Table of Contents

Part I. Divinity: 1. 'GOD' and 'god', and God; Part II. Arguments for the Existence of God: 2. Classical ontological arguments; 3. Modern modal ontological arguments; 4. Kurt Gödel's ontologischer beweis; 5. First causes: the second way; 6. Ultimate reasons: Proofs of a contingentia mundi; 7. Look 'round'; 8. Clouds of witnesses - on 'of miracles'; Part III. On Parts of the Common Conception of Traditional Theology: 9. Romancing the stone; 10. God knows (go figure); Part IV. Arguments against the Existence of God: 11. Atheologies, demonstrative and empirical; 12. The logical problem of evil; Part V. Practical Arguments for and against Theistic Beliefs: 13. Pascalian wagers.

Promotional Information

This is a wide-ranging 2004 book about arguments for and against beliefs in God.

Reviews

'… filled with new, interesting, and insightful observations and analyses … a book everyone interested in philosophy of religion will want - and need - to read.' Graham Oppy, Monash University

'I'm often asked to recommend books on philosophy of religion from a skeptical point of view, and Mackie's The Miracle of Theism has been the only thing I could wholeheartedly endorse. Sobel's book would give me a second option. It's the best thing of its kind since Mackie's book, and in many respects, it's better than The Miracle of Theism.' Robert C. Koons, University of Texas, Austin

'This book is a rich resource for those interested in the traditional arguments for and against belief in God's existence … the book is valuable not so much for the author's own conclusions in each chapter, as it is for the rich resource it constitutes … the author has done a great service by assembling different versions of arguments for and against God's existence, by discussing the arguments intelligently and critically … I suspect that many philosophers of religion, both theists and sceptics, will be responding to the particular arguments of this book for some time to come.' Ars Disputandi