Michael Abram Bergmann (born 1964) is an American

analytic philosopher Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...

teaching in the department of philosophy at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

.Purdue University: Michael Bergmann page
/ref> His primary interests are

epistemology Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...

and

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

. In epistemology, he writes mostly on

externalism Externalism is a group of positions in the philosophy of mind which argues that the conscious mind is not only the result of what is going on inside the nervous system (or the brain), but also what ''occurs'' or ''exists'' outside the subject. It ...

and, in philosophy of religion, he mostly writes on the epistemology of religious belief and the

problem of evil The problem of evil is the philosophical question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an Omnipotence, omnipotent, Omnibenevolence, omnibenevolent, and Omniscience, omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ...

Biography

Born in 1964, Bergmann received

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degrees in philosophy from the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

and, in 1997, a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. He has taught at

since 1997. Bergmann was the president of the

Society of Christian Philosophers The Society of Christian Philosophers (SCP) was founded in 1978. The society is open to anyone interested in philosophy who considers himself or herself a Christian. Membership is not restricted to any particular "school" of philosophy or to any b ...

from 2016 to 2019.

Philosophical work

In his early work, Bergmann wrote about

Alvin Plantinga Alvin Carl Plantinga (born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosophy, analytic philosopher who works primarily in the fields of philosophy of religion, epistemology (particularly on issues involving theory of justification, epistemic ...

's evolutionary argument against naturalism. He raised objections inspired by

Thomas Reid Thomas Reid (; 7 May (Julian calendar, O.S. 26 April) 1710 – 7 October 1796) was a religiously trained Scotland, Scottish philosophy, philosopher best known for his philosophical method, his #Thomas_Reid's_theory_of_common_sense, theory of ...

. In

, Bergmann, along with other philosophers, developed

skeptical theism Skeptical theism is the view that people should remain skeptical of their ability to discern whether their perceptions about evil can be considered good evidence against the existence of the orthodox Christian God. The central thesis of skeptica ...

, a position which addresses the

evidential argument from evil The problem of evil is the philosophical question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an Omnipotence, omnipotent, Omnibenevolence, omnibenevolent, and Omniscience, omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ...

formulated by William L. Rowe. With Michael Rea and Michael Murray, he edited the book ''Divine Evil? The Moral Character of the God of Abraham'' (Oxford University Press, 2010). Furthermore, he is also a co-editor of ''Challenges to Moral and Religious Belief: Disagreement and Evolution'' (Oxford University Press, 2014) together with Patrick Kain, ''Reason and Faith: Themes from Richard Swinburne'' (Oxford University Press, 2016) together with Jeffrey E. Brower, and ''Intellectual Assurance: Essays on Traditional Epistemic Internalism'' (Oxford University Press, 2016) together with Brett Coppenger. In epistemology, Bergmann defends

Works

* ''Justification Without Awareness: A Defense of Epistemic Externalism'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2006. * ''Radical Skepticism and Epistemic Intuition'',

, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergmann, Michael (philosopher) 1964 births 21st-century American philosophers American Christian writers Analytic philosophers Christian philosophers Christians from Indiana American critics of atheism American epistemologists Living people American metaphysicians Philosophers from Indiana American philosophers of religion Presidents of the Society of Christian Philosophers Purdue University faculty University of Notre Dame alumni University of Waterloo alumni