Michael Lou Martin
Michael Martin is a philosopher at Boston University as professor emeritus.
Martin has concerned himself largely with philosophy of religion, though the philosophies of science, law, and sport have not escaped his attention. On the former, Martin has published a copious number of books and articles defending atheism and various arguments against the existence of god in exhaustive detail. Martin, in his introduction to Atheism: a Philosophical Justification, cites a general absence of an atheistic response to contemporary work in philosophy of religion, and accepts the responsibility of a rigorous defense of nonbelief as, ironically, his cross to bear.
- "The aim of this book is not to make atheism a popular belief or even to overcome its invisibility. My object is not utopian. It is merely to provide good reasons for being an atheist...My object is to show that atheism is a rational position and that belief in God is not. I am quite aware that theistic beliefs are not always based on reason. My claim is that they should be."
- Atheism: a Philosophical Justification, (24).
There was some controversy surrounding the Greg Bahnsen-Martin debate which was cancelled by Dr. Martin. [1] [2] Previous to the debate, there was the Bahsen-Stein debate in which the existence of God was debated that occured shortly before the Bahnsen-Martin controversy. Dr. Bahnsen used the transcendental argument for the existence of God (TAG) in his debate with Dr. Stein which Dr. Gordon concedes he was unprepared for but now has an answer for (Bahnsen-Stein debate transcript: [3] Audio file: The Great Debate: [4] ). Atheists maintain that Dr. Michael Martin has adequately responded to TAG but reformed theologians insists that an adequate rebuttal has not been achieved. [5]
Published books
- Legal Realism: American and Scandinavian (New York: Peter Lang, 1996)
- The Big Domino in The Sky and Other Atheistic Tales, (Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1996)
- Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science (Cambridge:The MIT Press, 1994) with L. McIntyre.
- The Case Against Christianity (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991)
- Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990)
- The Legal Philosophy of H.L.A. Hart: A Critical Appraisal (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987)
- Social Science and Philosophical Analysis: Essays on The Philosophy of The Social Sciences (Washington, D.C.: University Press Of America), 1978
- Concepts of Science Education: A Philosophical Analysis (Chicago: Scott-Foresman,1972)
- Probability, Confirmation and Simplicity (New York: Odyssey Press, 1966) with M. Foster