Plantinga, Quine, and others object to the idea of merely possible beings (possible beings that don't in fact exist) because such beings raise knotty problems.
Plantinga, Quine, and others object to the idea of merely possible beings (possible beings that don't in fact exist) because such beings raise knotty problems.
Plantinga asks about such possible beings: "What sorts of things are they? Do they have properties? Why think that there are such beings at all?"
Remember that Quine criticized this reasoning: "I have no younger sister. However, it's possible (conceivable) that I would have had a younger sister. Therefore, there's a possible being who is my younger sister."
Quine objected to the last step (about possible beings) because it raises bizarre and unanswerable questions -- like "How much does this possible sister weigh?" and "Exactly how many possible sisters do I have?"
Plantinga, Quine, and others object to the idea of merely possible beings (possible beings that don't in fact exist) because such beings raise knotty problems.
Plantinga asks about such possible beings: "What sorts of things are they? Do they have properties? Why think that there are such beings at all?"
Remember that Quine criticized this reasoning: "I have no younger sister. However, it's possible (conceivable) that I would have had a younger sister. Therefore, there's a possible being who is my younger sister."
Quine objected to the last step (about possible beings) because it raises bizarre and unanswerable questions -- like "How much does this possible sister weigh?" and "Exactly how many possible sisters do I have?"