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Proper functionalism: A better alternative?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 1998

SHAWN DAWSON
SHAWN DAWSON
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and Classics, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4S 0A2
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Abstract

In this paper, I develop some internal problems with Alvin Plantanga's proper functionalist epistemology. I focus on: (1) how we know that a belief is the result of proper function and the special difficulties this occasions for religious beliefs; (2) what a properly functioning person should believe in various circumstances, and (3) the problem of design – whether the claim that God designed us can be reconciled with the claim that He was subject to trade-offs, compromises and unintended by-products. These serious internal problems cast doubt upon proper functionalism's fruitfulness as a theory of knowledge.

Type
Research Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , May 1998 , pp. 119 - 134
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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