The Failure of Supernatural Hypotheses
Philo 3 (2):68-73 (2000)
| Abstract | By applying some of the standard criteria used to judge the adequacy of scientific explanations, Richard Swinburne tries to show that the best explanation of everything is that God exists. That is, he contends that the best explanation for the existence of the universe and human life is that there is a God. I contend that Swinburne is right to appeal to the criteria of adequacy but wrong to construe them as he does. The criteria, plausibly applied, show that the God hypothesis is actually inferior to naturalistic explanations. In fact, they provide excellent reasons for believing that the God hypothesis---indeed all supernatural explanations---are false | |||||||||
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Jennifer Hankeln, Matthias Schleiff & Paul Schã¶Ttner (2008). God or Multiverse? Swinburne on Fine-Tuning. In Richard Swinburne: Christian Philosophy in a Modern World. Ontos Verlag.
Quentin Smith (1998). Swinburne's Explanation of the Universe. Religious Studies 34 (1):91-102.
Reed Richter (2002). What Science Can and Cannot Say: The Problems with Methodological Naturalism. Reports of the National Center for Science Education 22 (Jan-Apr 2002):18-22.
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Steven M. Cahn (2007). Teaching About God. Teaching Philosophy 30 (1):29-33.
Victor Cosculluela (1997). Death and God: The Case of Richard Swinburne. Religious Studies 33 (3):293-302.
Jeremy Gwiazda (2009). Richard Swinburne, 'The Existence of God'. Sophia 48 (4):393 - 398.
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George Santayana (1932/1977). The Genteel Tradition at Bay. Haskell House.
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