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Greg Welty’s Followers (1)
Greg Welty
“He first considers belief in God by way of the sensus divinitatis (way 8), articulating an Aquinas/Calvin (A/C) model of theistic belief. According to the A/C model, God has given us a faculty for perceiving God that is analogous to sense perception (way 1). If the sensus divinitatis gives us true beliefs, and it is functioning properly in an appropriate environment according to a design plan successfully aimed at truth, then it gives us knowledge of God. Like perception, this would be a basic belief (not based on argument), but it would still be knowledge.”
― Alvin Plantinga
― Alvin Plantinga
“The Journey to Warranted Christian Belief Warrant: The Current Debate and Warrant and Proper Function (1993) The Reformed epistemology of 1983 had a rather narrow focus when it came to the nature and scope of knowledge. By merely defending the rationality of belief in God, Plantinga was assuming that rationality was important and perhaps even central to the nature of knowledge. But perhaps it’s not. And perhaps justification isn’t crucial either, if by that we mean some feature of our beliefs that we can just see, and that gives us the right to hold our beliefs. Rather, what might be really important for knowledge is proper function. And by merely defending the rationality of belief in God, the Reformed epistemology project had a very narrow scope. What about the rest of knowledge and belief? How should”
― Alvin Plantinga
― Alvin Plantinga
“The tree is in the yard beyond my window” (perception). “I had Cheerios for breakfast this morning” (memory). “2 + 2 = 4” (insight). “I’m thinking about philosophy right now” (introspection). “Abraham Lincoln was assassinated” (testimony). “Since 2 + 2 = 4, therefore 2 + 2 ≠ 5” (deductive inference). “Since the sun has always risen in the past, it will probably rise tomorrow” (inductive inference). By way of contrast, faith is a way of knowing that utilizes two cognitive capacities over and above those just named: a sense of the divine (what Calvin calls the sensus divinitatis in his Institutes, 1.3.1, first sentence), and a capacity to repose trust in divine testimony. Since the following beliefs would be acquired by using such capacities, these beliefs are acquired by faith: “God is an awesome Creator” (sensus divinitatis, said while contemplating a mountain). “God is displeased with what I did” (divine testimony, said while reading the Sermon on the Mount).”
― Alvin Plantinga
― Alvin Plantinga
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