Category Archives: philosophy

Plantinga’s ontological argument, take three

Posted by Chris Hallquist on December 16, 2011 19 comments

Rather than respond directly to comments on my previous post, I’m rewriting it, taking the issue “from the top” so to speak. The last four paragraphs are what I’d most like people to read and comment on, but the earlier parts are changed quite a bit too by adding a discussion of William Lane Craig. [...]

Soundness is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition being a good argument

Posted by Chris Hallquist on December 15, 2011 11 comments

I had been meaning to write something about this, but I decided to bump it up my to-do list after seeing this comment from Ashtad: If you aren’t denying its validity (and by your apparent admission in the comment I replied to above, you aren’t), then you’re admitting that it is, at least, “halfway good” [...]

Why Alvin Plantinga’s ontological argument isn’t even halfway good

Posted by Chris Hallquist on December 12, 2011 24 comments

Someone asked me to write about Alvin Plantinga, so I’ve decided to write another explanation of who his ontological argument isn’t any good, due to not being satisfied with what I’ve previously written on this. Please tell me if the following is clear enough. If people understand it, it will appear more or less as [...]

In defense of free will and experimental philosophy

Posted by Chris Hallquist on November 16, 2011 4 comments

Jerry Coyne is unhappy with a Eddy Nahmias’ defense of free will, published on the NYT opinionator blog. Here’s Nahmias: Many philosophers, including me, understand free will as a set of capacities for imagining future courses of action, deliberating about one’s reasons for choosing them, planning one’s actions in light of this deliberation and controlling [...]

The Mike Licona kerfluffle, and what it tells us about Evangelicals and inerrancy.

Posted by Chris Hallquist on November 15, 2011 12 comments

Okay, so there’s been a kerfluffle over Evangelical apologist Mike Licona and Biblical inerrancy, in which Licona ended up losing both his job as a professor at an Evangelical seminary and his job with the North American Mission Board. I hate to be seen as benefiting from someone else’s misfortune, but as a matter of [...]