View source for Peter van Inwagen

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Short description|American philosopher (born 1942)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
| name              = Peter van Inwagen
| image             = 
| caption           = 
| birth_name        = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1942|09|21}}
| birth_place       = 
| alma_mater        = {{unbulleted list | [[Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]] | [[University of Rochester]]}}
| era               = [[Contemporary philosophy]]
| region            = [[Western philosophy]]
| school_tradition  = [[Analytic philosophy]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Richard Clyde Taylor]]
| institutions      = {{unbulleted list | [[University of Notre Dame]] | [[Duke University]]}}
| main_interests    = [[Metaphysics]]<br />[[Philosophy of religion]]<br />[[Philosophy of action]]
| notable_ideas     = [[Mereology#Special composition question (SCQ)|Special composition question]]<br/>[[Incompatibilism]]<br /> [[Consequence argument]]<ref name="Vihvelin">{{cite web |last1=Vihvelin |first1=Kadri |title=Arguments for Incompatibilism |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/incompatibilism-arguments/ |website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=April 13, 2020 |date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921003053/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/incompatibilism-arguments/ |url-status=live }}</ref><br />[[Meta-ontology]]<br>Mind argument
}}

'''Peter van Inwagen''' ({{IPAc-en|v|æ|n|_|ɪ|n|ˈ|w|ɑː|g|ən}} {{respell|van|_|in|WAH|ghən}}; born September 21, 1942) is an American [[philosopher]]. He is the John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the [[University of Notre Dame]] and a research professor of philosophy at [[Duke University]] each spring.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://philosophy.duke.edu/people?Gurl=&Uil=17877&subpage=profile |title=Faculty &#124; Department of Philosophy |access-date=July 2, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150305230242/http://philosophy.duke.edu/people?Gurl=&Uil=17877&subpage=profile |archive-date=March 5, 2015}}</ref> He previously taught at [[Syracuse University]], earning his PhD from the [[University of Rochester]] in 1969<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.faraday.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/Biography.php?ID=285 |title=Prof. Peter van Inwagen |work=faraday.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk |access-date=October 3, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003235800/https://www.faraday.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/Biography.php?ID=285 |archive-date=October 3, 2015}}</ref> under the direction of [[Richard Clyde Taylor]].<ref>{{cite web |first1=Steve |last1=Holmes |url=http://www.giffordlectures.org/lecturers/peter-van-inwagen |title=Peter van Inwagen |website=The Gifford Lectures |access-date=November 17, 2017 |date=August 18, 2014}}</ref> Van Inwagen is one of the leading figures in contemporary [[metaphysics]], [[philosophy of religion]], and [[philosophy of action]]. He was the president of the [[Society of Christian Philosophers]] from 2010 to 2013.<ref name="societyofchristianphilosophers.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.societyofchristianphilosophers.com/?page_id=293 |title=SCP Officers and Committees |publisher=Society of Christian Philosophers |access-date=October 3, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120802034346/http://www.societyofchristianphilosophers.com/?page_id=293 |archive-date=August 2, 2012}}</ref>

== Career ==
Van Inwagen's 1983 [[monograph]] ''An Essay on Free Will''{{sfn|van Inwagen|1983}} played an important role in rehabilitating [[Libertarianism (metaphysics)|libertarianism]] with respect to [[free will]] in mainstream [[analytical philosophy]].{{sfn|Kane|2005|p=23}} In the book, he introduces the term [[incompatibilism]] about free will and [[determinism]], to stand in contrast to [[compatibilism]]—the view that free will is compatible with determinism.

Van Inwagen's central argument (the ''[[consequence argument]]'') for this view is that "If determinism is true, then our acts are the consequences of the laws of nature and events in the remote past. But it is not up to us what went on before we were born, and neither is it up to us what the laws of nature are. Therefore, the consequences of those things (including our present acts) are not up to us."<ref>''Essay'', v</ref>

Van Inwagen also added what he called the ''Mind Argument'' (after the philosophical journal ''[[Mind (journal)|Mind]]'', where such arguments often appeared). "The ''Mind'' argument proceeds by identifying indeterminism with [[Indeterminism#Philosophy|chance]] and by arguing that an act that occurs by chance, if an event that occurs by chance can be called an act, cannot be under the control of its alleged agent and hence cannot have been performed freely. Proponents of [this argument] conclude, therefore, that free will is not only compatible with determinism but entails determinism."<ref>''Essay'', 16</ref>

The ''Consequence Argument'' and the ''Mind Argument'' are the two horns in the classic dilemma and standard argument ''against'' free will.{{fact|date=April 2020}} If determinism is true, our actions are not free. If indeterminism is true, our actions are influenced by randomness and our [[Will (philosophy)|will]] cannot be [[Moral responsibility|morally responsible]] for them.<ref name="Smart">{{cite journal |last1=Smart |first1=J. J. C. |title=Free-Will, Praise and Blame |journal=Mind |year=1961 |volume=70 |issue=279 |pages=291–306 |doi=10.1093/mind/LXX.279.291 |jstor=2251619 |issn=0026-4423}}</ref>

Van Inwagen concludes that "Free Will Remains a Mystery."{{sfn|van Inwagen|2000|p=14}} In an article written in the third person called "Van Inwagen on Free Will,"{{sfn|van Inwagen|2004|loc=Chapter 10}} he describes the problem with his incompatibilist free will if random ''chance directly causes our actions''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chance NOT the Direct Cause of Human Action |url=http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/chance_direct_cause.html |website=Information Philosopher |access-date=April 13, 2020 |archive-date=April 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420110136/http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/chance_direct_cause.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He imagines the universe reverting a thousand times to ''exactly the same circumstances''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/same_circumstances.html |title=Exactly The Same Circumstances |website=Informationphilosopher.com |access-date=November 17, 2017 |archive-date=November 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122185655/http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/same_circumstances.html |url-status=live }}</ref> it was in at some earlier time and observing all the "replays." If the agent's actions are random, she sometimes "would have agent-caused the crucial brain event and sometimes (in seventy percent of the replays, let us say) she would not have... I conclude that even if an episode of agent causation is among the causal antecedents of every voluntary human action, these episodes do nothing to undermine the prima facie impossibility of an undetermined free act."{{sfn|van Inwagen|2017|p=227}}

In his book ''Material Beings'',<ref>Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995</ref> Van Inwagen argues that all material objects are either elementary particles or living organisms. Every composite material object is made up of elementary particles, and the only such composite objects are living organisms. A consequence of this view is that everyday objects such as tables, chairs, cars, buildings, and clouds do not exist. While there seem to be such things, this is only because there are elementary particles arranged in specific ways. For example, where it seems that there is a chair, Van Inwagen says that there are only ''elementary particles arranged chairwise.'' These particles do not compose an object, any more than a swarm of bees composes an object. Like a swarm of bees, the particles we call a chair maintain a more or less stable arrangement for a while, which gives the impression of a single object. An individual bee, by contrast, has parts that are unified in the right way to constitute a single object (namely, a bee).

Van Inwagen gave the 2003 [[Gifford Lectures]]; they are published in his ''The Problem of Evil''.<ref>Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006</ref> There Van Inwagen argues that the [[problem of evil]] is a philosophical argument and, like most philosophical arguments, fails.

Van Inwagen has shown an interest in the [[afterlife]] debate, particularly in relation to [[Resurrection|resurrection of the body]]. In his article "I Look for the Resurrection of the Dead and the Life of the World to Come", he concludes that Christians must account for some sort of physical continuity in their account of existence of the same person after death. In particular, Van Inwagen notes, this is a problem for the [[Christian materialism|Christian materialist]], one who believes that human beings are physical substances.

== Awards and honors ==
He was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 2005,<ref name="Dame">{{cite web |last1=Dame |first1=Marketing Communications: Web // University of Notre |title=Philosopher elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences |url=https://news.nd.edu/news/philosopher-elected-to-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences/ |website=Notre Dame News |date=April 26, 2005 |access-date=April 13, 2020 |language=en |archive-date=April 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413024251/https://news.nd.edu/news/philosopher-elected-to-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and was President of the Central Division of the [[American Philosophical Association]] in 2008/09. He was the President of the [[Society of Christian Philosophers]] from 2010 to 2013.<ref name="societyofchristianphilosophers.com" />

He has delivered lectures including:
* The F.D. Maurice Lectures, three lectures delivered at the University of London in March 1999
* The Wilde Lectures on Natural Religion, eight lectures delivered at Oxford University in Trinity Term, 2000
* The Stewart Lectures: three lectures delivered at Princeton University, October 2002
* The [[Gifford Lectures]], eight lectures delivered at the [[University of St. Andrews]], May 2003
* The Jellema Lectures: two lectures delivered at [[Calvin College]], March 2004
* The Münster Lectures in Philosophy, including a student colloquium at the University of Münster, November 2015

In May 2011 it was announced that he is to receive an [[honorary doctorate]] from the [[University of St Andrews]], [[Scotland]].<ref name="Cook">{{cite web |last1=Cook |first1=Gayle |title=St Andrews to honour David Attenborough |url=https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/st-andrews-to-honour-david-attenborough |website=St Andrews |access-date=April 13, 2020 |date=May 20, 2011 |archive-date=April 13, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413015934/https://news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/st-andrews-to-honour-david-attenborough |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Van Inwagen lives in [[Granger, Indiana|Granger]], Indiana, with his wife, Elisabeth. He converted to [[Christianity]] in 1980.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kim |first1=Jaekwon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQ2xDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22van+inwagen%22+%22christianity%22+%221980%22&pg=PA619 |title=A Companion to Metaphysics |last2=Sosa |first2=Ernest |last3=Rosenkrantz |first3=Gary S. |date=2009-04-13 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-5298-3 |pages=619 |language=en}}</ref> In May 1983, he was [[Baptism|baptized]] an [[Episcopalian]] and received his [[First Communion]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=1987-04-17 |title=Suddenly, Respect |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/1987/04/current-religious-thought-suddenly-respect/ |access-date=2024-10-18 |website=[[Christianity Today]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Peter van Inwagen, "[https://mathwise.net/?p=184 Quam Dilecta]".</ref>

== Books ==
* {{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003008712 |chapter=|doi=10.4324/9781003008712|title=Do Numbers Exist?|date=2024|last1=Van Inwagen|first1=Peter|last2=Lane Craig|first2=William|isbn=978-1-003-00871-2}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Inwagen/Craig |first=6.4 Wright-van |title=Do Numbers Exist? A Debate about Abstract Objects |url=https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/do-numbers-exist-a-debate-about-abstract-objects/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250610180649/https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/do-numbers-exist-a-debate-about-abstract-objects/ |archive-date=2025-06-10 |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews |language=en-US}}</ref>
* {{cite book |title=Thinking about Free Will |year=2017 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-107-16650-9 }}
* {{cite book |title=Existence: Essays in Ontology |year=2014 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-107-62526-6 }}
* {{cite book |title=The Problem of Evil |year=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-924560-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iQhUrE8BYFIC}}
* {{cite book |title=Ontology, Identity, and Modality: Essays in Metaphysics |year=2002 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-79164-9}}
* {{cite book |title=The Possibility of Resurrection and Other Essays in Christian Apologetics |year=1998 |publisher=[[Westview Press]] |location=Boulder, CO |isbn=978-0-8133-2731-0}}
* {{cite book |title=God, Knowledge and Mystery: Essays in Philosophical Theology |year=1995 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |location=Ithaca |isbn=978-0-8014-8186-4}}
* {{cite book |title=Metaphysics |year=2002 |publisher=Westview Press |location=Boulder, CO |isbn=978-0-8133-9055-0}}
* {{cite book |title=Material Beings |url=https://archive.org/details/materialbeings00vani |url-access=registration |year=1990 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca |isbn=978-0-8014-8306-6}}
* {{cite book |title=An Essay on Free Will |year=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-824924-5}}

== See also ==
* [[American philosophy]]
* [[List of American philosophers]]
* [[Mereological nihilism]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Works cited ==
* {{cite book |last1=Kane |first1=Robert |title=A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514970-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9BRiQgAACAAJ |access-date=April 13, 2020 }}
* {{cite book |first1=Peter |last1=van Inwagen |title=An Essay on Free Will |year=1983 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-824924-5 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=van Inwagen |first1=Peter |title=Free Will Remains a Mystery: The Eighth Philosophical Perspectives Lecture Free Will Remains a Mystery: The Eighth Philosophical Perspectives Lecture |journal=Philosophical Perspectives |year=2000 |volume=14 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/i326123 |access-date=April 13, 2020 |publisher=Ridgeview Publishing Company }}
* {{cite book |last1=van Inwagen |first1=Peter |editor1-last=Campbell |editor1-first=Joseph Keim |editor2-last=O'Rourke |editor2-first=Michael |editor3-last=Shier |editor3-first=David |title=Freedom and Determinism |date=2004 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-53257-0 |pages=213–230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zydkUGosAJcC&dq=Freedom%20and%20Determinism%2C%20ed.%20Joseph%20Keim%20Campbell&pg=PA213 |access-date=April 13, 2020 }}
* {{cite book |last1=van Inwagen |first1=Peter |title=Thinking about Free Will |date=2017 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-16650-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49ocDgAAQBAJ&q=I+conclude+that+even+if+an+episode+of+agent+causation+is+among+the+causal+antecedents+of+every+voluntary+human+action,+these+episodes+do+nothing+to+undermine+the+prima+facie+impossibility+of+an+undetermined+free+act |access-date=April 13, 2020 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Zimmerman |first1=Dean |editor1-last=Sosa |editor1-first=Ernest |editor2-last=Rosenkrantz |editor2-first=Gary |editor3-last=Kim |editor3-first=Jaegwon |editor1-link=Ernest Sosa |editor2-link=Gary Rosenkrantz |editor3-link=Jaegwon Kim |title=A Companion to Metaphysics |date=2009 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Malden, Massachusetts |pages=619–621 |edition=2nd}}

== External links ==
* [http://philosophy.nd.edu/people/faculty/peter-van-inwagen/ Official Page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017202936/http://philosophy.nd.edu/people/faculty/peter-van-inwagen/ |date=October 17, 2013 }} at the University of Notre Dame
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080417014630/http://www.giffordlectures.org/Browse.asp?PubID=TPTPOE&Cover=TRUE ''The Problem of Evil''],  Oxford University Press, 2006. (Gifford Lectures 2002)
* [http://andrewmbailey.com/pvi/ Papers] by van Inwagen
* [http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/philosophers/vaninwagen Van Inwagen] (Brief professional overview)
* [http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/standard_argument.html/Standard Argument Against Free Will]
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/metaphysics/ "Metaphysics"] (Entry in the [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100708171604/http://www.closertotruth.com/participant/Peter-van-Inwagen/114 Interviews] from the PBS program [[Closer to Truth]]

{{Analytic philosophy}}
{{Metaphysics}}
{{Philosophy of religion}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inwagen, Peter Van}}

[[Category:1942 births]]
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