Consciousness and the Existence of God: A Theistic Argument

by J.P. Moreland

In Consciousness and the Existence of God , J.P. Moreland argues that the existence of finite, irreducible consciousness (or its regular, law-like correlation with physical states) provides evidence for the existence of God. Moreover, he analyzes and criticizes the top representative of rival approaches to explaining the origin of consciousness, including John Searle’s contingent correlation, Timothy O’Connor’s emergent necessitation, Colin McGinn’s mysterian ‘‘naturalism,’’ David Skrbina’s panpsychism and Philip Clayton’s pluralistic emergentist monism. Moreland concludes that these approaches should be rejected in favor of what he calls ‘‘the Argument from Consciousness.’’

Genres: Philosophy

254 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

J.P. Moreland is the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University in La Mirada, California. He has four earned degrees: a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Missouri, a Th.M. in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, an M. A. in philosophy from the University of California-Riverside, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Southern California.

He has co-planted three churches, spoken and debated on over 175 college campuses around the country, and served with Campus Crusade for Christ for 10 years. For eight years, he served as a bioethicist for PersonaCare Nursing Homes, Inc. headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland.

His ideas have been covered by both popular religious and non-religious outlets, including the New Scientist and PBS’s “Closer to Truth,” Christianity Today and WORLD magazine. He has authored or co-authored 30 books, and published over 70 articles in journals, which include Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, American Philosophical Quarterly, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Metaphilosophy, Philosophia Christi, and Faith and Philosophy.

Reviews

[Jared Mindel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read better books, and there were definitely a lot of sections that I thought were dry and boring. Ideally I'd give this a 3.5, but the system doesn't let me. The best stuff from this book was definitely his critique of emergentism and how it doesn't actually solve the problem of consciousness because it's pretty disanalogous to other "emergent" entities and properties we see. I also really enjoyed his section on panpsychism. Overall, I'd recommend it, but more for the critique of some other systems than putting forward Moreland's own.

[Charles Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written for an academic audience, the book is technical. But it's a great reference on the mind-body topic, in terms of naturalism and its ongoing attempt to find an explanation for mental properties without violating devotion and commitment to its own first principles and Grand Story.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

An advanced work on the argument from consciousness and the mind for the existence of God and/or a defeater for naturalism.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book. The last chapter is especially provocative concerning naturalists and the fear of God.