Midterm review Unit 6 Flashcards
(62 cards)
1
Q
list of cognitive limitation (problem of evil)
A
- lack of data
- complexity greater than we can handle
- difficulty of determining what is metaphysically possible or necessary
- ignorance of the full range of possibilities
- ignorance of the full range of values
- limits to our capacity to make well considered value judgments
2
Q
Aquinas 5 proofs
A
its motion, its causality, its contingency, its imperfection, its unthinking order
3
Q
1st proof
A
- argument of motion
- if something moved it must have been moved by something
- must be a 1st mover ie God
4
Q
2nd proof
A
- nature of efficient causes
- if there were no first cause then there would be no last cause nor any intermediate causes
- God is the uncreated creator that causes everything to exits
5
Q
3rd proof
A
- based on contingency and necessity
- unlike anything in our existence god cannot cease existing because God’s existence does not depend on anything else
6
Q
4th proof
A
unlike anything in the universe, God is perfect goodness, perfect truth, perfect nobility, and perfect existence
7
Q
5th proof
A
- order of the universe
- things that lack knowledge can’t move toward an end unless they are directed towards it by some being that has knowledge and intelligence
- God is the supremely wise intelligence in whom all the order in the universe originates
8
Q
univocal meaning
A
words can have the exact same meaning when applied to God (whom we do not experience), as when applied to the humans we do experience
-but we can’t because they are unalike so the goodness, wisdom, and love of god must be different from that of what we experience as humans
9
Q
Equivocal meaning
A
-words we apply to both God and creatures could mean something totally different when applied to each
10
Q
John Hick (the road)
A
- two men go down a road
- one believes it leads no where the other believes it leads to the celestial city
- one believes the pleasant parts are encouragements and the obstacles are trials
- the other enjoys the good and endures the bad and sees it as him having no choice in the matter
11
Q
judaism and christianity
A
- humans stand midway between nature and spirit
- being made in the image of god humans can achieve infinite possibilities
12
Q
Religion
A
an institutionalized belief in God and the teachings of some groups such as catholics, jews, or muslims
13
Q
Ninian Smart: six dimensions of religion
A
- doctrine
- experience
- myth
- ritual
- morality
- organizations
14
Q
Doctrine (6 dimensions of religion)
A
set of beliefs ab the universe and its relation to the supernatural
- law of karma
- one god
15
Q
Experience (6 dimension of religion)
A
-emphasis on events in which the believer feels immediately and strikingly the presence of God of a supernatural dimension
16
Q
Myth (6 dimensions of religion)
A
set of stories that convey sacred or special meaning, such as the story of Adam and Eve of the illumination of buddha
17
Q
Ritual (6 dimensions of religion)
A
acts of worship, prayer, sacraments, and readings of sacred scriptures
18
Q
morality (6 dimensions of religion)
A
a set of rules and precepts that believers are enjoined to follow
19
Q
organization (6 dimensions of religion)
A
an organized social group that preserves and perpetuates the religion
20
Q
religious belief
A
used to refer to religion’s doctrines ab the universe and people’s relation to the supernatural
21
Q
theology
A
the rational study of god
22
Q
theism
A
a belief in a personal God, who is the creator of the world
23
Q
Theists
A
those who believe in such a god
24
Q
monotheism
A
the belief that there is only one god
25
Ontological argument leading theorists
Anselm and Robert Nozick
26
ontological arguement: Anselm
- god is self evident
- we simply think ab god we will see that god exists
- to understand that god is "that than which nothing greater can be conceived" and the meaning of the words the idea of god exists in our minds
- proslogian- i believe in order i may not understand thus without belief man can have no understanding of god
- painter analogy
- god is that of which nothing greater can be concieved and if god can exist in our minds, then he has to exist in reality because a god in reality is greater then a god in the mind
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ontological argument definition
-argument that deduces the existence of god from the mere idea we have a god
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Ontological argument: Robert Nozick
- his notion of reality can explain Anselms arguement we can understand "greater" to mean something like of greater value or importance
- god that exists in reality is greater than a god that exists only in our minds
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objectors to Anselm : ontological argument
Kant and Gaunilo
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Kant's objection to Anselm (OA)
- anselm wrongly assumes existence is a quality so his argument fails
- you can have qualities to a greater or lesser degree but existence is all or nothing it can't just exist a little bit or a lil more
- existence is not a predicate (a quality or feature of something)
31
Gaunilo's objection to Anselm (OA)
- it seem to allow us to magically prove that many bizzare things exist
- he said that a perfect island "greater than which non can be conceived" can be imagined in our minds and if true means it exists
- anselm said the argument works for god bc he is infinitely perfect has omnipotence and so is indeed greater than anything else we can conceive and so has to exist in reality
- argued islands can't have perfections of infinite degree otherwise
- finite things can't be greater than which non can be conceived and do not have to exist in reality
32
The cosmological argument: Aquinas
1st proof- things in the universe are moving
- chain couldn't have been one without an original mover
- "first mover" had to be different, must be able to intiate it w/out being moved - God
2nd proof- things in the universe are caused
- existence is caused and nothing in the universe can cause itself
- chain cannot go back endlessly in time bc there would be no beginning to the existence of the things in our universe
- chain must start with a being whose own existence is uncaused- God the nondependent origin of all other existence
33
Objectors to the cosmological argument
Sir isaac Newton, Hume, Arno Penzias and Robert wilson, John hick
34
Newtons objection to Aquina (CA)
-1st law: moving objects continue to move forever on its own so long as an external force does not interefere so god is not needed to explain why these objects are moving
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Hume objections to Aquina (CA)
- objected and said if there is an infinite regress of motions and causes, and explanation of the whole change was not required
- if individual links are explained the whole explanation is not needed
36
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson objections to Aquina (CA)
- the whole universe is suffused w a microwave radiation
- leftover heat from the big bang (which set everything in motion)
- if this is correct then the universe has not existed forever and there could be no infinite chain of motions and causes stretching backward in time forever
- the universe has been a round for a few billion years and had a beginning
37
third objection of the cosmological argument
-contradiction- everything must have a cause but then he said god did not
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final objection of the Cosmological argument
-does not prove God is loving and exists
39
The design argument: William Paley
- compared natural organisms to that of a watch
- argued the design evident in a watch implies that an intelligent watchmaker made it
- design we see in organisms imply that an intelligent creator made it
- natural creation- the eye: made for vision, as there is that the telescope was made for assisting it
- made a detailed description of the eye
40
The design argument
states that the order and purpose we see in nature indicated that an intelligent being designed it
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William Paley argument on the design argument
1. watches and living organisms both have parts, precisely adjusted to achieve a purpose
2. a watch is designed by an intelligent agent, and its design is related to the precise adjustments of its parts to achieve its purpose
3. watches and living organisms do not differ in any known relevant way
4. so living organisms are probably made by an intelligent agent
42
Objectors to the design argument
Hume and Charles Darwin
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Objection of William Paley: Hume
- we have experienced someone make a watch before so we know the orderly design but we have never experienced how an animal or eye or universe is made
- we don't know the order of these things are the same of that of a watch
- argument assumes that an intelligent agent must produce the complex order found in any object
- maybe the order is produced by something that is not intelligent , like random processes
- no experience of how the universe comes to be, cannot assume to know that its order originated in the design of a god
44
objections of william paley: Charles Darwin (DA)
- explained Hume's thoughts by his notion of random selection
- life developed through random "variations" that were selected by the "struggle for survival"
- each organism and each of its parts seemed to be carefully designed for a purpose
- the design of the eye resulted from the non intelligent process of evolution
- each organism seemed to be carefully designed for a purpose
45
Defenders of Paley - William A. Dembski (DA)
- genes that direct how living organisms form, develop and behave provide evidence of intelligent design
- genes are arranged to produce a living organism and direct its life functions so that it flourishes
- specified complexity of genes cannot be produced by chance, nor by the laws of nature they require intelligence
- hundreds of proteins cannot come together by chance in exactly the complex arrangements required to produce living organisms
- second specific protein sequences of genes could not have been produced by natural laws
- genes are the product of intelligent design
- "specified complexity" is that an intelligent being produced it
46
Fine tuning argument
- appeals to the physical laws and physical constants of the physical universe
- evolution has nothing to do with this so it can't be used against this
47
Paul Davies (Fine Tuning argument)
- physical laws of the universe seem designed specifically to ensure that the human life can develop and flourish
- seems improbable that the universe turned out how it did unless the laws forces and numerical properties were deliberately chosen for
- physical laws and numerical constants are then "finely tuned" to produce those conditions that enable us to live and flourish
- deliberately selected by an intelligent creator of the universe
48
Fine tuning argument - critics
- for all we know some non intelligent mechanism produced the patterns in the universe
- alternate universes: w diff laws and numerical properties
49
Oscillating universe
fine tuning argument
universe exploded from the big bang and then contracted an infinite # of times each time it explodes the new universe has diff laws and numerical properties
50
Many worlds
fine tuning argument
each time a subatomic event occurs that can turn out two or more ways the universe splits into two more universes in each universe one of those ways turns out to be the way the event occurred
51
Eternal inflation
fine tuning argument
universe has inflated to infinite size can contain infinite # of distinct regions of space, each as big as our own visible universe each region of space w diff laws and numerical properties each region of space would be a separate universe
52
Problem of evil
continue to beset by all kinds of evil: sickness, pain, suffering, and death
53
Hume: logical problem of evil
problem of evil
-deductive argument that proves that a benevolent omniscient, omnipotent god necessarily does not exist
i) if a benevolent omniscient, omnipotent god exists then there could be no evil in our world
ii) but there is evil in our world
iii) therefore a benevolent, omniscient and omnipotent god does not exist
A and B can't be true
54
Hume: Evidential problem of evil
- inductive or probable argument claims only that the evidence supports the conclusion that God probably does not exist
i) there is evil in our world
ii) the best explanation of the evil in our world is that there is no benevolent, omniscient, omnipotent god
iii) there is probably no benevolent, omniscient and omnipotent god
55
J.L Mackie - logical problem of evil
(a) god is omnipotent and (b) god is wholly good and (c) evil exists
- good always eliminates evil
56
William L Rowe- evidential problem of evil
god has to allow evil in order to achieve a greater good or prevent a greater evil
-fawn
57
Paul draper
the omniscient, omnipotent god may exist but he is probably not benevolent
58
Saint augustine - problem of evil
- evil is a privation
- only god can be perfect and completely good
- everything must be finite and limited and so must contain incomplete goodness and the possibility of the loss of goodness
- the universe has to have some evil or privation of good if it is ti be distinct from all good
59
Richard Swinburne- problem of evil
- with this free will evil can occur
-god couldn't give us free will then make us use it the right way
1st problem
-gives an account to moral evils but ignores natural evils
-humans don't produce natural evils so it can only explain the source of moral evils
2nd problem
-if god is all powerful he could have made us capable of inflicting lesss amount of suffering
60
John Hick
- a world without suffering would be unsatisfactory
- world couldn't serve its purpose without evil
- nature would work through "special providences"
- science would be useless, moral virtue like courage would have no point, curiosity would have no point prudence would not be possible
- would be the worst world
61
why we believe in Frueds view - problem of evil
- belief in god is an illusion
- infantile needs
- have no real reason to believe in god but have the need to feel someone is protecting and watching over them
- the emotional strength of this memory image and the lasting nature of his need for protection are the two supports of his belief in god
62
why we believe Kants view
- the notion that good sometimes suffers and evil people often prosper should not make us reject god
- such a world would only be possible if god exist to punish the evil and reward the good
- we are forced to believe in god if we want the world to be best /believe it can be
