, along with other traditional problems of philosophy which Verificationism had suppressed. Accompanying this resurgence has come something new and altogether unanticipated: a renaissance in Christian philosophy. The face of Anglo-American philosophy has been transformed as a result.
    [Show full text]
  • On Kalam Argument
    An Argument for God Software Engineering Last updated Wednesday, December 02, 1998 THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT (Written not by Curtis Hrischuk but by some other fellow) What follows is a short presentation of the Kalam Cosmological Argument for the existence of God. The sources used in this presentation are documented according to current Modern Language Association standards. Consult the cited works of Craig for a more thorough statement and defense of the argument. The KCA has its roots in medieval Arabic philosophy and theology. The Arabic word "kalam" means "speech," but more broadly it means "natural theology" or "philosophical theism" (Craig, KALAM, 4). The distinctive feature of kalam-style cosmology is its stress on the impossibility of the actual infinite. Put simply, kalam arguments try to demonstrate (1) that the existence of an actual infinite (a concept from modern set theory to be discussed shortly) is impossible and (2) that even if it were possible, the universe itself is not actually infinite and hence must have had a beginning. The KCA has also been defended by Christian and Jewish philosophers. It is currently being defended by professional philosophers William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland. The majority of what follows comes from Craig's defense of the argument, though I will use my own words and sometimes my own examples and comments. Here is an outline of the argument-- [1] The universe either had: [A] a beginning [B] or no beginning [2] If it had a beginning, the beginning was either: [A] caused [B] or uncaused [3] If it had a cause, the cause was either: [A] personal [B] or not personal The KCA works by supporting the [A] option of each premise and then using it in the following premise.
    [Show full text]
  • Seiler Dds Theistic Spin
    PHILOSOPHY DD PALMER’S THEISTIC SPIN ON BIOLOGY AND THE MODERN EFFORT TO HIDE IT Eric Seiler Introduction ‘Let’s hijack the other guy’s thought And tie it all up in a knot And contend that his buzz Was not what it was But something we know it was not’ ‘Every important chiropractic idea that I have advanced has been bitterly … a large hunk of our assailed, yet, although somewhat discouraged at times, I have not turned profession continues to fracture away from from that which I knew was correct.’ subluxation-based care. DD Palmer M e d i c a l l y m i n d e d chiropractic educators his essay will take a wide-open look at one of the more controversial sneer at the work of our founders and poison T subjects in the original portrait of the philosophy of chiropractic painted the minds of fledging by our esteemed founder, Daniel David Palmer. That subject is God, or at least chiropractic students u s i n g s t r a i g h t his repeated use of the word God in association with what he believed holds chiropractors’ alleged belief in vitalism and the universe and life in organised existence. What follows is tailored to those o t h e r n o n - m a t e r i a l members of the chiropractic profession with an interest in our original constructs as part of their constellation of philosophy, and how its arguably theistic overtones have been handled over arguments against the time.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Atheism (The Fact) Good Evidence for Atheism (The Thesis)? on John Schellenberg’S Argument from Ignorance
    IS ATHEISM (THE FACT) GOOD EVIDENCE FOR ATHEISM (THE THESIS)? ON JOHN SCHELLENBERG’S ARGUMENT FROM IGNORANCE CYRILLE MICHON Université de Nantes Abstract. The argument from ignorance mounted by John Schellenberg argues from the existence of non-faulty unbelief to the non-existence of God, from the fact of atheism or agnosticism to the truth of atheism. It relies on two putative conceptual relations: between the idea of love and that of personal relationship, and between personal relationship and existential belief on each side of the relation concerning the other relatum. I argue that each is debatable, and so the argument cannot proceed. Atheism is the thesis that there is no God. But it is also the fact that some people believe that thesis, they believe that there is no God. Of course, the precise content of both the thesis and the fact depends on the notion of God that is at stake. We may at least conceive a distinction between a concept of God relying on a pure metaphysical property, like that of supreme or necessary being, or of first cause, involving some special attributes (the so-called omni-attributes: omnipotence, omniscience, omniperfection) and a concept that relies on a moral dimension and adds to the idea of supremacy, perfection or creation, that such a being is personal, endowed with knowledge and volition, and is a loving person – a supremely or perfectly loving person. Since the metaphysical thesis that there is a first being (in perfection, causality, etc.) is only philosophical, or proper to some philosophers, we could call it ‘philosophical theism’ and its denial ‘philosophical atheism’.
    [Show full text]
  • The Existence of God in Hans Kã¼ng's Does God Exist?
    Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers Volume 3 Issue 2 Article 4 4-1-1986 The Existence of God in Hans Küng's Does God Exist? Gregory P. Rocca Follow this and additional works at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy Recommended Citation Rocca, Gregory P. (1986) "The Existence of God in Hans Küng's Does God Exist?," Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers: Vol. 3 : Iss. 2 , Article 4. DOI: 10.5840/faithphil19863214 Available at: https://place.asburyseminary.edu/faithandphilosophy/vol3/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers by an authorized editor of ePLACE: preserving, learning, and creative exchange. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD IN HANS KUNG'S DOES GOD EXIST Gregory Rocca This paper examines Kling's procedure in justifying God at the bar of reason. He first counters nihilism by fundamental trust in reality, which affirms reality as coherent and meaningful. Hc then builds his case for theism upon trust in God, which is itself the condition of the possibility of fundamental trust in reality. Although claiming an intrinsic rationality for both these acts of trust, his position is ultimately reducible to the fideistic answer to the question of God and thus not justifiable at the bar of reason. A philosophical theology, however, should employ reason in favor of the decision for God. In his recent book, Does God Exist, Hans Kung has given us a thoughtful treatment of the question of God's existence that purports to be a rational justifi­ cation of God supportable at the bar of reason.' Reviewers have had much to say in praise of his book, hailing it as a provocative and gripping discussion of the problem of God.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophical Theology and the Christian Tradition: Russian and Western Perspectives
    Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series IVA, Eastern and Central Europe, Volume 44 Series VIII, Christian Philosophical Studies, Volume 3 General Editor George F. McLean Philosophical Theology and the Christian Tradition: Russian and Western Perspectives Russian Philosophical Studies, V Christian Philosophical Studies, III Edited by David Bradshaw The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2012 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Box 261 Cardinal Station Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Philosophical theology and the Christian traditions : Russian and Western perspectives / edited by David Bradshaw. p. cm. – (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series IVA, Eastern & Central European philosophical studies ; v. 44) (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series VIII, Christian philosophical studies ; v. 3) Proceedings of a conference held June 1-3, 2010 at Moscow State University. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Philosophical theology--Congresses 2. Philosophy and religion--Congresses. 3. Theology, Doctrinal--Congresses. I. Bradshaw, David, 1960- BT40.P445 2012 2012017634 230.01--dc23 CIP ISBN 978-1-56518-275-2 (paper) This publication was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 David Bradshaw Chapter I. Philosophy of Religion and the Varieties of 5 Rational Theology Vladimir Shokhin Chapter II. Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice 21 Richard Swinburne Chapter III. Models of the Trinity in Patristic Theology 31 Alexey Fokin Chapter IV.
    [Show full text]
  • This Is a Draft. Please Do Not Cite! the Final Version Is Available in European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Vol
    This is a Draft. Please do not Cite! The final version is available in European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 10, No. 1., Direct Link THE PROBLEM OF ALTERNATIVE MONOTHEISMS: ANOTHER SERIOUS CHALLENGE TO THEISM Raphael Lataster1 University of Sydney Abstract. Theistic and analytic philosophers of religion typically privilege classical theism by ignoring or underestimating the great threat of alternative monotheisms.2 In this article I discuss numerous god- 10.24204/EJPR.V10I1.1801 models, such as those involving weak, stupid, evil, morally indifferent, and non-revelatory gods. I find DOI: that theistic philosophers have not successfully eliminated these and other possibilities, or argued for their relative improbability. In fact, based on current evidence — especially concerning the hiddenness of God and the gratuitous evils in the world — many of these hypotheses appear to be more probable than theism. Also considering the — arguably infinite — number of alternative monotheisms, the inescapable conclusion is that theism is a very improbable god-concept, even when it is assumed that one and only Final Version: Version: Final one transcendent god exists. I. THE PROBLEM Numerous sceptical scholars analyse and scrutinise arguments for the existence of at least one god, generally finding them wanting.3 Furthermore, when such arguments are combined, and contrasted against contra arguments, critical scholars conclude that such cases are not sufficient to make probable the existence of a god or gods. Whilst I concur, I shall reflect on what can be known about the existence of god/s if (many or most of) the arguments are DRAFTgenerally assumed to be persuasive.4 In other words, for the sake of argument, and whilst formulating my argument within the framework of a Bayesian approach,5 I shall temporarily suppose that there is good evidence that supports divine existence, and overlook the many good arguments for ontological naturalism, in the sense of the thesis that there are no gods.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dialectical Method of Martin Luther King
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ETD - Electronic Theses & Dissertations THEOLOGIAN OF SYNTHESIS: THE DIALECTICAL METHOD OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AS REVEALED IN HIS CRITICAL THINKING ON THEOLOGY, HISTORY, AND ETHICS By George Russell Seay, Jr. Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Religion December 2008 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Professor Victor Anderson Professor Lewis Baldwin Professor Paul DeHart Professor Peter Hodgson Copyright © 2008 by G. Russell Seay, Jr. All Rights Reserved Dedicated to Elder Joseph W. McCoy Friend, Mentor, Confidant, and Patron Saint iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My journey to the completion of this dissertation and Ph.D. program is liken to the turtle perched on the gatepost. It could not have gotten there by itself. There are so many persons that have contributed to my completing this program. My undergraduate professors at Oakwood College were Clifford Pitts, my theology teacher who opened up to me the world of theology and sparked an interest that would be fanned into a blaze. Benjamin Reaves, my homiletics professor who demonstrated that theology at its best serves the preaching moment. My teachers at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, Raoul Dederen, Norman Miles, Robert Johnston, Walter Douglass, Fritz Guy, and Hans LaRondale, who grounded me in my faith tradition by insisting that “faith seeking understanding is a life long journey.” I would like to thank my professors at Vanderbilt. The classes and seminars of Sallie McFague, Eugene TeSelle, Edward Farley, Victor Anderson, Lewis Baldwin, Peter Hodgson and Paul DeHart were challenging, provocative, and stimulating.
    [Show full text]