Alvin Plantinga

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  • Created by: ekenny5
  • Created on: 03-03-22 18:28
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  • Alvin Plantinga
    • challenged the view that natural theology provides sound reason to believe but revealed does not
      • says it is the other way round - revealed theology justifies Christian belief but natural theology can never provide sufficient reason
        • certainly not knowledge of God's love and grace
    • Basic Knowledge
      • a belief which is held to be true because it just is so and so it makes sense of many other experiences
        • other claims are made based on this fundamental knowledge
      • it is unlikely that there can ever be a totally convincing foundation of knowledge, but it is possible to have a broad agreement of what can be reasonably considered to be true
        • Plantinga refers to this as a 'warrant'
      • certain Christian revealed truths are basic
    • Sensus Divinitatis
      • there is no independent natural theology for knowledge of God, but there is a general religious sense which makes it reasonable to make religious claims
      • not the product of reason through philosophical arguments or the evidence of science
      • rejects natural theology but sensus divinitatis is a God given faculty for humans to be able to know God
      • basic knowledge is only available to Christians because only Christ can remove sin, which corrupts the sensus divinitatis
        • Basic Knowledge
          • a belief which is held to be true because it just is so and so it makes sense of many other experiences
            • other claims are made based on this fundamental knowledge
          • it is unlikely that there can ever be a totally convincing foundation of knowledge, but it is possible to have a broad agreement of what can be reasonably considered to be true
            • Plantinga refers to this as a 'warrant'
          • certain Christian revealed truths are basic
        • the Holy Spirit helps believers to respond to the defects
    • Responding to the Atheological Objector
      • someone who rejects all religious claims
      • religious claims merely lack evidence
        • religious belief is irrational
          • someone who rejects all religious claims
      • Plantinga responds saying that though there is no incorrigible proof of belief, but there can be good reasons to maintain it
        • there is no one totally convincing argument which proves, or at least provides a strong probability that God doesn't exist
      • belief in God's existence is no less rational than an atheist's non-belief in God
    • Criticisms
      • bandwagon fallacy - just because religious belief is popular throughout time, does not make it true
        • all of those people could be mistaken
      • gives no explanation for why Christian beliefs are true - no warrant for belief
      • the basic beliefs could be Christian, non-Christian or atheist. They could even be the tooth fairy
        • it doesn't make them true

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