Papers by Edward Wierenga
The Nature of God: An Inquiry into Divine Attributes
Noûs, Sep 1, 1993
items whose existence and nature do not depend on minds. Grossmann develops his empiricism and re... more items whose existence and nature do not depend on minds. Grossmann develops his empiricism and realism by interacting with prominent figures from the history of philosophy. He devotes chapters, for example, to Descartes, Berkeley, Reid, Kant, and Brentano on perception, and to Kant, Bolzano, Mill, and Frege on mathematical knowledge. These historical chapters, typically concise, clear, and illuminating, are followed by systematic chapters on the relevant philosophical issues. The book falls into three main parts: (1) Knowledge of the External World: Perception, (2) Knowledge of Our Minds: Introspection, and (3) Mathematical Knowledge: Perception Again. Each part contributes to a wide-ranging defense of Grossmann's fourth way, a way that goes against the grain of much contemporary epistemology. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.33 on Sat, 26 Nov 2016 04:17:33 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
6. Eternity, Timelessness, and Immutability
Utilitarianism and the Divine Command Theory
American Philosophical Quarterly, 1984
This dissertation is an examination of the theories of events proposed by Jaegwon Kim, Donald Dav... more This dissertation is an examination of the theories of events proposed by Jaegwon Kim, Donald Davidson, and Roderick Chisholm. 10 2. The Trivialization Argument. The notion that sentences refer to events, together with two natural assumptions, seems to lead, via a familiar argument, to the conclusion that there is only one event. Recall that on Kim's view the event of Socrates' dying is the same as Xantippe ' s husband's dying. As Kim would put it, 'Socrates died' and ' Xantippe 's husband died' describe the same event. A natural conclusion to draw from this is that the replacement of co-designative singular terms in an event-describing statement preserves the identity of the event referred to, that is, C) If a statement S' is obtained from a statement S by replacing any referring expression in S by a co-referential expression, then if S is eventdescribing, S and S' describe the same event.
The Philosophy of Religion
3. Foreknowledge, Free Will, and the Necessity of the Past
7. Divine Goodness and Impeccability
Divine Freedom and Moral Perfection
The Nature of God: An Inquiry into Divine Attributes
The Philosophical Review, Apr 1, 1992
Confrontations with the Reaper
Teaching Philosophy, 1994
Prophecy, Freedom, and the Necessity of the Past
Philosophical Perspectives, 1991
One of the strongest arguments for the incompatibility of divine foreknowledge and human free act... more One of the strongest arguments for the incompatibility of divine foreknowledge and human free action appeals to the apparent fixity or necessity of the past. Two leading responses to this argumentOckhamism, which denies a premiss of the argument, and the socalled "eternity solution", which holds that strictly speaking God does not have foreknowledge-have both recently come under attack on similar grounds. Neither response, it is alleged, is adequate to the case of divine prophecy. In this paper I shall first state the argument in question and the two responses to it. I shall then consider objections to these responses, focusing primarily on how they deal with prophecy.
Philosophic exchange, 2011
from these questions to cite Augustine's motto "faith seeking understanding" (fides quaerens inte... more from these questions to cite Augustine's motto "faith seeking understanding" (fides quaerens intelluctum), which, as Matthews notes, was Anselm's original title for the Proslogion, but he does not develop the allusion (2005, 83). But how exactly does this Augustinian precedent remove the peculiarity of Anselm's prayer? My suggestion is that developing this connection in more detail will enable us to see why Anselm's project is neither peculiar nor paradoxical. A concern with adding understanding to faith is certainly prominent in Augustine's thought, perhaps nowhere more so than in his On Free Choice of the Will. Early in that work Augustine affirms that "God will aid us and will make us understand what we believe. This is the course prescribed by the prophet who says, 'Unless you believe you shall not understand'" 3 (Bk I, Ch. 2). Interestingly, Augustine, like Anselm as we shall see below, also invokes the fool who denies God's existence. He does this in a reply to his student, Evodius, who claimed to be certain by faith that God exists, but not by reason (Bk. II, Ch. 2). Augustine then goes on to develop an argument for God's existence, which he summarizes with the claim that "God, that which is more excellent than reason, demonstrably exists," and he concludes that "this indubitable fact we maintain, I think, not only by faith, but also by a sure though tenuous form of reasoning" (Bk. II, Ch. 15). 4 So on Augustine's view, coming to understand that God exists requires acquiring a chain of reasoning that is a demonstration of the proposition that God exists. 5 Unlike Anselm, Augustine does not ask God for help in finding such a demonstration, but he expresses confidence that God will help him in that project. It does not seem that he is insincere in this hope nor in expressing his need for God's help. Rather, I think, Augustine's, and thus also Anselm's, search for a demonstration of God's existence is an expression of intense interest in God. What they both want to do is know more about God. Anselm's prayer can thus be understood as the request that God help him understand God better, to help him know more about God's nature. If his argument succeeds, what he seeks to understand about God's nature is that it follows from that nature that God exists. Seeking this sort of understanding need not minimize the value of faith. Anselm need not think that this demonstration is required for belief in God, and, in any event, having found a demonstration he need not then base his belief in God on the argument. II. A New Interpretation of the Argument A. An Initial Statement of the Argument Anselm's argument for God's existence, at least in his version and in those formulations that attempt to stay close to his, is a reductio ad absurdum. 6 It begins by assuming that God, or that than which nothing greater can be conceived, does
Portraying Analogy
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Jun 1, 1986
Providence, Middle Knowledge, and the Grounding Objection
Philosophia Christi, 2001
Omnipotence Defined
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Mar 1, 1983
Faith and Philosophy, 1997
International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Mar 1, 1979
Uploads
Papers by Edward Wierenga