The Argument from Reason Revisited

  • Charles Taliaferro St. Olaf College
Keywords: abstract objects, explanations, naturalism, Platonism, reason

Abstract

Arguments against naturalism and materialism have a long history, from Plato to Plantinga. The paper has three parts: First, I reconstruct an argument from reason found in Plato’s the Phaedo. Second I consider whether the argu‑ ment is relevant to contemporary forms of naturalism. I argue that the argument does constitute a serious objection to some forms of naturalism. I then defend the argument against objections from GEM Anscombe, Graham Oppy, and Peter van Inwagen.

References

Anscombe, G. E. M. 1975. “The First Person.” In Mind and Language, edited by Samuel Guttenplan, 45–65. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Anscombe, G. E. M. 1981. Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Mind. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Chisholm, Roderick. 1977. Theory of Knowledge. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Cumhaill, Clare Mac, and Rachael Wiseman. 2023. Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life. New York: Anchor Books.

Dennett, Daniel C. 1976. “Why the Law of Effect Will Not Go Away.” Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 5 (2): 169–187. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5914.1975.tb00350.x.

Dennett, Daniel C.. 1992. Consciousness Explained. New York: Back Bay Books.

Ewing, A. C. 1934. Idealism: A Critical Study. London: Methuen.

Goetz, Stewart. 2018. C. S. Lewis. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

Hasker, William. 2022. “Reply to My Friendly Critics.” Roczniki Filozoficzne 70 (1): 191–223. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf2201.12.

Inwagen, Peter van. 2024. “Afterword.” In The Origin of the Soul, edited by Joshua R. Farris and Joanna Leidenhag, 255–268. London: Routledge.

Oppy, Graham. 2022. “Anti-Naturalistic Arguments from Reason.” Roczniki Filozoficzne 70 (1): 15–35. http://doi.org/10.18290/rf2201.2.

Papineau, David. 1993. Philosophical Naturalism. Oxford: Blackwell.

Papineau, David. 2008. “Explanatory Gap and Dualist Intuitions.” In Frontiers of Consciousness, edited by Lawrence Weiskrantz and Martin Davies, 55–87. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Plato. 1969. The Complete Works of Plato. Edited by Edith Hamilton. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Rickabaugh, Brandon, and Todd Buras. 2017. “The Argument from Reason and Mental Drainage: A Reply to Peter van Inwagen.” Philosophia Christi 19 (2): 381–399. https://doi.org/10.5840/pc201719230.

Rosenberg, Alex. 2011. The Atheist’s Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life without Illusions. New York: W. W. Norton.

Taliaferro, Charles. 1994. Consciousness and the Mind of God. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Taliaferro, Charles. 2001. “Sensibility and Possibilia.” Philosophia Christi 3 (2): 403–420. https://doi.org/10.5840/pc20013240.

Taliaferro, Charles. 2015. “Abstract Objects and Causation: Bringing Causation Back into Contemporary Platonism.” Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia 71 (4): 769–780. https://doi.org/ 10.17990/rpf/2015_71_4_0769.

Taliaferro, Charles. 2018. “Substance Dualism: A Defense.” In The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism, edited by Jonathan J. Loose, Angus J. L. Menuge, and J. P. Moreland, 41–60. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

Published
2025-12-29
How to Cite
Taliaferro, C. (2025). The Argument from Reason Revisited. Forum Philosophicum, 30(2), 37-48. https://doi.org/10.35765/forphil.2025.3002.02