Consciousness and the Existence of God: A Theistic Argument

This monograph presents a systematic case for theism grounded in the phenomenon of consciousness. Moreland argues that the existence and nature of consciousness provides compelling evidence for God's existence, positioning his work against prevailing naturalistic explanations of mind.

The argument unfolds through careful analysis of consciousness as an irreducible feature of reality that resists materialist reduction. Moreland contends that mental properties—including sensations, thoughts, beliefs, desires, and volitions—possess characteristics fundamentally different from physical properties. He examines qualia, intentionality, and the unity of consciousness to demonstrate that mental states cannot be adequately explained through purely physical processes or emergent properties of matter.

Central to Moreland's thesis is the claim that naturalism lacks the ontological resources to account for consciousness. He systematically critiques major naturalistic theories of mind, including eliminative materialism, reductive physicalism, and property dualism. Against these positions, he argues that consciousness exhibits features that point beyond the natural order: its qualitative nature, its directedness toward objects, and its integration within a unified subject of experience.

The work then develops what Moreland terms the "argument from consciousness" for God's existence. He maintains that theism provides a more plausible explanation for consciousness than naturalism because a conscious, personal God would have the resources to create conscious beings. Mental properties find their natural home in a worldview that includes an ultimate Mind as the source of finite minds. Moreland addresses potential objections, including evolutionary accounts of consciousness and emergentist theories, arguing that these fail to bridge the explanatory gap between physical processes and subjective experience.

The monograph engages extensively with contemporary philosophy of mind, referencing debates between physicalists and dualists while situating the discussion within broader metaphysical questions about the nature of reality. Moreland draws on both analytic philosophy and phenomenological insights to build his case, though his approach remains primarily within the analytic tradition.

This work contributes significantly to natural theology by offering a detailed philosophical argument that moves from a specific feature of human experience to theistic conclusions. It challenges the widespread assumption that consciousness can be fully naturalized and provides theistic philosophers with sophisticated resources for engaging materialist philosophy of mind. The argument represents an important contemporary version of arguments from consciousness that trace back through modern philosophy to ancient reflections on the nature of mind and reality.