Super naturalism Personal Naturalism Super- naturalism - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Super naturalism Personal Naturalism Super- naturalism Christian Theism Hypothesis of Indifference

 Both of Mr. Vandergriff’s arguments for “God exists necessarily” contain uncertain premises, i.e., premises whose probability is less than 1.  Therefore, the conclusion, “God exists necessarily,” is also uncertain.

 H1: The laws of nature are metaphysically necessary, but the constants are contingent.  H2: Both the laws of nature and the constants are metaphysically necessary.  H2 attributes more uniformity to the world than H1.  Uniformity is necessarily more intrinsically probable than variety.  Pr(|X|) = intrinsic probability of X  Pr(|H2|) > Pr(|H1|)  Pr(H2 | N) > Pr(H1 | T)  Pr(~H1 & ~H2 | T) > Pr(~H1 & ~H2 | N)

Y our arguments haven’t got any contingent natural laws left!

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Physical Matter Matter Required Matter Not Matter Required Origin of Spacetime exist for Spacetime not Spacetime exist for Universe all of time exist for all of time all of known time Origin of Physical reality Physical reality Physical reality Universe wasn’t made was made wasn’t made Something vs. Universe factually Universe not Universe factually Nothing necessary factually necessary necessary Life-Permitting? ? ? Life-Permitting Friendly vs. Hostile Universe Friendly Universe Hostile Universe Hostile Discoverability ? ? Discoverability Intelligibility True naturalistic True supernatural Most correct explanations explanations explanations N

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Physical Matter Matter Required Matter Not Matter Required Origin of Spacetime exist for Spacetime not Spacetime exist for Universe all of time exist for all of time all of known time Origin of Physical reality Physical reality Physical reality Universe wasn’t made was made wasn’t made Something vs. Universe factually Universe not Universe factually Nothing necessary factually necessary necessary Life-Permitting? ? ? Life-Permitting Friendly vs. Hostile Universe Friendly Universe Hostile Universe Hostile Discoverability ? ? Discoverability Intelligibility True naturalistic True supernatural Most correct explanations explanations explanations N

No good argument from authority from BGV theorem to:  “physical reality has an absolute beginning” OR  “some interpretation of quantum mechanics which entails quantum indeterminacy is true”

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Physical Matter Matter Required Matter Not Matter Required Origin of Spacetime exist for Spacetime not Spacetime exist for Universe all of time exist for all of time all of known time Origin of Physical reality Physical reality Physical reality Universe wasn’t made was made wasn’t made Something vs. Universe factually Universe not Universe factually Nothing necessary factually necessary necessary Life-Permitting? ? ? Life-Permitting Friendly vs. Hostile Universe Friendly Universe Hostile Universe Hostile Discoverability ? ? Discoverability Intelligibility True naturalistic True supernatural Most correct explanations explanations explanations N

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Biology Evolution Special Creation Evolution (Common Ancestry) (Common Ancestry) Pain and Biological Role Moral Role Biological Role Pleasure Flourishing and Mostly Languish Mostly Flourish Mostly Languish Languishing

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Biology Evolution Special Creation Evolution (Common Ancestry) (Common Ancestry) Pain and Biological Role Moral Role Biological Role Pleasure Flourishing and Mostly Languish Mostly Flourish Mostly Languish Languishing

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Triumph and Tragedies > Triumphs Triumphs > Tragedies Tragedies > Triumphs Tragedy Triumph and Horrific Tragedies >> Glorious Triumphs > Horrific Tragedies >> Tragedy Glorious Triumphs Horrific Tragedies Glorious Triumphs

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Consciousness Self-Aware Beings Self-Aware Beings Consciousness Optional Required Consciousness Mind-Brain Mind-Brain Mind-Brain Dependence Independence Dependence Distribution of Universe Not More Moral Universe Not Consciousness Teeming with Moral Agents & More Teeming with Agents Impressive Moral Moral Agents, Agents Humans Unimpressive Freedom ? ? ? Freedom More limitations on Less limitations on Variety and freedom freedom frequency of conditions that severely limit our freedom

What evidential argument from moral agency? Contingent Natural Laws Libertarian Freedom Countable Additivity

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Moral Moral Perception Moral Perception Moral Perception Epistemology Moral Disagreement Agreement Disagreement Epistemology Moral Moral Flourishing Moral Flourishing Moral Flourishing Flourishing

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Moral Moral Perception Moral Perception Moral Perception Epistemology Moral Disagreement Agreement Disagreement Epistemology Moral Moral Flourishing Moral Flourishing Moral Flourishing Flourishing

“It would take something like willful blindness to fail to affirm that not all nonbelief is the product of willful blindness.” John Schellenberg

Topic N’s Prediction T’s Prediction Observation Divine Nonresistant No Nonresistant Nonresistant Hiddenness Nonbelief Nonbelief Nonbelief Divine Former Believers No Former Former Believers Hiddenness Believers Ethical Ethical Ethical Agreement Ethical Hiddenness Disagreement Disagreement Scientific True naturalistic True supernatural So much is Hiddenness explanations explanations intelligible w/o supernatural Suffering Tragedy victims Tragedy victims Tragedy victims Hiddenness rarely comforted often comforted rarely comforted

 (1) 99.999,…,999% of our observations relevant to dead bodies show that God wills that they do not rise them from the dead.  (2) Jesus was dead.  (3) Therefore, prior to investigation, it is 99.999,…,999% probable that God wills that Jesus does not rise from the dead.

Topic Anti-CT Prediction CT Prediction Observation Original Sin Animal death before No animal death Animal death original sin before original sin before original sin Resurrection No evidence of Evidence of No evidence of corruptible body corruptible body corruptible body