Plantinga's Internal and External Approach toRationality of Belief in God

Various views about the rationality/irrationality of believing in God have been suggested by western religious and secular thinners. The theory of "Basicalism" together with its similar views such as "Evidentialism", "Fideism" and"Pragmatism" is one of the epistemological views posed about the belief in God and seeks to prove its rationality. In general, based on this view, believing in God does not require any rational reasoning. Various versions of this view have been presented so far.One of its versions expressed by scholars like Swinburne, Alston and Plantinga is what is known as Experientialism. In his special exposition of Experientialism – which he refers to as "reformed epistemology" –Plantinga has had two different dictions in his works. In his early woks such as God and other Minds, "Is Belief in God Rational?", "Is Belief in God Properly Basic?" and"Reformed Epistemology and Christian Apologetics", he endeavored to prove the rationality and justificationof believing in God and tried to offer certain and compelling arguments to prove the existence of God. In these works, Plantinga has adopted an internal approach toward the rationality of believing in God and regards it as a basic belief. Criticizing classic foundationalism, he sought to expand a different version of foundationalism according to which God's existence is regarded as basic for a believer. Based on this approach, Palntinga, like other proponents of foundationalism, considers the knowledgea "True Justified Belief". His view is, however, different from other foundationalists in defining the nature of the third element of knowledge. According to Plantinga's early exposition of his theory, the criteria of rationality of believing in God include the principles of classic foundationalism(such as evident to senses, evident to reason and incorrigibility) and other elements. He rejected the deductive-priori method concerning the criteria of determining basic belief and suggested an inductive- posteriori one. Based on this view, the cause behind thebasic nature of belief is an internal aspect and consequently is completely personal and relative. That means any kind of assessment of one's beliefs should be made by referring to his/her cognitional structure. Consequently, no general criterion can be determined for making a belief basic because every individual can offer a specific criterion based on his own cognitional structure which differs from others. Thus, based on this version, the only difference between Plantinga and other foundationalists is in his different view about the basic belief of the individuals. He believes that to determine the basic beliefs, first the person should make distinction between what he considers basic from non-basic ones and then he should introduce a criterion by which his belief becomes basic. Therefore, by looking at the issue from a different angle, he offered a new and more expanded version of the basic beliefs according to which the belief in God becomes quite rational. Plantinga, on the other hand, in his later works (three Warrants)emphasizes that instead of having an internal approach toward the rationality and justification; one should have an external approach and consider the believer's beliefs as warranted. This shift in Plantinga's approach stemmed from his theory about epistemological justification of which was reflected in his two impressive works entitled:Warrant: the Current Debateand Warrant and Proper Function(published in 1993). Based on the external approach, he shifts from the notion of justification to Warrant. He considers the rationality of religious belief not in being justifiable, but warranted which can be a guarantee for the rationality of believing in God. On the other hand, he changed the third element of knowledge from "justifiable" to "warranted" and defined the knowledge as "a True Warranted Belief"In this new approach, he doesnt seek to define the justification and the internal criteria of being justifiable, rather he emphasizes the Goldman's reliabilism and speaks out about the man's propercognitional system. Based on this view, if man's cognitional system works properly, he will possess epistemological rationality. In external approach, Plantinga believes that the theistic sensation is a mechanism producing faith which, if having proper condition,can cause a belief which doesnt evidently depend on other beliefs. Thus, if the person's perceiving powers work properly and they aim to catch the truth and there is no barrier, the person's belief in God can be counted as basic.