Skeptical theism
Philosophy Compass 5 (7):611-623 (2010)
| Abstract | Most a posteriori arguments against the existence of God take the following form: (1) If God exists, the world would not be like this (where 'this' picks out some feature of the world like the existence of evil, etc.) (2) But the world is like this . (3) Therefore, God does not exist. Skeptical theists are theists who are skeptical of our ability to make judgments of the sort expressed by premise (1). According to skeptical theism, if there were a God, it is likely that he would have reasons for acting that are beyond our ken, and thus we are not justified in making all-things-considered judgments about what the world would be like if there were a God. In particular, the fact that we don't see a good reason for X does not justify the conclusion that there is no good reason for X. 1 Thus, skeptical theism purports to undercut most a posteriori arguments against the existence of God. What follows is an account of the nature of skeptical theism, an application of skeptical theism to both the argument from evil and the argument from divine hiddenness, and a review of the cases for and against skeptical theism. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,875 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJeff Snapper (2011). Paying the Cost of Skeptical Theism. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 69 (1):45-56.
Rob Lovering (2009). On What God Would Do. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 66 (2):87 - 104.
Ian Wilks (2009). Skeptical Theism and Empirical Unfalsifiability. Faith and Philosophy 26 (1):64-76.
Stephen Maitzen (2007). Skeptical Theism and God's Commands. Sophia 46 (3).
Justin P. McBrayer (2012). Are Skeptical Theists Really Skeptics? Sometimes Yes and Sometimes No. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 72 (1):3-16.
William Hasker (2010). All Too Skeptical Theism. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 68 (1):15-29.
Stephen Maitzen (2009). Skeptical Theism and Moral Obligation. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 65 (2):93 - 103.
Scott Sehon (forthcoming). The Problem of Evil: Skeptical Theism Leads to Moral Paralysis. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion.
Mark Piper (2007). Skeptical Theism and the Problem of Moral Aporia. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 62 (2):65 - 79.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-06-30Total downloads74 ( #11,448 of 556,888 )Recent downloads (6 months)4 ( #20,653 of 556,888 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
