Alvin Plantinga & Properly Basic Beliefs
Philosopher Alvin Plantinga discusses properly basic beliefs, and why belief in God is itself properly basic.
Alvin Carl Plantinga (born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosopher and the emeritus John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics, and Christian apologetics. Plantinga is a Christian and known for applying the methods of analytic philosophy to defend orthodox Christian beliefs.
Plantinga is the author of a number of books, including God and Other Minds (1967), The Nature of Necessity (1974), and the “warrant” series culminating in Warranted Christian Belief (2000). He has delivered the Gifford Lectures three times, and was described by Time magazine in 1980 as “America’s leading orthodox Protestant philosopher of God.”
Roger’s comment:
Philosopher William Lane Craig discusses properly basic beliefs in his most recent Defenders podcast (Existence of God #26).
This issue is just a recognition of what we all know, Christian and non-Christian, that bare reason has its limits in how we know certain things. There are other legitimate ways of knowing than just scientific or philosophical empiricism. All of us demonstrate this in our own life every day by our assumption that we have a body, that other minds exist and that the world didn’t just pop into existence 5 minutes ago with all the hallmarks of age.
Craig’s discussion just reiterates that, because Christian doctrine teaches that ultimate knowledge of God’s existence comes via the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, and rational arguments have a very important, yet limited role in this belief for many – belief in God may well be warranted based purely on it being a foundational, basic belief.
Bill Craig rightly says that for many, rational arguments provide a sufficient, yet not necessary, basis for belief.