Skeptical Theism and Morriston's Humean Argument from Evil

There's a growing sense among philosophers of religion that (i) Humean arguments from evil are some of the most formidable arguments against theism, and (ii) skeptical theism fails to undermine those arguments because they fail to make the inferences skeptical theists criticize. In line with th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sophia
Main Author: Perrine, Timothy (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Netherlands [2019]
In: Sophia
RelBib Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
NBC Doctrine of God
Further subjects:B Wes Morriston
B Humean argument from evil
B Skeptical theism
B Offsetting objection
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Summary:There's a growing sense among philosophers of religion that (i) Humean arguments from evil are some of the most formidable arguments against theism, and (ii) skeptical theism fails to undermine those arguments because they fail to make the inferences skeptical theists criticize. In line with this trend, Wes Morriston has recently formulated a Humean argument from evil, and his chief defense of it is that skeptical theism is irrelevant to it. Here I argue that skeptical theism is relevant to Humean arguments. To do this, I reveal the common structure of skeptical theism's critiques. Seeing the common structure reveals why some versions of skeptical theism are irrelevant to Humean arguments from evil. It also points the way forward to formulating a relevant version. By combining skeptical theism with a plausible principle concerning reasonable belief, I formulate a version of skeptical theism that undermines Morriston's argument that is also immune from his objections.
ISSN:1873-930X
Contains:Enthalten in: Sophia
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/s11841-018-0656-7