The Philosopher
Graham Oppy
The face
The background
- Nationality:
- Australian
- Schools:
- Analytic philosophy
- Period:
- Contemporary philosophy
The synopsis
Graham Robert Oppy (born 1960) is an Australian philosopher whose main area of research is the philosophy of religion. He is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Research at Monash University, CEO of the Australasian Association of Philosophy, chief editor of the Australasian Philosophical Review, associate editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, and he is on the editorial boards of Philo, Philosopher's Compass, Religious Studies, and Sophia. He was elected fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2009.
Graham Oppy was born in Benalla on 6 October 1960 to a Methodist family, but he ceased to be a religious believer as a young teenager and is now an atheist. His family moved to Ballarat in 1965, and he had his secondary schooling at Wesley College, Melbourne. He attended Melbourne University from 1979, where he completed two degrees: a BA (honours) in philosophy and a BSc in mathematics. In 1987, he started graduate work at Princeton University under the supervision of Gilbert Harman on questions in the philosophy of language.
He was a lecturer at the University of Wollongong from 1990 to 1992, and after doing a post-doc at the Australian National University, he moved to Monash as a senior lecturer and was promoted to professor in 2005. He is currently Associate Dean of Research (since 2004) and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University.
Oppy is considered by some philosophers (including William Lane Craig and Edward Feser) to be the most formidable defender of atheism living today. Oppy has distanced himself from this characterization, however.
The works
Ontological Arguments and Belief in God
Philosophical Perspectives on Infinity
Arguing About Gods
Evolution vs Creationism in Australian Schools
The Best Argument Against God
Reinventing Philosophy of Religion: An Opinionated Introduction
Describing Gods: An Investigation of Divine Attributes
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion (Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy)
Atheism and Agnosticism (Elements in the Philosophy of Religion)
Atheism: The Basics
Naturalism and Religion: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation (Investigating Philosophy of Religion)
Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy
A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy)
Is There a God?: A Debate (Little Debates about Big Questions)