(August 29, 2012 at 7:39 pm)Stimbo Wrote:

(August 29, 2012 at 7:22 pm)padraic Wrote: I suspect I will regret asking,but who is Alvin Platinga? A prominent American apologist?

This is Alvin Plantinga:



and this is one article I found that, shall we say, doesn't seem to like him very much.

Here's another though a little less forthright in tone.

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(August 29, 2012 at 7:37 pm)Smartass Wrote: That avatar is a damned Briton! Why do you have a Briton as your avatar...?

That's no damned Briton; that's BoJo, the famous comedy Tory Mayor of London. I once saw him on his bike riding around Westminster. He didn't see me, though - or if he did he never said anything.

Among laymen, nobody knows who Plantinga is. Among dumb atheists, Plantinga is an idiot. Among theist and atheist philosophers Plantinga is considered the greatest philosopher alive today. I suggest that all knowledgeable atheists approach him and his work with seriousness.

PS- He defeated the logical problem of evil.

PPS- You can hate his arguments, but I'm firmly of the opinion that you have to respect his work. Here's a review of his book in the NYT. I think they characterize his reputation fairly given his weight among philosophers. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/books/...wanted=all

(August 29, 2012 at 7:56 pm)Napoléon Wrote:

(August 29, 2012 at 7:51 pm)Smartass Wrote: Oh right I meant to say Breton, not Briton. Also that is a picture of a Breton if I'm not mistakened.

It's not a Breton. It's a Bosmer. Fucking n00b.

How was I supposed to know, I didn't see it's ears! Besides Bretons are like half-Elf anyways.

No, just, just no.

(August 29, 2012 at 7:56 pm)Napoléon Wrote: It's not a Breton. It's a Bosmer. Fucking n00b.

You made me have to Google that, Nap. Somehow I can't imagine BoJo as a wood elf but I suspect I'm going to have nightmares about it now.

(August 29, 2012 at 7:57 pm)Vincenzo "Vinny" G. Wrote: PS- He defeated the logical problem of evil.

If I was feeling mean I'd probably think that by "defeated" you mean redefined the terms involved until it went away..?

(August 29, 2012 at 8:02 pm)Napoléon Wrote: No, just, just no.

C'mon go look it up Napoleon. It wouldn't hurt, would it?

(August 29, 2012 at 8:04 pm)Smartass Wrote: C'mon go look it up Napoleon. It wouldn't hurt, would it?

Look it up? LOOK IT UP!? You are telling ME to look up Elder Scrolls lore? You have no idea.

I have to ask: is that his own hand in that picture giving the thumb-up gesture, or is it someone just about to smack him in the mouth? It's hard to tell from his patented Serious Face, it just makes him look constipated.

It's his thumb.

Shame. He's ok with his unintentional clown act and on satirical news quizzes, but I'd love to see him get a smack in the mouth anyway.

Quote:PS- He defeated the logical problem of evil.

He may well have,but logic does NOT guarantee truth. A valid logical inference may only be claimed to be true if the premise has been proved to be true. Otherwise such arguments fall under the heading of 'sophistry', which pithily describes the entire disciplines of presuppositional apologetics and theology.

Quote:PPS You can hate his arguments, but I'm firmly of the opinion that you have to respect his work

You are of course entitled to his opinion,but no, I have no obligation to respect anything. I have not read his work. I did look him up;the man seems brilliant, I can respect his intellect. That he chose to be an apologist says to me only that he has squandered a good mind,and I do not respect THAT.