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Title: Warrant and Proper Function by Alvin Plantinga ISBN: 0-19-507864-0 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Still The Correct Theory of Knowledge (More or Less)
Comment: I don't claim that everything in this book is true (and didn't before), but I remain convinced that this is basically the right approach to knowledge. But since "cml" was content to say the same thing twice (presumably with a view to lowering this book's rating), so shall I be (with a view to raising it).
As to Benacerraf's problem: it's a little hard to see what your objection to Plantinga's solution is if you say nothing in response except that Plantinga's solution is unsatisfactory. Saying it twice--even with clumsy rhetorical flourishes--doesn't clarify the matter. Are you just congenitally anti-theistic, so that this dissatisfaction is a symptom of your personal religious hang-ups, or do you have a reason? If you have, it isn't too much to ask you to at least gesture at it, I should think.
Rating: 2
Summary: Not philosophically satisfying
Comment: In WPF, Plantinga tries to provide an account of warrant that is superior to competing accounts such as Goldman's process reliabilism. The work suffers from the following defects. First, he rejects other accounts of warrant too quickly, ususally on the basis of counterexamples that are far from being entirely convincing. Second, his attack on evolutionary-naturalism is unconvincing. At best he has shown that the proponent of EN has work to do, he has not shown that believing EN is irrational. Third, his own attempts at solving philosophical problems is not satisfactory. Consider his 'solution' to the Benacerraf problem. It seems that when we use mathematical expressions we refer to mathematical objects, which presumably are abstract. It also seems that any belief that is a candidate for knowledge is one produced by a process that is causally connected to or regulated by a connection with the objects of our beliefs. We cannot satisfy both constraints. Plantinga says that this will not be a problem for the theist. If necessary truths are structures of the divine mind, then our connection to mathematical objects is not problematic, after all, the connection between God and God's subjects is no problem. No one who took the Benacerraf problem seriously in the first place would accept this as a solution. (Maybe the Benacerraf problem is not to be taken seriously, but then we shouldn't write about it). I guess that some people thought that the earth held its place because it was set atop a giant turtle. For some this was a satisfactory explanation. It is to people like this that I would recommend this book.
Rating: 2
Summary: Interesting, but not entirely satisfying
Comment: In WPF, Plantinga tries to provide an account of warrant that is superior to rivals such as Goldman's process reliabilism. The work suffers from the following defects. First, he is too quick in dismissing rival accounts. Second, his arguments against evolutionary-naturalism will only convince those who already think that evolutionary naturalism is false. Third, while he is quick to dismiss rival views, his own positive answers to philosophical problems are entirely unsatisfactory. Consider his 'solution' to the Benacerraf problem. It seems that mathematical statements refer to abstract objects. It also seems that there must be a causal connection between our belief forming processes and the objects of belief if those beliefs are to be thought of as viable candidates for knowledge. Plantinga says that this is not a problem for the theist who is willing to say that mathematical principles are structures of the divine mind since surely the connection between God and God's subjects is not problematic. How one could think that Benacerraf's problem is a genuine one and that this is an adequate solution is beyond me. While his WCD is to be recommended to those wanting an introduction to epistemology, this book is of limited merit.
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Title: Warrant: The Current Debate by Alvin Plantinga ISBN: 0195078624 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Warranted Christian Belief by Alvin Plantinga ISBN: 0195131932 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Faith & Rationality: Reason & Belief in God by Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff ISBN: 0268009651 Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1984 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
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Title: The Nature of Necessity (Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy) by Alvin Plantinga ISBN: 0198244142 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1989 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: God and Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God (Cornell Paperbacks) by Alvin Plantinga ISBN: 0801497353 Publisher: Cornell University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1990 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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