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Author:   Malcolm Murray
Publisher:   Broadview Press Ltd
Imprint:   Broadview Press Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 14.20cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 23.00cm
Weight:   0.360kg
ISBN:  

9781551119625

ISBN 10:   1551119625
Pages:   276
Publication Date:   30 April 2010
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Preface PART 1. PRELIMINARIES Chapter 1: Why Not Agnosticism? Proving Non-Existence The Burden of Proof Fallibilism The Common Sense View Is Atheism Itself a Metaphysical Belief? Summary Chapter 2: Which God Are You Denying? Kidneys and Hearts What Is God? Magenta and Pink Tolerable Misdescriptions Life Force The Argument from Experience Our Natural Being The Point Chapter 3: Religion without God? Religious Atheism Spirit The Backdoor God Conclusion Chapter 4: Metaphor and Sacred Texts Inconsistencies Improbabilities Ignored Dictums Partial Literalism Metaphorical Reading Ricœur and Company PART II. “PROOFS” Chapter 5: Ontologic Illogic A Priori and A Posteriori Arguments The Ontological Argument Null Sets and Hypotheticals Barretteless and Imaginary Dolls Necessary Existence Summary Chapter 6: Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing? The Cosmological Argument Inconsistency Infinity The Kala‾m Argument Necessary Beings Best Explanation Conclusion Chapter 7: Design or Evolution? The Design Argument The Appeal The Evolutionary Account Chance and Fruit Flies Intelligent Design? Chapter 8: Fine Tuning and Analogy The Design Argument (Again) Fine Tuning and Biogenesis Analogical Argument Structure Watches and Astrolabes Summary Chapter 9: The Moral Argument Aquinas’s Version Kant’s Version Summary PART III: ATTRIBUTES Chapter 10: The Problem of Suffering Inscrutability Free Will Eschatological Recompense Moral Fortitude Summary Chapter 11: Omnipotence The Paradox of the Stone No Impossible Powers Two Impossible Acts Are Easier Than One Mortal Comprehension Chapter 12: Omniscience and Free Will The Basic Problem Weakening Knowledge Out of Time Different Necessities Other Worlds Summary Chapter 13: Time and Immutability Problems with Immutability Anthropomorphizing Time Revisited Summary Chapter 14: Is God Love? Different Kinds of Love PART IV. FAITH Chapter 15: Faith and Reason God Is Special Secular Faiths Conclusion Chapter 16: Fideism Kierkegaardian Fideism Wittgensteinian Fideism Chapter 17: Ultimate Concern Ontological, Not Cosmological Three Ambiguities The Problem Chapter 18: Po-Mo Theo A Monkey in a Box? Summary Chapter 19: Pascal’s Wager Two Problems Defending Pascal Chapter 20: Non-Falsifiability Flew’s Garden Not Logical Positivism Falsification and Verification Objections Replies Summary PART V. IMPLICATIONS Chapter 21: Mysticism Common Components Content Method Self-Confirming Judging by the Effects Conclusion Chapter 22: God and Morality Moral Principles The Euthyphro Argument Innate Morality? Sin and Moral Intuition Strategic Interaction Conclusion Chapter 23: The Meaning of Life The Problem of Nihilism Reductio Ad Absurdum The Argument from Consistency The Non Sequitur Death Rephrasing the Question Chapter 24: Death Platonic Arguments Ghosts in the Machine Brain Damage Near-Death Experiences The Identity Argument Summary Chapter 25: Error Theory Religion’s Success Psychological and Sociological Accounts The Evolution of Belief Conclusion? Notes Bibliography Author Index

Reviews

This book is excellent. Well-written, masterfully concise, easy to follow, and correct in nearly every detail, with an occasional hint of intellectual humor on almost every page. Well-sourced, with helpful notes and up-to-date citations of scholarship, Murray takes on not just conservative theism, but knocks down all the leading props of liberal theism, too. Though not attempting to be comprehensive, Murray nails the core basics, making it the ideal place to start for anyone considering the God question. Theists will be deeply troubled by it. Atheists will find in it new arguments, and new ways to phrase old ones. And for anyone on the fence, it's a must-read. - Dr. Richard Carrier, author of Sense and Goodness without God.

Author Information

Malcolm Murray is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Prince Edward Island.

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