Read Books Online and Download eBooks, EPub, PDF, Mobi, Kindle, Text Full Free.
An Evaluation Of The Teleological Argument
Download An Evaluation Of The Teleological Argument full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online An Evaluation Of The Teleological Argument ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!
Download or read book God and Design written by Neil A. Manson and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent discoveries in physics, cosmology, and biochemistry have captured the public imagination and made the Design Argument - the theory that God created the world according to a specific plan - the object of renewed scientific and philosophical interest. This accessible but serious introduction to the design problem brings together new perspectives from prominent scientists and philosophers including Paul Davies, Richard Swinburne, Sir Martin Rees, Michael Behe, Elliot Sober and Peter van Inwagen. It probes the relationship between modern science and religious belief, considering their points of conflict and their many points of similarity. Is the real God of creationism the 'master clockmaker' who sets the world's mechanism on a perfectly enduring course, or a miraculous presence who continually intervenes in and alters the world we know? Are science and faith, or evolution and creation, really in conflict at all? Expanding the parameters of a lively and urgent debate, God and Design considers how perennial questions of origin continue to fascinate and disturb us.
Book Synopsis Natural Theology : Or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity by : William Paley
Download or read book Natural Theology : Or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity written by William Paley and published by . This book was released on 1831 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Aristotle on Teleology by : Monte Ransome Johnson
Download or read book Aristotle on Teleology written by Monte Ransome Johnson and published by Clarendon Press. This book was released on 2005-11-03 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Monte Johnson examines one of the most controversial aspects of Aristiotle's natural philosophy: his teleology. Is teleology about causation or explanation? Does it exclude or obviate mechanism, determinism, or materialism? Is it focused on the good of individual organisms, or is god or man the ultimate end of all processes and entities? Is teleology restricted to living things, or does it apply to the cosmos as a whole? Does it identify objectively existent causes in the world, or is it merely a heuristic for our understanding of other causal processes? Johnson argues that Aristotle's aporetic approach drives a middle course between these traditional oppositions, and avoids the dilemma, frequently urged against teleology, between backwards causation and anthropomorphism. Although these issues have been debated with extraordinary depth by Aristotle scholars, and touched upon by many in the wider philosophical and scientific community as well, there has been no comprehensive historical treatment of the issue. Aristotle is commonly considered the inventor of teleology, although the precise term originated in the eighteenth century. But if teleology means the use of ends and goals in natural science, then Aristotle was rather a critical innovator of teleological explanation. Teleological notions were widespread among his predecessors, but Aristotle rejected their conception of extrinsic causes such as mind or god as the primary causes for natural things. Aristotle's radical alternative was to assert nature itself as an internal principle of change and an end, and his teleological explanations focus on the intrinsic ends of natural substances - those ends that benefit the natural thing itself. Aristotle's use of ends was subsequently conflated with incompatible 'teleological' notions, including proofs for the existence of a providential or designer god, vitalism and animism, opposition to mechanism and non-teleological causation, and anthropocentrism. Johnson addresses these misconceptions through an elaboration of Aristotle's methodological statements, as well as an examination of the explanations actually offered in the scientific works.
Book Synopsis The Design Argument by : Elliott Sober
Download or read book The Design Argument written by Elliott Sober and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-29 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Element analyzes the various forms that design arguments for the existence of God can take, but the main focus is on two such arguments. The first concerns the complex adaptive features that organisms have. Creationists who advance this argument contend that evolution by natural selection cannot be the right explanation. The second design argument - the argument from fine-tuning - begins with the fact that life could not exist in our universe if the constants found in the laws of physics had values that differed more than a little from their actual values. Since probability is the main analytical tool used, the Element provides a primer on probability theory.
Book Synopsis Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God by : Jerry Walls
Download or read book Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God written by Jerry Walls and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirty years ago, Alvin Plantinga gave a lecture called "Two Dozen (or so) Theistic Arguments," which served as an underground inspiration for two generations of scholars and students. In it, he proposed a number of novel and creative arguments for the existence of God which have yet to receive the attention they deserve. In Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God, each of Plantinga's original suggestions, many of which he only briefly sketched, is developed in detail by a wide variety of accomplished scholars. The authors look to metaphysics, epistemology, semantics, ethics, aesthetics, and beyond, finding evidence for God in almost every dimension of reality. Those arguments new to natural theology are more fully developed, and well-known arguments are given new life. Not only does this collection present ground-breaking research, but it lays the foundations for research projects for years to come.
Book Synopsis Logic and Theism by : Jordan Howard Sobel
Download or read book Logic and Theism written by Jordan Howard Sobel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-11-10 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a wide-ranging 2004 book about arguments for and against beliefs in God. This book will be a valuable resource for philosophers of religion and theologians and will interest logicians and mathematicians as well.
Book Synopsis In Defense of Natural Theology by : James F. Sennett
Download or read book In Defense of Natural Theology written by James F. Sennett and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2005-10-04 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James F. Sennett and Douglas Groothuis have assembled a distinguished array of scholars to examine the Humean legacy with care and make the case for a more robust, if chastened, natural theology after Hume.
Book Synopsis Where the Conflict Really Lies by : Alvin Plantinga
Download or read book Where the Conflict Really Lies written by Alvin Plantinga and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this long-awaited book, pre-eminent analytical philosopher Alvin Plantinga argues that the conflict between science and theistic religion is actually superficial, and that at a deeper level they are in concord.
Book Synopsis An Introduction to Design Arguments by : Benjamin C. Jantzen
Download or read book An Introduction to Design Arguments written by Benjamin C. Jantzen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-27 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive survey of the many different forms of design argument for the existence of God.
Download or read book Arguing about Gods written by Graham Oppy and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-09-04 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Graham Oppy examines arguments for and against the existence of God. He shows that none of these arguments is powerful enough to change the minds of reasonable participants in debates on the question of the existence of God. His conclusion is supported by detailed analyses of the arguments as well as by the development of a theory about the purpose of arguments and the criteria that should be used in judging whether or not arguments are successful. Oppy discusses the work of a wide array of philosophers, including Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Kant, Hume and, more recently, Plantinga, Dembski, White, Dawkins, Bergman, Gale and Pruss.
Book Synopsis The Design Inference by : William A. Dembski
Download or read book The Design Inference written by William A. Dembski and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-09-13 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a reliable method for detecting intelligent causes: the design inference.The design inference uncovers intelligent causes by isolating the key trademark of intelligent causes: specified events of small probability. Design inferences can be found in a range of scientific pursuits from forensic science to research into the origins of life to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This challenging and provocative book shows how incomplete undirected causes are for science and breathes new life into classical design arguments. It will be read with particular interest by philosophers of science and religion, other philosophers concerned with epistemology and logic, probability and complexity theorists, and statisticians.
Download or read book Mind and Cosmos written by Thomas Nagel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-22 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.
Book Synopsis Philosophy of Religion: A Very Short Introduction by : Tim Bayne
Download or read book Philosophy of Religion: A Very Short Introduction written by Tim Bayne and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-13 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the philosophy of religion? How can we distinguish it from theology on the one hand and the psychology/sociology of religious belief on the other? What does it mean to describe God as 'eternal'? And should religious people want there to be good arguments for the existence of God, or is religious belief only authentic in the absence of these good arguments? In this Very Short Introduction Tim Bayne introduces the field of philosophy of religion, and engages with some of the most burning questions that philosophers discuss. Considering how 'religion' should be defined, and whether we even need to be able to define it in order to engage in the philosophy of religion, he goes on to discuss whether the existence of God matters. Exploring the problem of evil, Bayne also debates the connection between faith and reason, and the related question of what role reason should play in religious contexts. Shedding light on the relationship between science and religion, Bayne finishes by considering the topics of reincarnation and the afterlife. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Book Synopsis Aristotle on Religion by : Mor Segev
Download or read book Aristotle on Religion written by Mor Segev and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-11-02 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a comprehensive account of the socio-political role Aristotle attributes to traditional religion, despite rejecting its content.
Book Synopsis Cosmological Fine-Tuning Arguments by : Jason Waller
Download or read book Cosmological Fine-Tuning Arguments written by Jason Waller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-09-05 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If the physical constants, initial conditions, or laws of nature in our universe had been even slightly different, then the evolution of life would have been impossible. This observation has led many philosophers and scientists to ask the natural next question: why is our universe so "fine-tuned" for life? The debates around this question are wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary, complicated, technical, and (at times) heated. This study is a comprehensive investigation of these debates and the many metaphysical and epistemological questions raised by cosmological fine-tuning. Waller’s study reaches two significant and controversial conclusions. First, he concludes that the criticisms directed at the "multiverse hypothesis" by theists and at the "theistic hypothesis" by naturalists are largely unsuccessful. Neither of these options can plausibly be excluded. Choosing between them seems to turn on primitive (and so hard to justify) metaphysical intuitions. Second, in order to break the philosophical deadlock, Waller moves the debate from the level of universes to the level of possible worlds. Arguing that possible worlds are also "fine-tuned" in an important and interesting sense, Waller concludes that the only plausible explanation for the fine-tuning of the actual world is to posit the existence of some kind of "God-like-thing."
Book Synopsis The Dawkins Delusion? by : Alister McGrath
Download or read book The Dawkins Delusion? written by Alister McGrath and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2011-05-18 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath present a reliable assessment of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, famed atheist and scientist, and the many questions this book raises--including, above all, the relevance of faith and the quest for meaning.
Book Synopsis God, the Devil, and Darwin by : Niall Shanks
Download or read book God, the Devil, and Darwin written by Niall Shanks and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-03-15 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years a controversial new theory of the origins of biological complexity has been fomenting bitter debates in education and science policy. Intelligent Design theory (ID) proposes an alternative to accepted accounts of evolutionary theory: that life is so complex, and that the universe is so fine-tuned for the appearance of life, that the only plausible explanation is the existence of an intelligent designer. For many ID theorists, the designer is taken to be the God of Christianity. This book is an accessible introduction to, and critique of, this controversial new movement. After looking at the historical roots of ID, philosophy-of-science professor Shanks takes a hard look at its intellectual underpinnings, and shows how arguments for ID lack cohesion, rest on errors and unfounded suppositions, and generally are grossly inferior to evolutionary explanations.--From publisher description.
