Religion and Arguments from Silence

Arguments from Silence have been used many times in attempts to discredit the foundations of religions. In this project, I demonstrate how one might judge the epistemic value of such arguments. To begin, I lay out for examination a specific argument from silence given by Walter Richard Cassels in hi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal for philosophy of religion
Main Author: Milstead, Zachary (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: University of Innsbruck in cooperation with the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham [2018]
In: European journal for philosophy of religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Cassels, Walter Richard 1826-1907, Supernatural religion / Religion / Refutation / Argumantation / Epistemic modal logic
IxTheo Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
Further subjects:B Confirmation Theory
B Arguments from Silence
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Description
Summary:Arguments from Silence have been used many times in attempts to discredit the foundations of religions. In this project, I demonstrate how one might judge the epistemic value of such arguments. To begin, I lay out for examination a specific argument from silence given by Walter Richard Cassels in his work Supernatural Religion. I then discuss a recently developed Bayesian approach for dealing with arguments from silence. Finally, using Cassels's work and the work of some of the critics who replied to his argument, I argue for what probabilities might be applied in the use of the Bayesian method for testing the epistemic value Cassels's argument and demonstrate how one might respond to similar arguments.
Contains:Enthalten in: European journal for philosophy of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.24204/ejpr.v10i3.1797