ABSTRACT
In this paper I will argue that belief in the existence of demons is unjustified—in fact, such belief cannot be justified. To accomplish this I will first explicate why belief in demons can only be justified if “demons did it” is the best explanation for some phenomena (e.g., a story about an exorcism or a personal experience of seeming demonic activity). After explicating the proven method for determining the best explanation—known as “abduction” or “inference to the best explanation”—I will show why “demons did it” never will be (and never could be) the best explanation for any such phenomena. Not only are the best and most famous stories and experiences of demonic activity easily debunked or explained, but because of the very nature of demonic explanations they never could be the best explanation for anything. Simply put, they could never be the most fruitful, wide scoping, conservative and simple explanation. Indeed, even if you saw seeming demonic activity for yourself and couldn’t explain it, your own inability to detect a natural explanation for what you experienced—that your senses led you astray—would always be the better explanation. I will close by explicating how belief in demons is dangerous to raise moral concerns about ignoring my argument and choosing to just believing in demons “by faith.”
