22 found
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  1. 'Partially clad' Bare Particulars Exposed.Richard Brian Davis - 2003 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81 (4):534 – 548.
    In a recent series of articles, J. P. Moreland has attempted to revive the idea that bare particulars are indispensable for individuating concrete particulars. The success of the project turns on Moreland's proposal that while bare particulars are indeed 'partially clad'--that is, exemplify at least some properties--they are nevertheless 'bare' in that they lack internal constituents. I argue that 'partially clad' bare particulars (PCBPs) are impervious not only to traditional objections, but also those recently urged in this journal by D. (...)
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  2. A puzzle for particulars?David S. Brown & Richard Brian Davis - 2008 - Axiomathes 18 (1):49-65.
    In this paper we examine a puzzle recently posed by Aaron Preston for the traditional realist assay of property (quality) instances. Consider Socrates (a red round spot) and red1—Socrates’ redness. For the traditional realist, both of these entities are concrete particulars. Further, both involve redness being `tied to’ the same bare individuator. But then it appears that red1 is duplicated in its ‘thicker’ particular (Socrates), so that it can’t be predicated of Socrates without redundancy. According to Preston, this suggests that (...)
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  3.  44
    Where the Bootstrapping Really Lies.Paul M. Gould & Richard Brian Davis - 2017 - International Philosophical Quarterly 57 (4):415-428.
    Modified Theistic Activism is the view that abstract objects not essentially possessed by God fall under God’s creative activity in one way or another. Michelle Panchuk has argued that this position succumbs to the bootstrapping problem such that God is and is not logically prior to his properties—an incoherent and necessarily false state of affairs. In this essay we respond to Panchuk by arguing that our neo-Aristotelian account of substance and property possession successfully avoids the bootstrapping problem. Moreover, her own (...)
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  4. Are Bare Particulars Constituents?Richard Brian Davis - 2013 - Acta Analytica 28 (4):395-410.
    In this article I examine an as yet unexplored aspect of J.P. Moreland’s defense of so-called bare particularism — the ontological theory according to which ordinary concrete particulars (e.g., Socrates) contain bare particulars as individuating constituents and property ‘hubs.’ I begin with the observation that if there is a constituency relation obtaining between Socrates and his bare particular, it must be an internal relation, in which case the natures of the relata will necessitate the relation. I then distinguish various ways (...)
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  5. Plantinga's Defence and His Theodicy are Incompatible.Richard Brian Davis & W. Paul Franks - 2017 - In Klaas J. Kraay (ed.), Does God Matter?: Essays on the Axiological Consequences of Theism. Routledge. pp. 203–223.
    In this paper, we attempt to show that if Plantinga’s free will defence succeeds, his O Felix Culpa theodicy fails. For if every creaturely essence suffers from transworld depravity, then given that Jesus has a creaturely essence (as we attempt to show), it follows that Incarnation and Atonement worlds cannot be actualized by God, in which case we have anything but a felix culpa.
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  6. Against a Postmodern Pentecostal Epistemology.Richard Brian Davis & W. Paul Franks - 2013 - Philosophia Christi 15 (2):383-399.
    In this paper we explore the idea that Pentecostalism is best supported by conjoining it to a postmodern, narrative epistemology in which everything is a text requiring interpretation. On this view, truth doesn’t consist in a set of uninterpreted facts that make the claims of Christianity true; rather, as James K. A. Smith says, truth emerges when there is a “fit” or proportionality between the Christian story and one’s affective and emotional life. We argue that Pentecostals should reject this account (...)
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  7. How to Individuate Universals—Or Not.Richard Brian Davis - 2013 - Axiomathes 23 (3):551-566.
    In a recent article in this journal, J. P. Moreland extends his theory of individuation to include universals. In this note, I show how Moreland’s novel proposal leads to the unwanted conclusion that every concrete particular exists of necessity and has but a single essential property.
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  8. On Jesus, Derrida, and Dawkins: Rejoinder to Joshua Harris.Richard Brian Davis & W. Paul Franks - 2014 - Philosophia Christi 16 (1):185-191.
    In this paper we respond to three objections raised by Joshua Harris to our article, “Against a Postmodern Pentecostal Epistemology,” in which we express misgivings about the conjunction of Pentecostalism with James K. A. Smith’s postmodern, story-based epistemolo- gy. According to Harris, our critique: 1) problematically assumes a correspondence theory of truth, 2) invalidly concludes that “Derrida’s Axiom” conflicts with “Peter’s Axiom,” and 3) fails to consider an alternative account of the universality of Christian truth claims. We argue that Harris’s (...)
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  9. Evil and Agent-Causal Theism.Richard Brian Davis - 2019 - In W. Paul Franks (ed.), Explaining Evil: Four Views. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 11-28.
    In this chapter, I attempt to show that evil exists only if what I call Agent Causal Theism (ACT) is true. According to ACT, human beings are immaterial, conscious agents endued (by God) with a power of self-motion: the power to think, decide, and act for ends in light of reasons, but without being externally caused to do so (even by God himself). By contrast, I argue that there is no space for evil in the worldviews of naturalistic Darwinism or (...)
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  10. Is Socrates A Predicate?Richard Brian Davis - 2006 - Metaphysica 7 (2).
    In his Moderate Realism and Its Logic (Yale, 1996), Donald Mertz argues that the traditional ontology of nonpredicable substances and predicable universals is beset by “intractable problems,” “harbors an insidious error,” and constitutes a “stumbling block” for the ontologist. By contrast, a onecategory ontology consisting of relation instances (and combinations thereof) is sustainable, and indeed the only way of avoiding commitment to bare particulars. The success of the project turns on Mertz’s claim that every relation instance has a linking aspect, (...)
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  11. Layman’s Lapse: On an Incomplete Moral Argument for Theism.Richard Brian Davis & W. Paul Franks - 2013 - Philo 16 (2):170-179.
    C. Stephen Layman contends that an argument supporting theism over naturalism can be constructed based on three defensible, non–question-begging premises about the moral order. Previous critics of Layman’s argument have challenged the truth of these premises. We stipulate them arguendo but go on to show that there is a deeper problem: a fourth premise introduced to complete the argument—the “completion premise,” as we call it—is true only if we assume that God exists or we concede that there is no afterlife. (...)
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  12. What Place, then, for Rational Apologetics?Richard Brian Davis & W. Paul Franks - 2013 - In Paul Gould & Richard Brian Davis (eds.), Loving God with Your Mind: Essays in Honor of J. P. Moreland (edited book). Chicago, IL, USA: Moody Publishers. pp. 127–140.
    In this chapter, we attempt to show that J.P. Moreland's understanding of apologetics is beautifully positioned to counter resistance to a rationally defensible Christianity—resistance arising from the mistaken idea that any rational defense will fail to support or even undermine relationship. We look first at Paul Moser's complaint that since rational apologetics doesn’t prove the God of Christianity, it falls short of delivering what matters most—a personal agent worthy of worship and relationship. We then consider John Wilkinson's charge that the (...)
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  13.  22
    C. S. Lewis’s Argument against Naturalism Revisited.Richard Brian Davis - 2023 - Res Philosophica 100 (3):311-327.
    In this article, I critically assess Peter van Inwagen’s rejection of C. S. Lewis’s argument against Naturalism. Van Inwagen argues that Lewis (1960) errs on two fronts. First, he falsely assumes that Naturalism implies Spinozism: that the only way the world could be is the way it is. Second, the central premise of Lewis’s argument is asserted without proof. I argue that van Inwagen is mistaken on both counts.
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  14.  26
    A Premature Farewell to Leibnizian Essences.Richard Brian Davis - 2004 - Philosophia Christi 6 (1):87-94.
  15.  20
    Four Views on Christianity and Philosophy (edited book).Paul M. Gould & Richard Brian Davis - 2016 - Grand Rapids, MI, USA: Zondervan Academic.
    Philosophy and Christianity make truth claims about many of the same things. They both claim to provide answers to the deep questions of life. But how are they related to one another? Four Views on Christianity and Philosophy introduces readers to four predominant views on the relationship between philosophy and the Christian faith and their implications for life. Each author identifies the propositional relation between philosophy and Christianity along with a section devoted to the implications for living a life devoted (...)
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  16. The Dependence Problem: Theism, Counterpossibles, and Necessity.Richard Brian Davis - 1998 - Dissertation, University of Toronto
    This dissertation explores various attempts to solve the Dependence Problem problem posed by the following question: How can necessary truths stand to God in a one-way relation of dependence, given that neither they nor God could have failed to exist?
     
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  17.  37
    The Metaphysics of Theism and Modality.Richard Brian Davis - 2001 - New York, NY, USA: Peter Lang.
    In this book, Richard Brian Davis explores various attempts to solve the Dependence Problem – the problem posed by the following question: How can necessary truths stand to God in a one-way relation of dependence when neither they nor God could have failed to exist? Critics charge that this problem is insoluble. Davis argues at length that the most powerful and promising contemporary solutions to this problem – those offered by Linda Zagzebski, Brian Leftow, Thomas V. Morris, and William Mann (...)
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  18.  18
    The Risen Jesus and Future Hope.Richard Brian Davis - 2005 - Philosophia Christi 7 (1):231-234.
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  19.  11
    Zagzebski and Interesting Counterpossibles.Richard Brian Davis - 1997 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 71:125-136.
  20.  28
    Loving God with Your Mind: Essays in Honor of J. P. Moreland (edited book).Paul Gould & Richard Brian Davis - 2013 - Chicago, IL, USA: Moody Publishers.
    Over the past twenty-five years, no one has done more than J. P. Moreland to equip Christians to love God with their minds. In his work as a Christian philosopher, scholar, and apologist, he has influenced thousands of students, written groundbreaking books, and taught multitudes of Christians to defend their faith. -/- In honor of Moreland's ministry, general editors Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis have assembled a team of friends and colleagues to celebrate his work. In three major (...)
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  21.  25
    Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy: Curiouser and Curiouser.William Irwin & Richard Brian Davis (eds.) - 2009 - Wiley.
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  22.  8
    (1 other version)24 and Philosophy: The World According to Jack.Jennifer Hart Weed, Richard Brian Davis & Ronald Weed - 2007 - Wiley-Blackwell.
    '24 and Philosophy' is a book you just can't do without. It's all here, folks: the reason Presidents trust him; how Jack cuts through the lies and ambiguities; why he puts his life on the line for others; and how he knows which knee cap to blow out to get that all-important next lead. With the help of twenty "'24' crazed" philosophers, you'll figure out what makes this guy tick, and much much more. A witty, but philosophical exploration of the (...)
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