Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

192999

Descriptivist reference and the return of classical theism

John Allan Knight

pp. 207-223

Abstract

Publications addressing traditional questions in philosophical theology have increased in recent years, and have come largely from analytic philosophers. This marks a substantial shift in relations between theology and analytic philosophy, which only a few decades ago were best described as adversarial. What accounts for this shift? In this paper I argue that theology's disenchantment with analytic philosophy resulted from the dominance of Russell's descriptivist program in philosophy of language and the falsification challenge that depended on it. By the time Kripke's causal theory of reference, and his contributions to modal logic and possible world semantics began to revolutionize analytic philosophy of language and metaphysics, theologians had turned their attention elsewhere. Consequently, while theologians mostly remain reticent about engaging analytic philosophy, new developments in classical theistic doctrines are in large part the work of philosophers able to explore the opportunities that Kripke, his cohorts and followers have opened up.

Publication details

Published in:

Diller Jeanine, Kasher Asa (2013) Models of God and alternative ultimate realities. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 207-223

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-5219-1_18

Full citation:

Knight John Allan (2013) „Descriptivist reference and the return of classical theism“, In: J. Diller & A. Kasher (eds.), Models of God and alternative ultimate realities, Dordrecht, Springer, 207–223.