Rethinking PSR
Let ‘PSR’ stand for the principle that whatever is, but need not be, has an explanation for its being. More exactly: (PSR) Whatever obtains, but doesn’t obtain of necessity, has an explanation for its...
View ArticlePSR and the Slingshot Argument
The following argument parallels the Slingshot Argument expressed here. (P1) If X is explicable (can be explained), and X is logically equivalent to Y, then Y is explicable (for any X and Y). (P2) If X...
View ArticlePhysicist Sean Carroll on God and Modern Physics
I want to draw Prosblogion readers’ attention to a very interesting paper by CalTech physicist Sean Carroll, “Does the Universe Need God?” (hat tip: ex-apologist). The article is to be published in The...
View ArticleThree Responses to the Argument from Contingency
In my view, the cosmological argument from contingency is the most powerful philosophical argument for the existence of God. By a ‘philosophical’ argument, in this context, I mean a way of giving...
View ArticleIntroducing The Puzzle of Existence
I am currently in the process of putting together a review of The Puzzle of Existence: Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?, edited by Tyron Goldschmidt, for Faith and Philosophy. For edited...
View ArticleKleinschmidt on the Principle of Sufficient Reason
Philosophers have perhaps more often assumed the Principle of Sufficient Reason than argued for it. Furthermore, this assumption has, in recent years, fallen out of favor due to the PSR’s allegedly...
View ArticleJacob Ross on the PSR
Leibniz famously claimed that, once we have endorsed the Principle of Sufficient Reason, “the first questions we will be entitled to put will be – Why does something exist rather than nothing?” The...
View Articlevan Inwagen on PSR
Peter van Inwagen and Jonathan Bennett developed a simple and influential argument that the principle of sufficient reason (PSR) entails that there is no contingency in the world. Everything that...
View ArticleVirtual Colloquium: Chad McIntosh, “How to be a Rational Foundationalist”
This week’s Virtual Colloquium paper is “How to be a Rational Foundationalist” by Chad McIntosh. McIntosh is a PhD student at Cornell writing a dissertation entitled Rational Foundationalism. His work...
View ArticleVirtual Colloquium: Ricki Bliss, “Metaphysical Foundationalism and the...
Welcome to the final installment of the Prosblogion Virtual Colloquium. Many thanks to all of those who have contributed, both as presenters and commenters. Our final paper will be “Metaphysical...
View Article
