The Logiphro Dilemma: An Examination of the Relationship Between God and Logic

by James C. McGlothlin

Is God above logic? If so, is he irrational? Is God subservient to logic? If so, is he really omnipotent? These questions are similar to Socrates' infamous challenge to explaining God's relation to morality, the so-called Euthyphro dilemma. In this book McGlothlin argues that the Euthyphro challenge can be extended to help explain the relationship between God and logic, what he call the Logiphro dilemma. Logic, on this account, depends on aspects of God's mind other than God's will. This is a nonstandard form of theistic logical dependence. It contrasts both with the standard form of theistic logical dependence, according to which logic depends on God's will, and with theistic logical independence, according to which logic is independent of God. These rival views can be seen as the horns of the Logiphro dilemma: either logic depends on God's will, in which case special revelation would no longer be communicable; or logic is independent of God, in which case core claims of classical theism--for example, that God is the only independent being--would be violated. The best way to escape both of these horns, according to McGlothlin, is to adopt the nonstandard form of theistic logical dependence.

ebook

Published January 10, 2017

About the author

James McGlothlin (PhD, The Ohio State University) is assistant professor of philosophy and theology at Bethlehem College & Seminary.

He completed his PhD at The Ohio State University under the preeminent philosopher of logic and mathematics Stewart Shapiro. His dissertation argued that the nature of logic depends upon aspects of God’s mind other than God’s will. In 2004, James completed his M.Div. at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, doing a thesis under the theologian Bruce Ware and the late philosopher Ronald Nash.

James began teaching at Bethlehem College & Seminary in 2015. Previously he taught philosophy, logic, and ethics courses at The Ohio State University, Shawnee State University, Ohio Dominican University, and Western Michigan University. He has also served as an elder at Northpointe Baptist Church in Lewis Center, Ohio where he pastored, taught Bible studies, preached, and was involved in children’s ministry.

James’s general research interests are within the field of philosophical theology. His particular interests include issues at the intersection of logic, language, and theology but he enjoys thinking and studying about a whole range of philosophical and theological topics. He is also an avid reader of fiction and occasionally posts book reviews at the science, fantasy, and horror fiction website Black Gate.

James has been happily married to his loving and supporting wife, Cindy, since 1994.

Reviews

[Taylor Simpson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do logically valid arguments have their validity simply in virtue of God's favoring them? Or does God favor them because they are--independently of his favoring them--logically valid?

Logic is not often thought of as the sexiest or most interesting fields of study, and I understand that. It's honestly not particularly a subject I just am dying to examine further on its own merits. However, it can hardly be disputed, when one gets down to it, that logic is likely the most important area of study. The reason being that logic is foundational to every other subject humanity can interest itself in--one needs to use logic to even begin to refute this idea!

That being the case--that logic is so foundational--it is truly inevitable that everyone eventually finds their thoughts coming around to those tantalizing and taunting logical puzzles that have driven people mad since our earliest thinking days. There are all kinds of brain teasers and dilemmas about ethics and science and everything else that come to our attention if not rarely then often. Specifically, those of the population that are inclined to think theistic-type thoughts more than others--I'm imagining theists, but many non-theists think about God often as well!--at one point or another find themselves running up against a thinking-wall not unlike that found in the quote above.

If one thinks long enough or asks enough of the right questions about God, they will likely be confronted with what the author of this book, James McGlothlin, calls the 'Logiphro dilemma', hence the title of the book: The Logiphro Dilemma (TLD).

[Personally, I find the name/word 'Logiphro' to be pretty bad aesthetically, but at least it's memorable! Fortunately, as well, this book does not suffer from its unfortunate name; TLD is a very good read.]

I came across McGlothlin's fairly recent (2017) work while in search of material to help me understand God's relationship to logic. As is not hard to imagine, I found myself confronted one too many times by the seeming antinomy of thought mentioned above about this relationship, and sought for help anywhere I could find it. To my dismay, unless one has access to some of the more obscure philosophical resources online or in university libraries, there is not much available for the layman on this topic (at least not according to my Google searches).

However, as luck would have it, McGlothlin used one of those Google search inquiries almost verbatim as his book's subtitle ('An Examination of the Relationship between God and Logic'), and TLD was at the top of the list. I snatched it up, read it in about week, and have enjoyed it all. It's fairly short (~170 pages) and definitely written with the informed and patient layman in mind.

There are many parts of TLD that I can see many of those unfamiliar with some of the basic aspects of philosophical discourse having trouble with: possible worlds, jargon related to morality/ethics, basic logical terms and concepts, and a few others. For the most part, McGlothlin does a good job defining many of the terms he uses and repeating his ideas often to help keep you in line with his thought process. This is a huge positive point for TLD: it's very...well, logical, and very thorough also. McGlothlin builds his argument and examination from the basic, broad concepts, and continues to hone and focus the scope his reasoning as the chapters go by.

In essence, in trying to discover some relationship between God and logic, McGlothlin appeals to the ancient Euthyphro Dilemma, the infamous ethical conundrum that calls God's relation to morality into question: Is something good because God says it is, or does God says something is good because he recognizes it as such? The various approaches to solving this moral dilemma are considered and mined for potential use in applying similar approaches to the question of God and logic.

I won't go into detailed critique of McGlothlin's approach or suggestions, but I will affirm again that the flow of TLD is very stepping-stone-esque; each chapter and idea builds on the last, and, while there are obvious length limitations in such an accessible and focused book, he leaves few relevant stones unturned along the way.

Although some parts took a little more re-reading than usual to understand (if I even do understand them now!), I now have at least one sufficient and relatively thorough possibility for an answer to my questions about God and logic. If McGlothlin's suggestions on the matter turn out later to be flawed (minorly or majorly), I have a great starting point in my quest for answers in this area. There are numerous footnotes and a sizeable bibliography, and I intend to utilize these to find my next source of possible answers to this question. Although, if my journey were to end here, I wouldn't be entirely unsatisfied. McGlothlin is amicable, intelligent, and scrupulous. This was an excellent find. I recommend it for someone with even just a little background in philosophy (I don't have any kind of degree in this field, but I've read several other philosophically-laden works before this); if you have a serious desire to broach this ubiquitous (yet daunting) topic, I can't imagine a better introduction.