Alvin Plantinga



"Alvin Plantinga is arguably the greatest philosopher of the last century...

First, he has taken up the two most important questions of our day: the problem of evil (arguably the most important philosophical question of any era) and the problem of knowledge (undoubtedly the key philosophical question of our era).

Second, he has made fundamental contributions to these two questions.

On the problem of evil, Plantinga's vaunted "Free Will Defense" responded to the most trenchant form of this problem with a success rarely found in philosophy: for almost 20 years now, the discussion of the problem has shifted to other grounds because of the widespread acknowledgment of Plantinga's argument.

In the case of epistemology (the theory of knowledge), his proposal is so recent that we must wait to see how it will fare. Indeed, the third volume of his epistemological trilogy on "Warrant" was published only last year (Warranted Christian Belief, Oxford University Press). So far, however, it seems to have met all of its contemporary challenges."

Read More:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/008/19.74.html
http://www.homestead.com/philofreligion/Plantingapage.html

Dictionary definition:

alvinize, v. To stimulate protracted discussion by making a bizarre claim. "His contention that natural evil is due to Satanic agency alvinized his listeners."

planting, v. To use twentieth-century fertilizer to encourage new shoots from eleventh-century ideas which everyone thought had gone to seed; hence plantinger, n. one who plantings.


Posted by Hedonese

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