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Philo

Volume 2, Issue 2, Fall-Winter 1999

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Displaying: 1-10 of 10 documents


editorial
1. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Keith M. Parsons The Big Issues
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papers
2. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Douglas Walton Can an Ancient Argument of Carneades on Cardinal Virtues and Divine Attributes be Used to Disprove the Existence of God?
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An ancient argument attributed to the philosopher Carneades is presented that raises critical questions about the concept of an all-virtuous Divine being. The argument is based on the premises that virtue involves overcoming pains and dangers, and that only a being that can suffer or be destroyed is one for whom there are pains and dangers. The conclusion is that an all-virtuous Divine (perfect) being cannot exist. After presenting this argument, reconstructed from sources in Sextus Empiricus and Cicero, this paper goes on to model it as a deductively valid sequence of reasoning. The paper also discusses whet her the premises are true. Questions about the possibility and value of proving and disproving the existence of God by logical reasoning are raised, as well as ethical questions about how the cardinal ethical virtues should be defined.
3. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
R. Harwood Dying for It
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The claim that the Resurrection of Jesus is historical fact is often justified on the basis that the disciples died for the belief. I analyze the argument, and show that three key premises cannot be accepted. The first is the claim that the disciples died for their beliefs. I give a detailed analysis of what is involved in dying for a belief in this context, and show that we have no assurance that the disciples died for their beliefs in that sense at all. The second is that the disciples could not have been sincerely mistaken, and the third is that the beliefs of the disciples were those attributed to them by apologists. I suggest that neither of these premises can be established with any certainty.
4. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
John Beaudoin On Some Criticisms of Hume’s Principle of Proportioning Cause to Effect
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That no qualities ought to be ascribed to a cause beyond what are requisite for bringing about its effect(s) is a methodological principle Hume employs to evacuate arguments from design of much theological significance. In this article I defend Hume’s use of the principle against several objections brought against it by Richard Swinburne.
5. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Eric Sotnak The Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Possibility of an Actually Infinite Future
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Part of the kalam cosmological argument draws upon the claim that an actual infinite cannot exist. Classical theists also maintain both that some individuals will earn eternal life and that God infallibly foreknows the future. The claim that these latter two theses do not require that an actual infinite exists because God possesses an intuitive, rather than propositional intellect, is examined and rejected. Although the future is potential, rather than actual, classical theism requires that the future be, in a sense, actually infinite.
6. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Paul Edwards Richard Swinburne’s Arguments
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book reviews
7. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Basil Smith Defending Theistic Proofs
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8. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Peter Hutcheson Another Way Between Atheism and Theism?
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9. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Antony Flew Explaining the Resurrection
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10. Philo: Volume > 2 > Issue: 2
Austin Dacey Swinburne’s Ultimate Explanation
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