By: Jake Chandler (Editor), Victoria Harrison (Editor)

Hardcover

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Probability theory promises to deliver an exact and unified foundation for inquiry in epistemology and philosophy of science. But philosophy of religion is also fertile ground for the application of probabilistic thinking. This volume presents original contributions from twelve contemporary researchers, both established and emerging, to offer a representative sample of the work currently being carried out in this potentially rich field of inquiry. Grouped into five parts, the chapters span a broad range of traditional issues in religious epistemology. The first three parts discuss the evidential impact of various considerations that have been brought to bear on the question of the existence of God. These include witness reports of the occurrence of miraculous events, the existence of complex biological adaptations, the apparent 'fine-tuning' for life of various physical constants and the existence of seemingly unnecessary evil. The fourth part addresses a number of issues raised by Pascal's famous pragmatic argument for theistic belief. A final part offers probabilistic perspectives on the rationality of faith and the epistemic significance of religious disagreement.

Acknowledgements List of Contributors 1: Jake Chandler and Victoria S. Harrison: Probability in the Philosophy of Religion Part I: Testimony and Miracles 2: Benjamin C. Jantzen: Peirce on Miracles: The Failure of Bayesian Analysis 3: Tim McGrew and Lydia McGrew: The Reliability of Witnesses and Testimony to the Miraculous' 4: Luc Bovens: Does it Matter whether a Miracle-Like Event Happens to Oneself rather than to Someone Else? Part II: Design 5: David H. Glass: Can Evidence for Design be Explained Away? 6: Richard Swinburne: Bayes, God, and the Multiverse Part III: Evil 7: Richard Otte: Comparative Confirmation and the Problem of Evil' 8: Michael Tooley: Inductive Logic and the Probability that God Exists: Farewell to Sceptical Theism Part IV: Pascal's Wager 9: Alan Hájek: Blaise and Bayes 10: Paul Bartha: Many Gods, Many Wagers: Pascal's Wager Meets the Replicator Dynamics Part V: Faith and Disagreement 11: Joshua C. Thurow: Does Religious Disagreement Actually Aid the Case for Theism? 12: Lara Buchak: Can it be it Rational to Have Faith? Index

ISBN: 9780199604760
ISBN-10: 0199604762
Audience: Tertiary; University or College
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 272
Published: 18th June 2012
Dimensions (cm): 24.0 x 16.3  x 2.15
Weight (kg): 0.572