The Nature of Necessity (Clarendon Library of Logic and Philosophy)

This is STILL Alvin Plantinga's most impressive book to date.A philosophical masterpiece that excels in modal logic.Plantinga does a great job with his version of the Ontological Argument. In perfect being theology, God is defined as "A Maximally Great Being" which means that God possesses all great-making, properties such as love, knowledge, and power, and possesses each in a maximal way.Alvin Plantinga swings around Kant's object by showing how necessity is a property, and that Existence is not. Necessity does not entail existence. Necessity just means that if something exists, it exists in all possible worlds. Numbers have this property.It is perfectly within the laws of modal logic for a property (which is not a perfection) to entail its negation.While the Ontological Argument from Anselm has been restored by the likes of Stephen T Davis, now it clearly shows that the Ontological Argument is indeed the most powerful argument for God's existence. While the layman will have a lot of trouble understanding why, this does nothing to the argument itself.Robert Maydole speaks about this book a lot in his writings of the Modal Perfection Argument, and rightly so. This book should is NECESSARY for everyone who is into philosophical theology.

Powerfully defends the case for synthetic necessary truths. And yet another analysis of the perennial ontological argument is exceptionally refined and convincingly demonstrates that most standard "refutations" simplistically miss the point. Though dense at places these discussions are never deliberately obscure. The reasoning, in fact, is unusually naked for philosophic writing, by which I mean that I sense no attempt to conceal difficulties or sidetrack potential objections. Whether sympathetic with the conclusions or not one should admire this sort of intellectual honesty.

Two pages of the book were somehow bound, but it was no problem. The book was great!Thank you very much!

Alvin Plantinga does his work as usual - clear, indepth and concise writting. Much in argument form. Plantinga is tops when it comes to Philosophy. He has set the direction for thinking for man - His argument on free-will is outstanding.EG

Basically New, I ordered the book last out of an order of 3 other books and received it first!

Thx

Finally a coherent model for the reconciliation of divine sovereignty and human freedom

Excellent!

Bien que quelque peu ancien ce livre reste une référence pour saisir la notion, si ce n'est de nécessité, du moins d'essence. Plantinga brosse un panorama très complet des débats mêlant métaphysique et logique des mondes possibles. Sa capacité à exploiter les outils logique par le prisme de questionnement philosophique est remarquable.Il s’inscrit ici dans le renouveau amorcé par Kripke sur les questions modales liés à la métaphysique et ne manque pas de faire une critique précise des thèses alors les plus récentes. Un livre à lire pour saisir le renouveau qu'à connut la métaphysique depuis les années 70.Although somewhat old, this book remains a reference to grasp the notion, if not of necessity, at least of essence. Plantinga gives a very complete panorama of the debates mixing metaphysics and logic of possible worlds. His capacity to exploit the logical tools through the prism of philosophical questioning is remarkable.He is part of the revival initiated by Kripke on modal questions related to metaphysics and does not fail to make a precise criticism of the most recent theses. A book to be read in order to understand the renewal of metaphysics since the 70's.

Fantastic book, many sophisticated arguments concerning broad spectrum of topics connected with possible worlds metaphysics.