Michael Martin (1932-2015) Was a Professor at Boston University and Author

question 1

True/False

Michael Martin (1932-2015) was a professor at Boston University and author of several books including Atheism, Morality, and Meaning (2002) and Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (1990). He also edited several collections, most notably The Cambridge Companion to Atheism (2006). Martin critiques Alvin Plantinga's argument that it is acceptable for persons to believe that God exists even if they cannot produce evidence or argument to justify that belief. Plantinga begins with the traditional philosophical view that all our beliefs are based ultimately on beliefs that are "properly basic"-they are either self-evident (such as "two plus two equals four") or evident to the senses (as when our looking at or remembering a tree shows immediately that there is or was a tree). To be counted as genuine knowledge our beliefs must be either properly basic or justified by beliefs that ultimately rest on those that are properly basic. Plantinga contends that belief in God can be a properly basic belief and thus require no supporting evidence. Martin argues, however, that because Plantinga's approach allows people to formulate their own properly basic criteria from their own unique experience and perspective, almost any belief-no matter how bizarre-could be considered properly basic.
-Martin concedes that like perception and memory, there are grounds for claiming that a belief in God is properly basic.

---

Definitions:

Cross Elasticity of Demand

A measure of how the quantity demanded of one good responds to a change in price of another good, indicating the degree of substitutability between the two goods.

Complements

Goods or services that are used together, so that the consumption of one enhances the consumption of the other.

Substitutes

Products or services that can replace each other in satisfying a consumer's needs or wants.

Monthly Consumption

The total amount of goods and services that consumers purchase and use within a month.