Skeptical Theism, Moral Skepticism, and Divine Deception

Joshua Seigal

Skeptical Theism, Moral Skepticism, and Divine Deception

Article

15/2 - Fall 2010, pages 251-274

Date of online publication: 20 décembre 2010

Date of publication: 20 décembre 2010

Abstract

Skeptical theism—a strategy for dealing with so-called “evidential arguments from evil”—is often held to lead to moral skepticism. In this paper I look at some of the responses open to the skeptical theist to the contention that her position leads to moral skepticism, and argue that they are ultimately unsuccessful, since they leave the skeptical theist with no grounds for ruling out the possibility of maximal divine deception. I then go on to argue that the situation is particularly bleak for the skeptical theist, since the most prominent ways of dealing with this pervasive type of skepticism are not available to her. Furthermore, since this pervasive type of skepticism entails moral skepticism, it follows that moral skepticism will after all have found a way in “through the back door.” In order to solidify my case, I go on to outline and deal with three potential objections.

Keywords

Cite this article

Seigal, Joshua. “Skeptical Theism, Moral Skepticism, and Divine Deception.” Forum Philosophicum 15, no. 1 (2010): 251–74. doi:10.35765/forphil.2010.1502.19.

Bibliography

Almeida, Michael, and Graham Oppy. “Sceptical Theism and the Evidential Argument from Evil.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81, no. 4 (2003): 496–516. doi:10.1080/713659758.

Almeida, Michael, and Graham Oppy. “Reply to Trakakis and Nagasawa.” Ars Disputandi 5, no. 1 (2005): 5–11. doi:10.1080/15665399.2005.10819893.

Alston, William P. “The Inductive Arguments from Evil and the Human Cognitive Condition.” Philosophical Perspectives 5: Philosophy of Religion (1991): 29–67.

Alston, William P. “Some (Temporarily) Final Thoughts on Evidential Arguments From Evil.” The Evidential Argument from Evil, edited by Daniel Howard-Snyder, 311–332. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Bergmann, Michael. “Skeptical Theism and Rowe’s New Evidential Argument from Evil.” Noûs 35, no. 2 (2001): 278–296. doi:10.1111/0029-4624.00297.

Bergmann, Michael and Michael C. Rea, “In Defence of Sceptical Theism: A Reply to Almeida and Oppy.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 83, no. 2 (2005): 241–251. doi:10.1080/00048400500111147.

Berkeley, George. Philosophical Writings. Edited by Desmond M. Clarke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

DeRose, Keith, and Ted A. Warfield, eds. Skepticism: A Contemporary Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Descartes, René. Philosophical Letters of Descartes. Edited by Anthony Kenny. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970.

Descartes, René. Selected Philosophical Writings. Translated by J. Cottingham et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Dretske, Fred. “Skepticism: What Perception Teaches.” In The Skeptics: Contemporary Essays, edited by Steven Luper, 105–118. Hampshire: Ashgate, 2003.

Dretske, Fred. “Is Knowledge Closed Under Known Entailment?” In Contemporary Debates in Epistemology, edited by Matthias Steup, and Ernest Sosa, 13–26. Malden MA: Blackwell, 2005.

Graham, Andrew, and Stephen Maitzen. “CORNEA and Closure.” Faith and Philosophy 24, no.1 (2007): 83–86. doi:10.5840/faithphil200724138.

Hasker, William. “The Necessity of Gratuitous Evil.” Faith and Philosophy 9, no. 1 (1992): 23–44. doi:10.5840/faithphil1992911.

Howard-Snyder, Daniel. “The Argument from Inscrutable Evil.” In The Evidential Argument from Evil, edited by Daniel Howard-Snyder, 286–310. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Howard-Snyder, Daniel. “Epistemic Humility, Arguments from Evil, and Moral Skepiticism.” In Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion, edited by Jonathan L. Kvanvig, 2:17–57. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Howard-Snyder, Daniel, ed. The Evidential Argument from Evil. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Jordan, Jeff. “Does Skeptical Theism Lead to Moral Skepticism?.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 72, no. 2 (2006): 403–417.

Kvanvig, Jonathan L., ed. Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion. Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011

Luper, Steven. “The Epistemic Closure Principle.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Published December 31, 2001. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/closure-epistemic/.

Mackie, J. L. “Evil and Omnipotence.” Mind 64, no. 254 (1955): 200–212. doi:10.1093/mind/LXIV.254.200.

Maitzen, Stephen. “Skeptical Theism and God’s Commands.” Sophia 46, no. 3 (2007): 237–234. doi:10.1007/s11841-007-0032-5.

Maitzen, Stephen. “Skeptical Theism and Moral Obligation.” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 65, no. 2 (2009): 93–103.

Moore, George Edward. “Proof of an External World.” Proceedings of British Academy 25, no. 5 (1939): 273–300.

Nozick, Robert. Philosophical Explanations. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.

Piper, Mark. “Why Theists Cannot Accept Skeptical Theism.” Sophia 47, no. 2 (2008): 129–148. doi:10.1007/s11841-008-0053-8.

Plantinga, Alvin. “Epistemic Probability and Evil.” In The Evidential Argument from Evil, edited by Daniel. Howard-Snyder, 69–97. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Pryor, James. “The Skeptic and the Dogmatist.” Noûs 34, no. 4 (2000): 517–549. doi:10.1111/0029-4624.00277.

Rowe, William L. “The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism.” In Philosophy of Religion: an Anthology, edited by Charles Taliaferro and Paul J Griffiths, 368–375. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.

Schellenberg, J. L. “Stalemate and Strategy: Rethinking the Evidential Argument From Evil.” American Philosophical Quarterly 37, no. 4 (2000): 405-419. doi:10.2307/20010013.

Schnall, Ira M., “Skeptical Theism and Moral Skepticism.” Religious Studies 43, no. 1 (2007): 49–69. doi:10.2307/20006348.

Sehon, Scott. “The Problem of Evil: Skeptical Theism Leads to Moral Paralysis.” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 67, no. 2 (2010): 67–80. doi:10.2307/25652862.

Shaw, Joseph. “Divine Commands at the Foundations of Morality.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 32, no. 3 (2002): 419–440. doi:10.2307/40232157.

Steup, Matthias, and Ernest Sosa, eds. Contemporary Debates in Epistemology. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005.

Stone, Jim. “Evidential Atheism.” Philosophical Studies 114, no. 3 (2003): 253–277. doi:10.2307/4321384.

Taliaferro, Charles, and Paul J. Griffiths, eds. Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.

Tooley, Michael. “The Argument From Evil.” Philosophical Perspectives 5 (1991): 89–134. doi:10.2307/2214092.

Tooley, Michael. “The Problem of Evil.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Published September 16, 2002. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/.

Trakakis, Nick, and Yujin Nagasawa. “Skeptical Theism and Moral Skepticism.” Ars Disputandi 4, no. 1 (2004): 222–228. doi:10.1080/15665399.2004.10819851.

Inwagen, Peter van. “The Problem of Evil, the Problem of Air and the Problem of Silence.” In Philosophy of Religion: an Anthology, edited by Charles Taliaferro and Paul J Griffiths, 390–407. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003.

Wielenberg, Erik J. “Sceptical Theism and Divine Lies.” Religious Studies 46, no. 4 (2010): 509–523. doi:10.1017/S0034412510000247.

Wykstra, Stephen John. “The Humean Obstacle to Evidential Arguments from Suffering: On Avoiding the Evils of ‘Appearance.’ ” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 16, no. 2 (1984): 73–93. doi:10.1007/bf00136567.

Wykstra, Stephen John. “Rowe’s Noseeum Argument from Evil.” In The Evidential Argument from Evil, edited by Daniel Howard-Snyder, 126–150. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Copyright

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Back to the outline