Faith and Philosophy

Volume 16, Issue 2, April 1999

Merold Westphal
Pages 173-181

Taking Plantinga Seriously
Advice to Christian Philosophers

Part of a symposium on the fifteenth anniversary of Al Plantinga’s “Advice to Christian Philosophers,” this essay reflects briefly on the current status of Christian philosophy. Then, in the light of three reminders from Plantinga, it suggests that Christian philosophers pay more attention to their other audience, the church, that they reflect on the ways in which their situation is similar to that of feminist philosophers, and that they seek to transcend not only the foundationalism and evidentialism of modernity, but also to go beyond its monological concept of reason to a dialogical concept. Finally, and at greater length, it suggests that Christian philosophers abandon the widespread assumption that the coin of their realm is propositions, assuming too easily that we have already transcended Plato’s cave when we start our work. The bearing of this issue on the realism/anti-realism debate and on the relation of metaphysics to both politics and spirituality is explored.