Schellenberg's Noseeum Assumption about Nonresistant Nonbelief

Authors

  • Paul A. Macdonald Jr. United States Air Force Academy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2021.3085

Keywords:

hiddenness argument, skeptical theism

Abstract

In this article, I outline a strategy for challenging J.L. Schellenberg’s hiddenness argument, and specifically the premise within the argument that asserts the existence of what Schellenberg calls nonresistant nonbelief.  Drawing on some of the philosophical resources of skeptical theism, I show how this premise is based on a particular “noseeum assumption”—what I call Schellenberg’s Noseeum Assumption—that underwrites a particular “noseeum argument.” This assumption is that, regarding putative nonresistant nonbelievers, more likely than not we’d detect these nonbelievers’ resistance toward God if there were any.  I give reasons for thinking that it is not more reasonable to affirm than to refrain from affirming Schellenberg’s Noseeum Assumption, and so reason to think that the hiddenness argument is not a good argument for atheism.  I also defend the strategy I outline against several objections.

References

Henry, Douglas V. 2008. “Reasonable Doubts about Reasonable Nonbelief”. Faith and Philosophy 25, no. 3: 276–89. doi:10.5840/faithphil200825327.

Howard-Snyder, Daniel, and Michael Bergmann. 2004. “Evil Does Not Make Atheism More Reasonable than Theism”, 13–25. In Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion, edited by Michael L. Peterson and Raymond J. VanArragon. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Howard-Snyder, Daniel, and Paul K. Moser. 2002. “Introduction: The Hiddenness of God”, 1–23. In Divine Hiddenness: New Essays, edited by Daniel Howard-Snyder and Paul K. Moser. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Lehe, Robert T. 2004. “A Response to the Argument From the Reasonableness of Nonbelief”. Faith and Philosophy 21, no. 2: 159–74. doi:10.5840/faithphil20042122.

Schellenberg, J. L. 2005. “On Reasonable Nonbelief and Perfect Love: Responses to Henry and Lehe”. Faith and Philosophy 22, no. 3: 330–42. doi:10.5840/faithphil20052236.

— . 2007. The Wisdom to Doubt: A Justification of Religious Skepticism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell Univ. Press.

— . 2015. The Hiddenness Argument: Philosophy’s New Challenge to Belief in God. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

Siegel, Ethan. 2019. “What If It’s Just Us?”. Forbes, April 3, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/04/03/what-if-its-just-us/#334cb17d7d3c.

Wkystra, Stephen J. 1996. “Rowe’s Noseeum Arguments from Evil”. In The Evidential Argument from Evil, edited by Daniel Howard-Snyder, 126–50. Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press.

Published

2021-10-01

How to Cite

Macdonald Jr., Paul A. 2021. “Schellenberg’s Noseeum Assumption about Nonresistant Nonbelief”. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 13 (3). https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2021.3085.

Issue

Section

Research Articles