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Mackie, Induction, and God

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

Richard Swinburne
Richard Swinburne
Affiliation:
Professor of Philosophy, University of Keele
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Extract

J. L. Mackie's posthumous book on the philosophy of religion, The Miracle of Theism, contains a number of detailed criticisms of versions of inductive arguments for the existence of God, contained in my own book The Existence of God. In this paper I argue that what I take to be the three main criticisms have no force.

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Articles
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Religious Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , September 1983, pp. 385 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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References

1 I write this paper with some reluctance. John Mackie was a good friend of mine. We argued about these matters over many years; we first debated in public about the existence of Gad nearly twenty years ago. It would in a way have been courteous to have left the last word with him, who is no longer in a position to continue the debate. However, the issues are of such importance that I feel that I must reply. I am sure that John, with his great charity and love of truth, will understand.

Page references to Mackie's, book are to The Miracle of Theism (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1982)Google Scholar; to my book are to The Existence of God (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979). My summary of my own arguments above is inevitably extremely brief and misses out crucial amplifications and qualifications, for which I must refer the reader to the book.