James P. Sterba is an American philosopher who specializes in

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

, political philosophy and

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known texts concerning ph ...

Biography

Sterba is Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

."James Sterba"
University of Notre Dame. Retrieved 24 August 2021. He is a past president of the American Philosophical Association and the

North American Society for Social Philosophy The North American Society for Social Philosophy (NASSP) is a non-profit learned society whose mission is to facilitate discussion between social philosophy, social philosophers on all topics of interest. Established in 1984, NASSP sponsors a peer ...

. He has authored 35 books. Sterba is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. His 2019 book ''Is a Good God Logically Possible?'', is on the

problem of evil The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,The Problem of Evil, Michael TooleyThe Internet Encyclope ...

. Sterba has argued that the God of traditional

theism Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...

(omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient) is logically incompatible with significant moral evil, hence no such God exists.

Personal life

Sterba is married to Janet Kourany, who is also a professor of philosophy at Notre Dame.

Selected publications

*''The Demands of Justice'' ( University of Notre Dame Press, 1980) *''Justice for Here and Now'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1998) *''Three Challenges to Ethics: Environmentalism, Feminism, and Multiculturalism'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2000) *''Terrorism and International Justice'' (Oxford University Press, 2003) *''The Triumph of Practice Over Theory in Ethics'' (Oxford University Press, 2005) *''Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?: A Debate'' (with

Warren Farrell Warren Thomas Farrell (born June 26, 1943) is an American political scientist, activist, and author of seven books on men's and women's issues. He is a leading figure of the Men's Rights Movement. Farrell initially came to prominence in the 197 ...

and Steven Svoboda) (Oxford University Press, 2007) *''From Rationality to Equality'' (Oxford University Press, 2013) *''The Pursuit of Justice: A Personal Philosophical History'' (

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...

, 2014) *''Affirmative Action for the Future'' (

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in th ...

, 2009) *''Is a Good God Logically Possible?'' (

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

, 2019) *''What is Ethics?'' ( Wiley, 2019)"What is Ethics?"
Wiley.com. Retrieved 24 August 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterba, James P. 20th-century American philosophers American atheists American ethicists American political philosophers American skeptics Atheist philosophers American critics of Christianity Critics of religions Living people Philosophers of religion University of Notre Dame faculty Year of birth missing (living people)