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Where the Conflict Really Lies
- Science, Religion, & Naturalism
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
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Where the Conflict Really Lies
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Summary
This audiobook is a long-awaited major statement by a pre-eminent analytic philosopher, Alvin Plantinga, on one of our biggest debates - the compatibility of science and religion. The last twenty years has seen a cottage industry of books on this divide, but with little consensus emerging. Plantinga, as a top philosopher but also a proponent of the rationality of religious belief, has a unique contribution to make. His theme in this short book is that the conflict between science and theistic religion is actually superficial, and that at a deeper level they are in concord.
Plantinga examines where this conflict is supposed to exist - evolution, evolutionary psychology, analysis of scripture, scientific study of religion -- as well as claims by Dan Dennett, Richard Dawkins, and Philip Kitcher that evolution and theistic belief cannot co-exist. Plantinga makes a case that their arguments are not only inconclusive but that the supposed conflicts themselves are superficial, due to the methodological naturalism used by science. On the other hand, science can actually offer support to theistic doctrines, and Plantinga uses the notion of biological and cosmological "fine-tuning" in support of this idea. Plantinga argues that we might think about arguments in science and religion in a new way - as different forms of discourse that try to persuade people to look at questions from a perspective such that they can see that something is true. In this way, there is a deep and massive consonance between theism and the scientific enterprise.
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What listeners say about Where the Conflict Really Lies
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- preacher
- 29-10-19
wow
loved this book, but truth be told Philosophy is never an easy read or listen.
very clinical assessment of Naturalism and Evolutionary theories.
If logic and arguments are what you love, this will make a great read.
well done Plantinga, remaining true to a 20 years old argument
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr. M. Bloomfield
- 09-10-22
Where the Heart of the Book Really Lies
Alvin Plantinga has given us a well thought out and considered entry into the philosophy of religion debate.
Two points to make: one about the contents, and one about the narration. Narration first.
Michael Butler's reading of the book came across as almost smarmy. His tone, unlike Plantinga's himself, carried a note of "We know better than you", dismissiveness, and generally conceit. It wasn't a good feel for such a topic, as if Christians are to attract people to Christ, they do well by sounding inclusive, not snotty.
His voice, too, was painfully soporific. I honestly struggled to stay awake listening to his telling, and that was a problem for someone hoping to get a broad view of the detailed arguments in the book and see how they fitted together. Audio books are hard for that in the first place (you can't exactly flip the pages back to compare one paragraph with another), so to find myself listening to shorter sections than I'd have liked was frustrating. And finally, his pronunciation, enunciation, and diction showed occasionally that he might well not have been at all familiar with the subject, the arguments, or indeed philosophy. Personally I'd have liked my philosophy narrator to give me the confidence that he was engaged with philosophy, rather than just the act of reading the book.
Second, the content. I'll break this down into roughly three parts: showing how atheism fails to discredit theistic views of "life, the universe, and everything"; showing how theism does a better job of explaining "life..."; and finally, the Big Reveal - showing how atheism is, on its own self-description, untrustworthy.
The first section was excellent. Close argumentation, a good understanding of the subject, and forensic dissections of "the enemy's" claims. Top stuff.
The second section was weaker. Often you were left with a feeling of "atheism fails to show this, but we've got God so we can assume we do it better". Broader arguments, less forensically executed, with promised conclusions that didn't quite feel fully constructed. Overall, interesting but incomplete. This was slightly disappointing.
Finally, the Big Reveal. Plantinga's argument here is quite simple, but extremely effective. I shan't ruin it by poor description, but it adds a very interesting tip to the battling Christian's (or other theist's) arrows.
What I will say, however, is that while the earlier two sections were robust and interesting, I was left wondering whether they were altogether necessary for the Reveal. Plantinga could well have simply given a story of atheistic cosmology / evolutionary theory, and then sprung his argument onto us. Nothing would have been harmed.
So we were given three books in one. A systematic dissection of atheist dogma; a broader and less watertight "case for God's place in cosmological arguments", and a Big Reveal of why theism is a more intellectually coherent position than atheism.
If you're happy to have three books in one, read by a superior-sounding yet sleep-inducing narrator, then this is the audiobook for you.
It's good. I recommend it. But be aware that you have to get past the narrator first, and that the "point" of the book isn't wholly reliant on the 80% of the book that comes before it!
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