Since its initial publication, Plantingas Free Will Defense has been a topic of much debate. Plantinga purports to show that the traditional problem of evil is not truly a problem, and that God and moral evil could possibly be consistent with one another. This is in response to Mackie who maintains that the claims (1) God is omnipotent, (2) God is wholly good, and (3) Evil exists. How does Plantinga accomplish such a feat? First, he shows that if we believe in the law of excluded middle, which seems plausible (Otte), we should believe that there are possible states of affairs involving free will which God cannot actualize. Now, we have to take as a base assumption that a world with free will and some moral evil is better than a world with neither, otherwise his defense is essentially obsolete. Based on this, Plantinga provides his model for something he calls eTransworld Depravity (TWD), a property that he thinks everybody possibly suffers from. Simply put (I will get into the logistics later), an essence E suffers from TWD iff, no matter what situations God weakly actualizes, E freely goes wrong with respect to at least one morally significant action. If it happens to be the case that every essence suffers from TWD, then, try as God might, He couldnt actualize a world with free will and no moral evil. All Plantinga has to do is show that it is possible that all essences suffer from TWD. First, he claims that it is obviously possible that one essence suffer from it, more generally, it is possible that every (essence) suffers from it(300). This argument is considered sound by many philosophers in the field, while others find it to be not as obvious as Plantinga contends. .
Daniel Howard-Snyder and John OLeary-Hawthorne find themselves to be part of this latter crowd that questions Plantingas assumption. They not only question TWDs possibility being obvious, indeed they find the claim highly contentious.
Well I might not be a pro but I know a few things about one of the greatest growing sports in the world, skateboarding. Skateboarding wasn't a big hit until the late fifty's early sixty's but before that kids used to take roller skate wheels and attach them to two by fours and try to ride them. No...
In order to describe the causes of the Cold War, it is important to fully understand what the Cold War actually means. The term "Cold War" means a war fought on every front except actual fighting. This includes propaganda, war of words and threats. Each side stockpiles weapons and forces, which it h...
Hawthorne embraces man's imperfect nature by criticizing the Puritan philosophy of total depravity through the characterization of Aylmer and Georgiana in "The Birthmark." Aylmer is significant in "The Birthmark" for symbolizing the Puritans' obsession with the depravity and wickedness in nature, not the beauty in nature. ... This "tragic outcome" reflects Hawthorne's objection to Aylmer's notion of ridding the birthmark as well as Hawthorne's criticism for the Puritan belief in the depravity of man. ... " Hawthorne begins by alluding...
The Cold War is a difficult term to define. It is a term used to describe the conflict between the U.S and Russia during the post-war period. However, there was no actual fighting between the two, just threats and anti-opposition propaganda. Another problem with the Cold war is that because it ...
Terrorism, which has been around for as long as people can remember, has been on the rise for the past ten years. Terrorists use murder, kidnapping, hijacking, and bombings to almost always achieve a political purpose. These radicals are not just subject to the United States, terrorism is all over t...
Proposal: Hydro, the name is derived from the primordial Greek God of waters, and also defined as a combining form meaning "water," consist of boardshorts with two 100% waterproof side-pockets. Unlike any other swimwear, you no longer have to remember to remove your valuables from your pockets befor...
The Puritans inquisitorially quested personal godliness and doctrinal correctness in addition to believing in absolute sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, and the complete dependence of human beings on depravity of man, and the complete dependence of human beings on divine grace for salvation. ...
Life's Sanctity "Do you know what it's like to be unable to scratch an itch or pull up a blanket? ... "And please do not speak to me of the sanctity of life, for this is not life" (Larsen 77). ... And please do not speak to me the sanctity of life, for this is not life" (77)....
