Daniel Akande's Blog

Firstly, consider that all things which are actual are also possible. This should be obvious enough. Is there anything that is impossible but also actual? No. Impossible things, by definition, cannot be actual. So we can say that possibility is logically prior to actuality.

With me so far? OK.

Now, secondly, note that if something is impossible, then there is something else that explains why that thing is impossible. In other words, there is no brute impossibility. Impossibility always has an expl...

Imagine you had a basket full of apples and you wanted to distinguish between the ones that are good and the ones that are bad. You decide to build an apple-sorting machine that would do exactly that. This machine is supposed to sort the good apples from the bad apples. But how can you build this machine without already knowing how to differentiate good apples from bad ones? You can’t. But you also can’t sort the good apples from the bad ones without the machine. So you are left in a position of...

As you probably know, when it comes to apologetic methodology, Presuppositional Apologetics as conceived of by Cornelius Van Til is probably the most controversial.

However, there is something about it that makes it the best defense of the Christian faith: the transcendental argument. Transcendental arguments in general aim to show that some principle which a skeptic denies is necessary for some other principle which the skeptic takes for granted. 

This implies that, if successful, a transcendenta...

A few days ago, I made the following post on Facebook:

If logical truths are knowable, then Christian theism is

true.

Logical truths are knowable.

Therefore, Christian theism is true

One comment on that post went like this: 

“An intelligent unbeliever would have a bit of a field day with this.  

Why does your conclusion, above, necessarily follow from the premise?  

We could just start making up any "if, then" statements here, but that doesn't make it ok.  

I'm kind of confused on this one.”

I gave a brie...

The Christian and unbeliever have views of the world that are diametrically opposed. It should come as no surprise then that their views of human knowledge are antithetical as well. To see this, let’s examine how each system views man’s knowledge of a cup.

On the Christian view, when man knows a cup, he is reconstructing God’s system of knowledge. The cup owes its existence and nature to the eternal counsel of God. God’s conception of the cup is what makes the cup what it is. So God is the first ...

Undoubtedly, the cornerstone of the Van Tilian defense of the faith is the transcendental argument for Christian Theism. 

However, the philosophical nuances of this argument may seem complicated, especially for those not so philosophically inclined. So here’s…

How to argue transcendentally in 4 easy steps

Van Til taught that one can begin with any fact and formulate an objective proof of Christianity. And he was right. Greg Bahnsen famously formulated...

Immanuel Kant is one of the most famous philosophers to have ever lived. His works covered quite a number of topics - from moral philosophy, to philosophy of religion, to idealism, and many more. But one thing he is most famous for is his introduction of the noumena/phenomena distinction. 

Kantian scholars disagree over how exactly to interpret his works, but there is no doubt that Kant made a distinction between the world as perceived by the human mind (the phenomena), and the reality beyond the...

One of the most fundamental questions in philosophical theology is the question of God’s relation to abstract objects, particularly things like logical laws. It seems intuitive to conceive of logic as being necessarily existing, unchanging, and timeless. However, if that’s the case, then it would seem to imply that logic is uncreated. This seems to create some tension with the view held by many Christians that all things which are not God were created by God. So, did God create logic? Or is logi...

Ever heard the saying “there’s nothing new under the sun”? Well, what if there was?

Imagine we come across an object that is, in the most literal sense, a novelty? This object does not possess any property that we are familiar with. Rather the object possesses the following properties: it is schlep, schloop, and schlorp. 

I know what you’re thinking, “that doesn’t make any sense!” 

Exactly. 

Such an object would be wholly other and would have no basis in our experience. We cannot wrap our head aroun...

The conflict of opinion between the atheist and theist is a foundational and deep-seated one that arises from major disagreements over the nature of reality. The atheist believes that God does not exist while the Christian theist believes, in accordance with Scripture, that God exists and has revealed Himself through the person of Christ. The atheist’s rejection of God, however, does not come without its consequences. It is undeniable that the affirmation of the existence of God grants the theis...