Q&A: Alvin Plantinga
Alvin Plantinga
Question
I saw that the Rabbi greatly appreciates Alvin Plantinga’s intelligence.
Can the Rabbi say whether he was exposed to his views through articles or through his books?
Because when I searched on Google I saw only books in English, so maybe there are translated ones too.
I also saw a video of him saying that as a believing Christian he cannot accept the claim that more than one religion is true, and he thinks Christianity is the truth. Is there anything to be concerned about?
I also saw that he said briefly that beauty is an argument for the existence of God, but he didn’t explain. Does the Rabbi know what he meant?
Does the Rabbi know of a book that collects detailed proofs for the existence of God? For example, with a chapter devoted to each proof: “the ontological argument,” “the moral argument,” “the argument from beauty,” “the cosmological argument”?
Did the Rabbi ever happen to meet Richard Dawkins after/before the book responding to him?
Answer
I don’t know where you saw that. I don’t know him all that well. But there are indeed a few things I’ve read by him, and I got the impression that he is a smart man.
I dealt with proofs for the existence of God in the booklets here on the site and in my book The First Existent.
Thank you very much for answering one question out of five.
And regarding your wondering where I saw appreciation for Plantinga:
I saw a great deal of appreciation for Plantinga’s intelligence here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%9E%D7%94%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%99
“Something like this was raised by the well-known Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga (it’s unbelievable that he does not appear on the list of American philosophers on Wikipedia, and in fact has no entry there at all. That is truly a scandalous bias, when every atheist clown appears there), asking why evolution instills in us fear of something that threatens us.”
And here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%9B%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%90-%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%90
“….I must say that in light of the rather meager understanding you are showing here, I would be careful about accusing philosophy professors—and certainly people as intelligent as Plantinga—of saying nonsense.”
It’s really rare for you to compliment someone like that, but don’t worry, it’s not embarrassing to appreciate someone, really. I appreciate you very much.