Alvin Plantinga

Alvin Carl Plantinga
Plantinga in 2009
Born	(1932-11-15) November 15, 1932 (age 84) Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
Alma mater	Calvin College Yale University
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Analytic
Institutions	University of Notre Dame
Main interests	Epistemology, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion
Notable ideas	Reformed epistemology Free will defense Modal ontological argument Proper functionalism Evolutionary argument against naturalism
Influences Thomas Reid · Edmund Burke · St. Thomas Aquinas · Dante Alighieri · St. Thomas More · Abraham Kuyper · Luis Molina · Duns Scotus · John Calvin · William Harry Jellema · William Alston · Augustine of Hippo J.R.R. Tolkien · C.S. Lewis · G.K. Chesterton · Hilaire Belloc · John Henry Newman · Søren Kierkegaard ·
Influenced Nicholas Wolterstorff, Peter van Inwagen, William Lane Craig, Michael Rea, Robin Collins, Keith DeRose, Robert Koons, Trenton Merricks, Michael Bergmann

Alvin Carl Plantinga (/ˈplæntɪŋɡə/; born November 15, 1932) is an American analytic philosopher, the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, and the inaugural holder of the Jellema Chair in Philosophy at Calvin College.

Plantinga is widely known for his work in philosophy of religion, epistemology, metaphysics and Christian apologetics. He is the author of numerous books including God and Other Minds (1967), The Nature of Necessity (1974), and a trilogy of books on epistemology, culminating in Warranted Christian Belief (2000). He has delivered the Gifford Lectures two times and was described by TIME magazine as "America's leading orthodox Protestant philosopher of God". Plantinga is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Plantinga was born on November 15, 1932, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Cornelius A. Plantinga (1908–1994) and Lettie G. Bossenbroek (1908–2007). Plantinga's father was a first-generation immigrant, born in the Netherlands. His family is from the Dutch province of Friesland. Plantinga’s father earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Duke University and a master's degree in psychology, and taught several academic subjects at different colleges over the years. One of Plantinga's brothers, Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga, Jr., is a theologian and the former president of Calvin Theological Seminary. Another of his brothers, Leon, is an emeritus professor of musicology at Yale University. His brother Terrell worked for CBS News.