Peter van Inwagen Quotes

• Determinism is the thesis that is true at every moment that the way things then are determines a unique future, that only one of the alternative futures that may exist relative to a given moment is a physically possible continuation of the state of things at the moment. Or, if you like, we may say that determinism is the thesis that only one continuation of the state of things at a given moment is consistent with the laws of nature.

  Peter van Inwagen

  Unique, Law, Alternatives

  Peter Van Inwagen (1993). “Metaphysics”

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• You certainly wouldn’t want to invest much time in an argument with someone who would believe it in the first place.

  Peter van Inwagen

  Believe, Want, Firsts

  Peter Van Inwagen (1998). “The Possibility of Resurrection and Other Essays in Christian Apologetics”

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• I don’t know about ‘common sense opinion’ by the way. It seems to me that the office of common sense is to keep us from playing cards for high stakes with people we meet on trains, and not to endorse metaphysical opinions.

  Peter van Inwagen

  People, Common Sense, Office

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• It looks to me as if Darwinians are like someone who, having observed that tugboats sometimes maneuver ocean liners in tight places by directing high-pressure streams of water at them, concludes that he has discovered the method by which the liners cross the Atlantic.

  Peter van Inwagen

  Ocean, Water, Looks

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• It used to be widely held that evil was incompatible with the existence of God: that no possible world contained both God and evil. So far as I am able tell, this thesis is no longer defended

  Peter van Inwagen

  Evil, World, Able

  "Belief in God Makes Sense in Light of Tsunamis". Debate between William Lane Craig and A.C. Grayling held at the Oxford Union, www.bethinking.org. 2005.

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