Graham Robert Oppy (born 1960) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

whose main area of research is the

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 ...

. He currently holds the posts of Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Research at

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

and serves as CEO of the

Australasian Association of Philosophy The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) is the peak body for philosophy in Australasia. The chief purpose of the AAP is to promote philosophy in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Among the means that it follows to achieve this end, ...

, Chief Editor of the ''Australasian Philosophical Review'', Associate Editor of the ''

Australasian Journal of Philosophy The ''Australasian Journal of Philosophy'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy and "one of the oldest English-language philosophy journals in the world". It was established in 1923 as ''The Australasian Journal of Psychol ...

'', and serves on the editorial boards of ''

Philo Philo of Alexandria (; grc, Φίλων, Phílōn; he, יְדִידְיָה, Yəḏīḏyāh (Jedediah); ), also called Philo Judaeus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt. Philo's deplo ...

'', ''Philosopher's Compass'', '' Religious Studies'', and '' Sophia''. He was elected Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

in 2009.

Biography

Graham Oppy was born in

Benalla Benalla is a small city located on the Broken River gateway to the High Country north-eastern region of Victoria, Australia, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. At the the population was 10,822. It is the administrative cent ...

on 6 October 1960 to a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

family, but he ceased to be a religious believer as a young teenager, and is now 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 family moved to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

in 1965 and had his secondary schooling at

Wesley College, Melbourne , motto_translation = Dare To Be Wise , slogan = A ''True'' Education (2010 – Present) , established = 18 January 1866 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender ...

. He attended

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

from 1979, where he completed two degrees: a BA (Hons) in philosophy and a BSc in mathematics. In 1987 he started graduate work at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

under the supervision of

Gilbert Harman Gilbert Harman (May 26, 1938 – November 13, 2021) was an American philosopher, who taught at Princeton University from 1963 until his retirement in 2017. He has published widely in philosophy of language, cognitive science, philosophy of min ...

on questions in the

philosophy of language In analytic philosophy, philosophy of language investigates the nature of language and the relations between language, language users, and the world. Investigations may include inquiry into the nature of meaning, intentionality, reference, ...

. He was a lecturer at the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (abbreviated as UOW) is an Australian public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately 80 kilometres south of Sydney. As of 2017, the university had an enrolment of ...

from 1990 to 1992 and after doing a

post-doc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, 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.

Books

* ''Ontological Arguments and Belief in God'', 1996. . * ''Philosophical Perspectives on Infinity'', 2006. . * ''Arguing About Gods'', 2006. . * "Evolution vs Creationism in Australian Schools", chapter in ''The Australian Book of Atheism'', 2010. . * ''The Best Argument against God'', 2013. * ''Reinventing Philosophy of Religion: An Opinionated Introduction'', 2014. * ''Describing Gods: An Investigation of Divine Attributes'', 2014. * ''The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion (Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy)'', 2017. * ''Atheism and Agnosticism (Elements in the Philosophy of Religion)'', 2018. * ''Atheism: The Basics'', 2018. * ''Naturalism and Religion: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation (Investigating Philosophy of Religion)'', 2018. * ''A Companion to Atheism and Philosophy (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy)'', 2019. * Is There a God?: A Debate (Little Debates about Big Questions), 2021.

Notes and references

External links

Personal Homepage at Monash University
- Includes career summary and highlights and a link to a complete list of publications.
Graham Oppy articles at Internet Infidels

Ontological arguments
an
The Turing Test
at the

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...

.
Interview on contemporary atheismGraham Oppy on the Kalam Cosmological Argument
by

William Lane Craig William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949) is an American analytic philosopher, Christian apologist, author and Wesleyan theologian who upholds the view of Molinism and neo-Apollinarianism. He is Professor of Philosophy at Houston Baptist ...

1960 births 20th-century atheists 20th-century Australian male writers 20th-century Australian philosophers 20th-century educational theorists 20th-century educators 20th-century essayists 21st-century atheists 21st-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian philosophers 21st-century educational theorists 21st-century educators 21st-century essayists Analytic philosophers Atheism activists Atheist philosophers Australian atheists Australian educational theorists Australian educators Australian essayists Australian male non-fiction writers Australian National University faculty Australian social commentators Critics of creationism Critics of religions Cultural critics Epistemologists Former Methodists Historians of philosophy Australian historians of religion Lecturers Literacy and society theorists Living people Metaphysics writers Monash University faculty Ontologists People educated at Wesley College (Victoria) People from Benalla Philosophers of education Philosophers of history Philosophers of language Philosophers of religion Philosophers of science Philosophy teachers Philosophy writers Princeton University alumni Social critics Social philosophers University of Melbourne alumni University of Wollongong faculty Writers about religion and science {{Australia-philosopher-stub