Beyond the Control of God?
Paul Gould, ed. (Bloomsbury Academic: March 27, 2014), 224 pages.The question of God’s relationship to abstract objects touches on a number of perennial concerns related to the nature of God. God is typically thought to be an independent and self-sufficient being. Further, God is typically thought to be supremely sovereign such that all reality distinct from God is dependent on God’s creative and sustaining activity. However, the view that there are abstract objects seems to be a repudiation of this traditional understanding of God. Abstract objects are typically thought to exist necessarily and it is natural to think that if something exists necessarily, it does so because it is its nature to exist. Thus, abstract objects exist independently of God. Philosophers have called this the problem of God and abstract objects. In this book, six contemporary solutions to the problem are set out and defended against objections. It will be valuable for all students or scholars who are interested in the concept and nature of God. ~ Publisher’s Description
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction to the Problem of God and Abstract Objects, Paul M. Gould
- 1. God and Propositions, Keith Yandell
- Response to Keith Yandell
- Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis
- Greg Welty
- William Lane Craig
- Scott A. Shalkowski
- Graham Oppy
- Response to Critics Keith Yandell
- 2. Modified Theistic Activism, Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis
- Response to Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis
- Keith Yandell
- Greg Welty
- William Lane Craig
- Scott A. Shalkowski
- Graham Oppy
- Response to Critics Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis
- 3. Theistic Conceptual Realism, Greg Welty
- Response to Greg Welty
- Keith Yandell
- Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis
- William Lane Craig
- Scott A. Shalkowski
- Graham Oppy
- Response to Critics Greg Welty
- 4. Anti-Platonism, William Lane Craig
- Response to William Lane Craig
- Keith Yandell
- Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis
- Greg Welty
- Scott A. Shalkowski
- Graham Oppy
- Response to Critics William Lane Craig
- 5. God with or without Abstract Objects, Scott A. Shalkowski
- Response to Scott A. Shalkowski
- Keith Yandell
- Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis
- Greg Welty
- William Lane Craig
- Graham Oppy
- Response to Critics Scott A. Shalkowski
- 6. Abstract Objects? Who Cares!, Graham Oppy
- Response to Graham Oppy
- Keith Yandell
- Paul M. Gould and Richard Brian Davis
- Greg Welty
- William Lane Craig
- Scott A. Shalkowski
- Response to Critics Graham Oppy
- Bibliography
- Contributors
- Index