2011-2012 TEMPLETON RESEARCH FELLOWS RECIPIENTS

Klaas Kraay

Project Abstract:

Professor Kraay’s project is titled “God, Possible Worlds, and the Multiverse”. A central theistic doctrine holds that God is the creator and sustainer of all that is. In the contemporary philosophical literature, God’s choice of a world is typically construed as follows: God surveys the set of all possible worlds, and then freely chooses exactly one for actualization, based on its axiological status. The world so selected by God is the actual world. Professor Kraay hopes to develop and defend the view that if theism is true, the world God selects for actualization is a multiverse comprising all and only those universes worthy of being created and sustained by God. He further hopes to show that, if theism is true, this multiverse is the only possible world. He will explore the consequences of these views for theism, and will consider the connections between these views and various multiverse theories in contemporary physics and cosmology.

Select Publications:

(forthcoming)   “Theism and Modal Collapse”, American Philosophical Quarterly.

(2010)    “Theism, Possible Worlds, and the Multiverse”, Philosophical Studies 147: 355-368.

(2008)    “Creation, World-Actualization, and God’s Choice Among Possible Worlds”, Philosophy Compass 3: 854-72.

(2007)    “Divine Unsurpassability”, Philosophia 35: 293-300.

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Joseph Diekemper

Project Abstract:

Dr. Diekemper’s project is titled, “Events: Temporal and Eternal.” The goal of the project is to develop a theory of events which provides the foundation for a plausible and coherent account of God’s relation to time, and which has independent appeal (independent, that is, of theological considerations). The project will be divided into three parts. The first part will involve an investigation of those fundamental aspects of time which might have important implications for the nature of events. The second part will involve a defense of the fundamentality of events, and the development of a theory of events in time. The third part will consider ways in which we might plausibly conceive of events as eternal entities. This will involve an investigation of different ways of characterizing divine eternity, and then an analysis of the possible relations these ways bear to the antecedently developed theory of temporal events.

Select Publications:

‘Thisness and Events,’ The Journal of Philosophy, 106(5): 255-76 (2009)

‘B-Theory, Fixity, and Fatalism,’ Noûs 41(3): 429-52 (2007)

‘Presentism and Ontological Symmetry,’ Australasian Journal of Philosophy 83(2): 223-40 (2005)

‘Temporal Necessity and Logical Fatalism,’ Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society CIV(3): 289-96 (2004)

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Helen De Cruz

Project Abstract:

Dr. Helen De Cruz' project is entitled 'Cognitive origins of intuitions in natural theology'. Arguments in natural theology (like the fine tuning argument or the cosmological argument) rely to an important extent on intuitions, for example about causality, agency, and design. Over the past few decades, cognitive scientists have provided convincing evidence that some of these intuitions are a stable part of human cognition. De Cruz' aim is to explore to what extent cognitive science can elucidate the origins of intuitions that underlie arguments in natural theology, and what this implies for the justification of the premises in these arguments (a fortiori, of their conclusions). The project will draw on empirical and theoretical research in the cognitive science of religion in order to critically analyze arguments in natural theology, with an emphasis on the work of contemporary philosophers of religion.

Select Publications:

"Evolved cognitive biases and the epistemic status of scientific beliefs" (with Johan De Smedt). Philosophical Studies (in press)

"The cognitive appeal of the cosmological argument" (with Johan De Smedt). Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (in press).

"Paley's iPod. The cognitive basis of the design argument within natural theology" (with Johan De Smedt).  Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 45 (2010): 665-684.

"The role of intuitive ontologies in scientific understanding - The case of human evolution" (with Johan De Smedt). Biology and Philosophy 22 (2007): 351-368.

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