Michael Almeida
Biographic Data
| ID | 3873271 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael Almeida |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael |
| FAMILY NAME | Almeida |
| SIGNATURE | ALMEIDA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Texas at San Antonio |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7257-4236 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Evil and evidence: A reply to Bass
In ‘Evil is Still Evidence: Comments on Almeida’ Robert Bass presents three objections to the central argument (ENE) in my ‘Evil is Not Evidence’. The first objection is that ENE is invalid. According to the second objection, it is a consequence of ENE that there can be no evidence for or against a posteriori necessities. The third objection is that, contrary to ENE, the likelihood of certain necessary identities varies with the evidence we have …
Evil is not evidence
The article aims to show that, if S5 is the logic of metaphysical necessity, then no state of affairs in any possible world constitutes any non-trivial evidence for or against the existence of the traditional God. There might well be states of affairs in some worlds describing extraordinary goods and extraordinary evils, but it is false that these states of affairs constitute any (non-trivial) evidence for or against the existence of God. The epi…
Theistic Modal Realism II: Theoretical Benefits
In Sections 1-7, I provide a detailed description of some of the advantages of theistic modal realism. The aim is to show specifically how theistic modal realism solves many of the intractable problems of philosophical theology. A detailed description of all of the advantages would require a much longer treatment. The aim is to give a good sense of the theoretical benefits that theistic modal realism affords traditional theists. I offer some conc…
Theistic Modal Realism I: The Challenge of Theistic Actualism
The Multiverse and Divine Creation
I provide the account of divine creation found in multiverse theorists Donald Turner, Klaas Kraay, and Tim O'Connor. I show that the accounts Kraay and Turner offer are incoherent. God does not survey all possible worlds and necessarily actualize those universes in the (on balance) good worlds or the worthy worlds. If God necessarily actualizes the multiverse, we have no idea which universes are parts of that multiverse. I show next that Tim O'Co…
God and Necessity
God and Necessity aims to draw out the metaphysical implications of a particularly demanding view of divine ultimacy. It includes a major reconciliation project: making divine ultimacy compatible with absolute necessity. The book's topic is the challenge that necessary truths ... pose for the claim that God is the sole ultimate reality. Its basic question is ‘How do bodies of necessary (or modal) truth relate to God? It also ... takes up a subsid…
Rollbacks, Endorsements, and Indeterminism
This article considers another well-known argument purporting to show that a libertarian free will is incoherent and impossible. The “Rollback Argument” rests on a thought experiment in which the universe is repeatedly rolled back to the precise point where a person is faced with a libertarian choice, say to lie or not lie. If the choice is undetermined, then in some percentage of these possible universes (e.g., 42%), the agent lies, and in the o…
Chance, Epistemic Probability and Saving Lives: Reply to Bradley
No abstract
Comment se rendre utile: Les centres de recherche universitaires en sciences sociales au Canada
Cet article est la première étude historique qui porte sur le processus menant à la multiplication des centres de recherche universitaires en sciences sociales et humaines au Canada. Nos résultats, étayés principalement par des données quantitatives, montrent que la généralisation des équipes de recherche relève autant de facteurs internes à l’université — l’établissement de centres est une stratégie permettant à des « chercheurs-entrepreneurs » …
The Enlargement of Life: Moral Imagination at Work – John Kekes
Journal Article The Enlargement of Life: Moral Imagination at Work – John Kekes Get access The Enlargement of Life: Moral Imagination at Work. John Kekes, (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2006. Pp. xv + 236. Price $ 29.95.) Michael J. Almeida Michael J. Almeida University of Texas at San Antonio Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 58, Issue 231, April 2008, Pages 374–377, https://doi.or…
On Stone's Evidential Atheism
The newest evidential argument from evil contends that the evidence we have from the goods we know about strongly confirms the thesis that some significant suffering does not result in an outweighing good.The argument concludes that theism is therefore improbable.Included in the argument is the assumption that the probability that we do not observe the outweighing goods for some actual evilsgiven that there are such goodsis extremely low.But sinc…
Is It Impossible to Be Moral
Recent work in moral theory includes an intriguing new argument that the vagueness of moral properties, together with two well-known and well-received metaethical principles, entails the incredible conclusion that it is impossible to be moral. I show that the argument equivocates between “it is true that A and B are morally indistinguishable” and “it is not false that A and B are morally indistinguishable.” As expected the argument is interesting…
Ideal worlds and the transworld untrustworthy
The celebrated free-will defence was designed to show that the ideal-world thesis presents no challenge to theism. The ideal-world thesis states that, in any world in which God exists, He can actualize a world containing moral good and no moral evil. I consider an intriguing two-stage argument that Michael Bergmann advances for the free-will defence, and show that the argument provides atheologians with no reason to abandon the ideal-world thesis…
Supervenience and property-identical divine-command theory
Property-identical divine-command theory (PDCT) is the view that being obligatory is identical to being commanded by God in just the way that being water is identical to being H 2 O. If these identity statements are true, then they express necessary a posteriori truths. PDCT has been defended in Robert M. Adams (1987) and William Alston (1990). More recently Mark C. Murphy (2002) has argued that property-identical divine-command theory is inconsi…
L’Office provincial des recherches scientifiques et le développement de la science au Québec, 1937-19601
À sa création en 1937, l’Office provincial des recherches scientifiques avait pour mandat de coordonner la recherche effectuée dans les laboratoires de la province de Québec et de pourvoir à la formation de nouveaux chercheurs. En 1960, à l’époque des grands bouleversements institutionnels qui caractérisent la Révolution tranquille, il est intégré au Bureau des recherches économiques du ministère de l’Industrie et du Commerce et disparaît sous ce…
Collective Rationality and Simple Utilitarian Theories
Much of recent moral philosophy has been concerned with the relation between individual rationality and individual obligation. Familiar gametheoretic analyses, in particular the Prisoner's Dilemma, at least suggest that unconstrained pursuit of rational self-interest leads to collective ill. The difficulty is nicely illustrated by comparing the preference-orderings of distinct individuals over the possible outcomes of their actions to their colle…
Theistic Modal Realism II: Theoretical Benefits
In Sections 1-7, I provide a detailed description of some of the advantages of theistic modal realism. The aim is to show specifically how theistic modal realism solves many of the intractable problems of philosophical theology. A detailed description of all of the advantages would require a much longer treatment. The aim is to give a good sense of the theoretical benefits that theistic modal realism affords traditional theists. I offer some conc…
Theistic Modal Realism I: The Challenge of Theistic Actualism
The Multiverse and Divine Creation
I provide the account of divine creation found in multiverse theorists Donald Turner, Klaas Kraay, and Tim O'Connor. I show that the accounts Kraay and Turner offer are incoherent. God does not survey all possible worlds and necessarily actualize those universes in the (on balance) good worlds or the worthy worlds. If God necessarily actualizes the multiverse, we have no idea which universes are parts of that multiverse. I show next that Tim O'Co…
Collective Rationality and Simple Utilitarian Theories
Much of recent moral philosophy has been concerned with the relation between individual rationality and individual obligation. Familiar gametheoretic analyses, in particular the Prisoner's Dilemma, at least suggest that unconstrained pursuit of rational self-interest leads to collective ill. The difficulty is nicely illustrated by comparing the preference-orderings of distinct individuals over the possible outcomes of their actions to their colle…
L’Office provincial des recherches scientifiques et le développement de la science au Québec, 1937-19601
À sa création en 1937, l’Office provincial des recherches scientifiques avait pour mandat de coordonner la recherche effectuée dans les laboratoires de la province de Québec et de pourvoir à la formation de nouveaux chercheurs. En 1960, à l’époque des grands bouleversements institutionnels qui caractérisent la Révolution tranquille, il est intégré au Bureau des recherches économiques du ministère de l’Industrie et du Commerce et disparaît sous ce…
Ideal worlds and the transworld untrustworthy
The celebrated free-will defence was designed to show that the ideal-world thesis presents no challenge to theism. The ideal-world thesis states that, in any world in which God exists, He can actualize a world containing moral good and no moral evil. I consider an intriguing two-stage argument that Michael Bergmann advances for the free-will defence, and show that the argument provides atheologians with no reason to abandon the ideal-world thesis…
Supervenience and property-identical divine-command theory
Property-identical divine-command theory (PDCT) is the view that being obligatory is identical to being commanded by God in just the way that being water is identical to being H 2 O. If these identity statements are true, then they express necessary a posteriori truths. PDCT has been defended in Robert M. Adams (1987) and William Alston (1990). More recently Mark C. Murphy (2002) has argued that property-identical divine-command theory is inconsi…
Is It Impossible to Be Moral
Recent work in moral theory includes an intriguing new argument that the vagueness of moral properties, together with two well-known and well-received metaethical principles, entails the incredible conclusion that it is impossible to be moral. I show that the argument equivocates between “it is true that A and B are morally indistinguishable” and “it is not false that A and B are morally indistinguishable.” As expected the argument is interesting…
On Stone's Evidential Atheism
The newest evidential argument from evil contends that the evidence we have from the goods we know about strongly confirms the thesis that some significant suffering does not result in an outweighing good.The argument concludes that theism is therefore improbable.Included in the argument is the assumption that the probability that we do not observe the outweighing goods for some actual evilsgiven that there are such goodsis extremely low.But sinc…
The Enlargement of Life: Moral Imagination at Work – John Kekes
Journal Article The Enlargement of Life: Moral Imagination at Work – John Kekes Get access The Enlargement of Life: Moral Imagination at Work. John Kekes, (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2006. Pp. xv + 236. Price $ 29.95.) Michael J. Almeida Michael J. Almeida University of Texas at San Antonio Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 58, Issue 231, April 2008, Pages 374–377, https://doi.or…
Comment se rendre utile: Les centres de recherche universitaires en sciences sociales au Canada
Cet article est la première étude historique qui porte sur le processus menant à la multiplication des centres de recherche universitaires en sciences sociales et humaines au Canada. Nos résultats, étayés principalement par des données quantitatives, montrent que la généralisation des équipes de recherche relève autant de facteurs internes à l’université — l’établissement de centres est une stratégie permettant à des « chercheurs-entrepreneurs » …
Chance, Epistemic Probability and Saving Lives: Reply to Bradley
No abstract
Rollbacks, Endorsements, and Indeterminism
This article considers another well-known argument purporting to show that a libertarian free will is incoherent and impossible. The “Rollback Argument” rests on a thought experiment in which the universe is repeatedly rolled back to the precise point where a person is faced with a libertarian choice, say to lie or not lie. If the choice is undetermined, then in some percentage of these possible universes (e.g., 42%), the agent lies, and in the o…
God and Necessity
God and Necessity aims to draw out the metaphysical implications of a particularly demanding view of divine ultimacy. It includes a major reconciliation project: making divine ultimacy compatible with absolute necessity. The book's topic is the challenge that necessary truths ... pose for the claim that God is the sole ultimate reality. Its basic question is ‘How do bodies of necessary (or modal) truth relate to God? It also ... takes up a subsid…
Theistic Modal Realism II: Theoretical Benefits
In Sections 1-7, I provide a detailed description of some of the advantages of theistic modal realism. The aim is to show specifically how theistic modal realism solves many of the intractable problems of philosophical theology. A detailed description of all of the advantages would require a much longer treatment. The aim is to give a good sense of the theoretical benefits that theistic modal realism affords traditional theists. I offer some conc…
Theistic Modal Realism I: The Challenge of Theistic Actualism
The Multiverse and Divine Creation
I provide the account of divine creation found in multiverse theorists Donald Turner, Klaas Kraay, and Tim O'Connor. I show that the accounts Kraay and Turner offer are incoherent. God does not survey all possible worlds and necessarily actualize those universes in the (on balance) good worlds or the worthy worlds. If God necessarily actualizes the multiverse, we have no idea which universes are parts of that multiverse. I show next that Tim O'Co…
Evil is not evidence
The article aims to show that, if S5 is the logic of metaphysical necessity, then no state of affairs in any possible world constitutes any non-trivial evidence for or against the existence of the traditional God. There might well be states of affairs in some worlds describing extraordinary goods and extraordinary evils, but it is false that these states of affairs constitute any (non-trivial) evidence for or against the existence of God. The epi…
Evil and evidence: A reply to Bass
In ‘Evil is Still Evidence: Comments on Almeida’ Robert Bass presents three objections to the central argument (ENE) in my ‘Evil is Not Evidence’. The first objection is that ENE is invalid. According to the second objection, it is a consequence of ENE that there can be no evidence for or against a posteriori necessities. The third objection is that, contrary to ENE, the likelihood of certain necessary identities varies with the evidence we have …
Philosophy (15 works) · Epistemology (12 works) · Theology and Philosophy of Evil (8 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Philosophy and Theoretical Science (6 works) · Argument (complex analysis) (5 works) · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics (5 works) · Metaphysics (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · Philosophical Ethics and Theory (3 works)