PROBABILISTIC METHOD OF RICHARD SWINBURNE AS A MEANS OF CONSTRUCTING A NEW THEISTIC COSMOLOGY

Authors

  • Ihor Gudyma Donetsk National Medical University (Kropyvnytskyi)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17721/sophia.2019.13.4

Keywords:

God, universe, faith, science, probability

Abstract

In the article a comprehensive study of the probabilistic method of the famous British theologian and philosopher Richard Swinburne. This approach serves as a means of constructing a new theistic cosmology. Richard Swinburne's philosophical and theological project is ambitious and significant. He prefers to combine the truths of faith and the achievements of modern science. However, this should be under the auspices of the religious worldview. This combination is carried out by the author from the standpoint of probabilism. It relies on the selection of inductive evidence of the existence of God and ultimately must demonstrate the proper probability of a central position in the religious worldview – "God exists". Such a combination is, according to the author, the living and active soul of his own "hypothesis of theism". This hypothesis is intended to explain the emergence of the universe, the causes of its occurrence, the existence and functioning of its permanent laws, its orientation to the emergence of animals and the appearance of man.
The author widely uses the inductive proof of the existence of God. But he also does not avoid deduction. He deduces the main attributes of God through deduction, interprets the "God-world" relation, examines the essence of God's providential care of the world, together with ethics, gives his vision of the theodicy. The construction of a new theistic cosmology is realized mainly within the limits and means of the apologetics of Swinburne. In this system of knowledge, various ways of proving the existence of God are investigated. Subsequently they receive a proper theological assessment. And, then, it's about faith that seeks understanding. It is shown how the large-scale and ambitious project of constructing a new theology, the author failed to fully realize. The article states that Swinburne prefers to preserve the theoretical orientation of his theorizing, as well as their intellectual respectability and significance. And hence, it significantly degrades its own concept, because it does not fully utilize the theoretical resources of classical theism with its reliance on Revelation.

Author Biography

Ihor Gudyma, Donetsk National Medical University (Kropyvnytskyi)

Doctor of Philosophy, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Linguistics and Humanities
Donetsk National Medical University (Kropyvnytskyi)

References

Gryunbaum A. Nisheta teisticheskoj kosmologii // Voprosy filosofii. – N 9. – 2004. – S. 111. (in Rusian).

Kasper V. Iisus Hristos / Per. s nem. – M.: Biblejsko-bogoslovskij institut sv. apostola Andreya, 2005. – 420 s. (in Rusian).

Kulakov Yu.I. Sintez nauki i religii // Voprosy filosofii. – № 2. – 1999. – S.145. (in Rusian).

Mak-Grat Alister. Vvedenie v hristianskoe bogoslovie / per. s angl. – Odessa: " Bogomyslie ", 1998. – 420 s. (in Rusian).

Moltman Yurgen. Nauka i mudrost: K dialogu estestvennyh nauk i bogosloviya / per. s nem.- M.: Biblejsko-bogoslovskij institut sv. apostola Andreya, 2005. – 204 s. (in Rusian).

Pikok A. Ot nauki k Bogu: Novye grani vospriyatiya religii. – Per. s angl. K. Saveleva. – M.: FAIR-PRESS, 2002. – 304 s. (in Rusian). (in Rusian).

Suinbern R. Est li Bog? Per. s angl. – M., Biblejsko-bogoslovskij institut sv. apostola Andreya, 2006. – 120 s. (in Rusian).

Suinbyorn R. Sushestvovanie Boga / Rossijskaya akad. nauk, In-t filosofii, O-vo hristianskih filosofov; per. s angl. M. O. Kedrovoj. – M.: Yazyki slavyanskoj kultury, 2014. – 462 s. (in Rusian).

Richard Swinburne. Faith and Reason. – Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981. – 288 p.

Richard Swinburne. The Coherence of Theism. – Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977. – 302 p.

Published

2019-06-26

How to Cite

Gudyma, I. (2019). PROBABILISTIC METHOD OF RICHARD SWINBURNE AS A MEANS OF CONSTRUCTING A NEW THEISTIC COSMOLOGY. SOPHIA. Human and Religious Studies Bulletin, 13(1), 16-21. https://doi.org/10.17721/sophia.2019.13.4