Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 August 2009
Summary
As its title suggests, this book is about arguments about gods. More exactly, it is a book about arguments about orthodoxly conceived monotheistic gods. In particular, it focuses on the kinds of arguments that contemporary Christian philosophers of religion typically give when they give arguments on behalf of the claim that the orthodoxly conceived monotheistic god in which they happen to believe exists.
In this book, I take it for granted that there is nothing incoherent – doxastically impossible – in the idea that our universe was created ex nihilo by an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good being. I propose to consider this question further in a companion volume that is currently incomplete; however, I do not propose there to defend the view that there is something incoherent – doxastically impossible – in the idea that our universe was created ex nihilo by an omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good being.
The main thesis that I wish to defend in the present book is that there are no successful arguments about the existence of orthodoxly conceived monotheistic gods – that is, no arguments that ought to persuade those who have reasonable views about the existence of orthodoxly conceived monotheistic gods to change their minds. Since I also contend that there is a very wide range of reasonable views about the existence of orthodoxly conceived monotheistic gods that it is possible for reasonable people to maintain, I take it that the main thesis that I wish to defend is denied by many contemporary philosophers.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Arguing about Gods , pp. xv - xxPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006