Peter van Inwagen
If everything is fixed by the past and the laws of nature, nothing we do is really up to us.
Life
Peter van Inwagen, born in 1942, is an American philosopher and professor at the University of Notre Dame, an avowed Christian. He is known for the consequence argument against the compatibility of determinism and free will, for his view that only living organisms (and simple particles) exist as composite objects, and for his work on the problem of evil.
Main works
Presents the consequence argument: if determinism is true, our acts are consequences of facts over which we have no power.
Defends the idea that only living beings are composite objects.
Examines Christian responses to the question of evil and suffering.
Positions
click a row to see the evidenceHe is a committed Christian philosopher who defends belief in God and answers the problem of evil.
Van Inwagen, The Problem of Evil (2006)
He holds that human persons are purely material organisms, and believes in resurrection by God's action.
Van Inwagen, Material Beings (1990)
Free will is incompatible with determinism, and since we deliberate and act, we must have it, even if how remains a mystery.
Van Inwagen, An Essay on Free Will (1983)