The God Beyond Belief: In Defence of William Rowe's Evidential Argument from Evil Book

Foreword     xi
Preface     xiii
Note on gender-inclusive language     xvii
Introduction     1
Aims and Limitations     2
Methodology     4
What Is a Good Argument?     8
Overview     10
Background to the Problem Evil     17
Orthodox Theism     17
The Problem of Evil     23
Philosophical Background     23
Goods and Evils     23
Versions of the Problem of Evil     27
Ethical Theory and the Problem of Evil     30
Historical Background     33
Rowe's Evidential Arguments from Evil     47
The Early Rowe (1978-86)     47
The 1979 Argument     49
The Theological Premise     50
The Factual Premise     51
Wykstra on Rowe's Case in Support of the Factual Premise     55
The Middle Rowe (1988-95)     57
The Factual Premise Revisited     57
The Inference-from P to Q     58
The Structure of the Argument     61
The Late Rowe (1996-present)     62
Rowe's New Evidential Argument     62
Atheism or Agnosticism?     67
Rowe's Resurrection of the 'Middle' Argument from Evil     68
What No Eye Has Seen: The Epistemi Foundations of Wykstra's Cornea Critique     77
The Original Cornea     78
The Problem with C[subscript 1]     82
Cornea and the Principle of Credulity     84
Counterexamples to C[subscript 2]-C[subscript 4]     88
C[subscript 4] and Noseeum Inferences     90
Cornea Applied to Rowe's Evidential Argument     99
Applying C[subscript 4.2] to Rowe's Arguments     99
Rowe's Response to Cornea     101
Cornea and the Burden of Reasonability     101
Rowe on Step 2 of Wykstra's Cornea Critique     104
Wykstra's Argument-Rowe's Version     106
The RST-EST Distinction     108
The Inference from (5) to (6) Re-examined     109
The Prospects for EST     110
Appendix to 'The Prospects for EST'     115
Rowe's Restriction to RST     116
Wykstra's Argument - The Analogical Version     118
Analogical Reasoning     119
Rowe's Critique of Wykstra's Parent Analogy     121
Wykstra's Revised Parent Analogy     122
Rowe's Critique of the New Parent Analogy     124
Further Objections to Rowe's Noseeum Assumption     135
Howard-Snyder's Argument from Complex Goods     135
Durston's Argument from the Complexity of History     138
The Progress Argument     145
Alston's Analogies     154
In Support of the Inference from Inscrutable to Pointless Evil     163
The Argument from Moral Scepticism     163
Rowe's Case in Support of RNA     174
Concluding Remarks     181
The Problem of Divine Hiddenness     189
What is the Problem?     189
Analogies in Support of RNA[subscript 4]     191
The Case Against RNA[subscript 4]     194
The Sceptical Theist Response     194
The Appeal to Human Freedom     197
Hick's Freedom in Relation to God     197
Swinburne's Moral Freedom     206
In Conclusion     216
Meta-Theodicy: Adequacy Conditions for Theodicy     227
The Evils to be Explained     228
The Goods to be Invoked     233
The Nature of Theodical Explanation     238
Summary     242
Theodicy Proper, or Casting Light on the Ways of God: Horrendous Moral Evil     251
Sketch of a Theodicy     251
Problem I: Curtailing the Exercise of Free Will     256
Problem II: Necessary Evils?     261
Tierno's 'Adequacy Argument' Against Free Will Theodicies     261
The Inadequacy of Tierno's 'Adequacy Argument'     263
Conclusion     269
Theodicies for Natural Evil     275
Soul-Making and Natural Evil     276
Swinburne's Free Will Theodicy     279
Reichenbach's Natural Law Theodicy     287
Conclusion     295
The Compatibility of Gratuitous Evil with Theism     303
Van Inwagen's God of Chance     304
Van Inwagen's No Minimum Thesis     309
Taking the Sting Out of the No Minimum Thesis     314
Peterson's Rejection of Meticulous Providence     317
Peterson on the Defensive     318
Peterson on the Offensive     320
Conclusion     324
Conclusion: Is Rowe's Evidential Argument Successful?     333
The 'G.E. Moore Shift'     334
Reconceiving God     337
Rejecting God's Perfect Goodness     337
Rejecting Divine Omnipotence     338
The Worship-Worthiness of God     340
Concluding Remarks     341
Bibliography      347
Index     369