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God and Other Minds

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Originally published
  
1967

3.9/5
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Author
  
Alvin Plantinga

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Similar
  
Alvin Plantinga books, God books, Faith books

God and Other Minds is the name of a 1967 book by Alvin Plantinga which re-kindled serious philosophical debate on the existence of God in Anglophone philosophical circles by arguing that belief in God was like belief in other minds: although neither could be demonstrated conclusively against a determined sceptic both were fundamentally rational. The philosophical argument has been developed and criticised by Plantinga and others in the succeeding 40 years.

Contents

The book God and Other Minds

God and Other Minds: A Study of the Rational Justification of Belief in God was originally published by Cornell University Press in (1967). An edition with a new preface by Plantinga was published in 1990 (ISBN 978-0801497353). The book has the following chapters:

Part I: Natural Theology

  • Ch 1: The Cosmological Argument
  • Ch 2: The Ontological Argument - I
  • Ch 3: The Ontological Argument - II
  • Ch 4: The Teleological Argument

    • Part II: Natural Atheology

  • Ch 5: The Problem of Evil
  • Ch 6: The Freewill Defense
  • Ch 7: Verificationism and other Atheologica

    • Part III: God and Other Minds

  • Ch 8: Other Minds and Analogy
  • Ch 9: Alternatives to the Analogical Position
  • Ch 10: God and Analogy

    • Reaction of notable commentators

    The book has been widely cited

  • Michael A. Slote in The Journal of Philosophy considered that "[t]his book is one of the most important to have appeared in this century on the philosophy of religion, and makes outstanding contributions to our understanding of the problem of other minds as well".

    • Subsequent development of the argument

    The psychologist Justin L. Barrett suggests that "Believing that other humans have minds arises from many of the same mental tools and environmental information from which belief in gods or God comes...no scientific evidence exists that proves people have minds" and that "although some small number of academics...claim to believe that people do not have minds...they do not socially interact in accordance with such a belief ...[and] such a peculiar belief about minds (whether or not it is true) simply will not spread...a huge number of mental tools all converge on the nonreflective belief in minds"

    References

    God and Other Minds Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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