Matt Yglesias offers what I take to be an excellent proposal about stimulating the economy and creating jobs: railways. I've mentioned this before.
Plus, it'd be nice to catch up with the rest of the modern world wrt high-speed, high-quality public transportation.
A Review of Beilby's Epistemology as Theology
Randal Rauser's review of James Beilby's Epistemology as Theology: An Evaluation of Alvin Plantinga's Religious Epistemology appears in a semi-recent (2007) issue of Ars Disputandi. Here's the link.
Index: Assessing Theism in General and Christianity in Particular
0. Preliminaries:
0.1 On caring about and pursuing truth: here
0.2 On faith and reason: here and here.
0.3 On the theistic conception of God: here
0.4 On a Common Apologetic Fallacy: here
0.5 On a Common Apologetic Strategy: here
1. Evaluation of Arguments for Theism
1.1 Cosmological arguments
1.1.1 The Leibnizian cosmological argument: part 1, part 2, part 3. Also: here here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
1.1.2 The kalam cosmological argument: here, here, here, here and here (scroll down to the comments), here, here, here.
1.1.3 Thomistic cosmological arguments (and others): here, here.
1.2 Design arguments:
1.2.1 Paley-style versions and fine-tuning versions: Here, here, here, here, here. See also here, here, and here, here, here, here.
1.2.2 Behe's irreducible complexity version: Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6. See also here, here.
1.2.3 Dembski's explanatory filter version: here, here, here.
1.2.4 Meyer's DNA version: here.
1.3 The ontological argument: here, here, here.
1.4 The moral argument: here, here, here.
1.5 Arguments from religious experience: part 1, part 2
1.6 Arguments From Consciousness: Here, here, here.
1.7 The argument from abstract objects: here, here.
1.8 The argument from reason: here.
1.9 Plantinga's argument from anti-realism: here.
1.10 Plantinga's argument from proper function: here, here, here.
1.11 Plantinga's Reformed Epistemology: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
1.12 Plantinga's evolutionary argument against naturalism (EAAN): here, see the comments section here, here, here, here.
1.13 Presuppositional apologetics: here, here.
1.14 Moser's case for rational belief: Here.
1.15 Cumulative case arguments: here
1.16 Pragmatic arguments (overview here)
1.16.1 Pascal's Wager: here, here.
1.16.2 James' Will to Believe argument: here (skip down to section 1.3 of the outline), here, here.
1.16.3 Craig's arguments against atheistic morality, moral motivation, meaning, and purpose: here.
2. Evaluation of Arguments Against Theism
2.1 The Logical Problem of Evil: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5. See also here, here, here.
2.2 The evidential problem of evil: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
2.3 The argument from religious diversity: here
2.4 Arguments from divine hiddenness, religious ambiguity, and reasonable non-belief: here, here.
2.5 The argument from evolution: here
2.6 The argument from the mind's dependence on the brain: here
2.7 The argument from the demographics of theism: here, here.
2.8 The argument from unreliable mechanisms for religious belief: here.
2.9 The argument from reasonable religious disagreement: here, here.
3. Evaluation of Arguments for Chrisitanity
3.1 Arguments for the reliability of the New Testament: here, here
3.2 Arguments for the deity of Jesus: here
3.3 Arguments for the resurrection of Jesus: here
4. Arguments Against Christian Theism
4.1 The argument for Jesus as a failed apocalyptic prophet: here
4.2 Arguments against the reliability of the New Testament
4.3 Arguments from divinely-caused and/or mandated evil in the Old Testament: here, here, here, and here here
0.1 On caring about and pursuing truth: here
0.2 On faith and reason: here and here.
0.3 On the theistic conception of God: here
0.4 On a Common Apologetic Fallacy: here
0.5 On a Common Apologetic Strategy: here
1. Evaluation of Arguments for Theism
1.1 Cosmological arguments
1.1.1 The Leibnizian cosmological argument: part 1, part 2, part 3. Also: here here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
1.1.2 The kalam cosmological argument: here, here, here, here and here (scroll down to the comments), here, here, here.
1.1.3 Thomistic cosmological arguments (and others): here, here.
1.2 Design arguments:
1.2.1 Paley-style versions and fine-tuning versions: Here, here, here, here, here. See also here, here, and here, here, here, here.
1.2.2 Behe's irreducible complexity version: Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6. See also here, here.
1.2.3 Dembski's explanatory filter version: here, here, here.
1.2.4 Meyer's DNA version: here.
1.3 The ontological argument: here, here, here.
1.4 The moral argument: here, here, here.
1.5 Arguments from religious experience: part 1, part 2
1.6 Arguments From Consciousness: Here, here, here.
1.7 The argument from abstract objects: here, here.
1.8 The argument from reason: here.
1.9 Plantinga's argument from anti-realism: here.
1.10 Plantinga's argument from proper function: here, here, here.
1.11 Plantinga's Reformed Epistemology: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
1.12 Plantinga's evolutionary argument against naturalism (EAAN): here, see the comments section here, here, here, here.
1.13 Presuppositional apologetics: here, here.
1.14 Moser's case for rational belief: Here.
1.15 Cumulative case arguments: here
1.16 Pragmatic arguments (overview here)
1.16.1 Pascal's Wager: here, here.
1.16.2 James' Will to Believe argument: here (skip down to section 1.3 of the outline), here, here.
1.16.3 Craig's arguments against atheistic morality, moral motivation, meaning, and purpose: here.
2. Evaluation of Arguments Against Theism
2.1 The Logical Problem of Evil: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5. See also here, here, here.
2.2 The evidential problem of evil: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
2.3 The argument from religious diversity: here
2.4 Arguments from divine hiddenness, religious ambiguity, and reasonable non-belief: here, here.
2.5 The argument from evolution: here
2.6 The argument from the mind's dependence on the brain: here
2.7 The argument from the demographics of theism: here, here.
2.8 The argument from unreliable mechanisms for religious belief: here.
2.9 The argument from reasonable religious disagreement: here, here.
3. Evaluation of Arguments for Chrisitanity
3.1 Arguments for the reliability of the New Testament: here, here
3.2 Arguments for the deity of Jesus: here
3.3 Arguments for the resurrection of Jesus: here
4. Arguments Against Christian Theism
4.1 The argument for Jesus as a failed apocalyptic prophet: here
4.2 Arguments against the reliability of the New Testament
4.3 Arguments from divinely-caused and/or mandated evil in the Old Testament: here, here, here, and here here
4.4 The argument from divinely-endorsed slavery in the Old and New Testaments: here, here
4.5 The argument from divinely-condoned slavery and the the subordination of women: here.
4.5 The argument from divinely-condoned slavery and the the subordination of women: here.
4.6 The argument from the doctrine of everlasting punishment
4.7 The argument from evolution: here
4.8 Hume's argument against the rationality of belief in miracles: here, here, here, here, here, here,
4.9 The problem of identifying miracles given the Bible's hypothesis of "the Devil's Lying Wonders": here.
4.10 The argument from scientific evidence for the ineffectiveness of prayer: here, here, here. here.
4.11 The argument from the ineffectiveness of spiritual disciplines in personal transformation
4.12 The argument from non-obviousness: here.
4.7 The argument from evolution: here
4.8 Hume's argument against the rationality of belief in miracles: here, here, here, here, here, here,
4.9 The problem of identifying miracles given the Bible's hypothesis of "the Devil's Lying Wonders": here.
4.10 The argument from scientific evidence for the ineffectiveness of prayer: here, here, here. here.
4.11 The argument from the ineffectiveness of spiritual disciplines in personal transformation
4.12 The argument from non-obviousness: here.
Moreland on the Kalam Cosmological Argument
I recently re-read J.P. Moreland's defense of the kalam cosmological argument in his classic apologetics text, Scaling the Secular City. Good Lord.
Virtually all his arguments against the traversability of actual infinites presuppose that any traversal must have a beginning. In other words, he just blatantly begs the question against the possibility of a beginningless past. At least Craig offers arguments against the possibility of beginningless traversals, viz., his "immortal counter" reductio and his variation on the Tristram Shandy Paradox (which, unfortunately, have been decisively critiqued by (e.g.) Wes Morriston -- here, for example). I hope to discuss Moreland's arguments in detail some time soon.
UPDATE: Here is a link to a detailed discussion of Moreland's arguments against the traversability of a beginningless past.
Virtually all his arguments against the traversability of actual infinites presuppose that any traversal must have a beginning. In other words, he just blatantly begs the question against the possibility of a beginningless past. At least Craig offers arguments against the possibility of beginningless traversals, viz., his "immortal counter" reductio and his variation on the Tristram Shandy Paradox (which, unfortunately, have been decisively critiqued by (e.g.) Wes Morriston -- here, for example). I hope to discuss Moreland's arguments in detail some time soon.
UPDATE: Here is a link to a detailed discussion of Moreland's arguments against the traversability of a beginningless past.
A Review of Stewart Goetz's Freedom, Teleology, and Evil
Evan Fales (U of Iowa) reviews the book for NDPR, here.
The Last Book in J.L. Schellenberg's Trilogy...
...The Will to Imagine: A Justification of Skeptical Religion, is scheduled to come out this month. As the link above indicates, you can pre-order it now at Amazon.com. Links to reviews of the previous two books in the trilogy can be found here.
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