ABSTRACT
A MISCONSTRUAL OF EVIDENTIALISM: ALVIN PLANTINGA AND BELIEF IN GOD
Aydin, Sü / leyman
Ph.D., Department of Philosophy
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. David Grü / nberg
August 2004, 183 pages
The evidentialist objection to belief in God is the claim that theists do not have sufficient evidence for the existence of God, therefore are they irresponsible to continue holding their belief in God in the face of insufficient evidence. Alvin Plantinga assumes that evidentialism, being a dogma characterized by classical foundationalism which itself has a faulty picture of rationality, should be set aside altogether in the assessment of epistemic status of belief in God. Behind Plantinga&rsquo / s assumption is the suggestion that the epistemic status of belief in God has been misinterpreted by philosophers, since the vast majority of religious epistemologists have remained within the evidentialist tradition. In my evaluation of Plantinga&rsquo / s assumption, I undertake two tasks: First, I seek to clarify his presumption that classical foundationalism had a faulty picture of rationality: I attempt to show that the insufficiency of classical foundationalism is not as problematic as Plantinga assumes. Secondly, I analyze and evaluate evidentialism in a larger perspective to show that: (1) evidentialism is a broader category than classical foundationalism, (2) evidentialism can not be put aside completely in any epistemological enterprise. I conclude that Plantinga&rsquo / s argument for belief in God is based on a faulty assumption, and I argue that evidentialism can best be seen to be a &ldquo / demand of clarity&rdquo / with regard to knowledge claims which on no grounds can legitimately be escaped altogether.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12605321/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 August 2004 |
| Creators | Aydin, Suleyman |
| Contributors | Grunberg, David |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Ph.D. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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