Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107621 in Books
• Published on: 1982-11-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 278 pages

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive, academic - but heavy reading!
This is absolutely the most comprehensive summary of arguments for and against the existence of God I have ever come across. Mackie is dry and extremely thorough throughout - he leaves no stone unturned in routing the arguments for the existence of a Deity.

His summary of the different facets of the problem of evil is full of insight - although in my opinion his conclusions are nowhere near strong enough.

This is an absolute must read for any philosopher or apologist, although the uninitiated will find it hard going. But then, this is a serious academic text - and it doesn't pretend to be anything else. It isn't popular philosophy - but then noone will be kidded into thinking it is!

As an aside, I would strongly recommend that for a wittier and more accessible read, Amazon customers should seriously consider ordering Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion along with Mackie's work. Mackie references it many times, and it is still, over 200 years on, one of the classics of philosophy. Indeed, it is one of the most important works of philosophy in the English language, along with his Enquiries.

A Classic
J. L. Mackie's greatest work, The Miracle of Theism sets out to examine some of the major defenses of godbelief and then shows how they are lacking. He criticizes classical as well as modern forms of the traditional arguments for god's existence. In particular, he deals a major blow to Richard Swineburne 's argument from design and Alvin Plantinga's free will defence. He also formulates the logical argument from evil and show why it is a compelling reason to discard theism. A must have for all interested atheists and theists.

Fascinating for believers and atheists alike
This masterpiece of philosophical writing will neither convert the atheist nor dissuade the devout believer. It does however give a fascinating insight into the stuff religion is made of and presents arguments from both perspectives equally and objectively. Also includes most of the major theories of religious belief by notable philosophers throughout the ages.