Thursday, January 11, 2018
The Epistemological Skyhook: Determinism, Naturalism, and Self-Defeat
In 2016, Routledge published The Epistemological Skyhook: Determinism, Naturalism, and Self-Defeat by Jim Slagle, as part of their Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy series. Jim Slagle is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Portland and George Fox University in Oregon. He has published articles in several journals, including Philosophia and Logique et Analyse. From the publisher's description of The Epistemological Skyhook:
Throughout philosophical history, there has been a recurring argument to the effect that determinism, naturalism, or both are self-referentially incoherent. By accepting determinism or naturalism, one allegedly acquires a reason to reject determinism or naturalism. The Epistemological Skyhook brings together, for the first time, the principal expressions of this argument, focusing primarily on the last 150 years. This book addresses the versions of this argument as presented by Arthur Lovejoy, A.E. Taylor, Kurt Gödel, C.S. Lewis, Norman Malcolm, Karl Popper, J.R. Lucas, William Hasker, Thomas Nagel, Alvin Plantinga, and others, along with the objections presented by their many detractors. It concludes by presenting a new version of the argument that synthesizes the best aspects of the others while also rendering the argument immune to some of the most significant objections made to it.
Labels: alvin plantinga, determinism, Epistemological Skyhook (book), epistemology, featured books, jim slagle, naturalism
