Scholars

Question 1

Plato (427-347)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 1

Book - The Republic

Topics - Theory of the forms/the good
The cave analogy
Understanding of the soul

Question 2

Aristotle (384-322)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 2

Book - Metaphysics
De Anima (on the soul)
Nicomachean Ethics (work on ethics)
Topics - Theory of the 4 Forms (not Plato)
Understandings of the soul
Called God the Prime Mover
Similar to natural law, that people want to achieve eudaemonia (happiness)

Question 3

David Hume (1711-1776)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 3

Book - A Treatise on Human Nature (is/ought gap)

Topic - Is/ought gap which is applied to many theories (cave analogy, )
Came up with several rebuttals of the Cosmological argument
A strong critique of the design argument
Said God can not be perfect because the world is badly designed (evil)
The is/ought gap critiques natural law
Discussed the Ideal Observer Theory

Question 4

RM Hare (1919-2002)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 4

Book - The Language of Morals

Topic - Critique of Plato’s Forms
A professor of moral philosophy

Question 5

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 5

Book - Meditations

Topics - Opposes Substance Dualism
Updated the Ontological argument

Question 6

Anselm (1033-1109)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 6

Book - Proslogion

Topic - Founder of the Ontological argument
An eternalise who proposed the ‘four dimensionalist’ view on Boethius

Question 7

Gaunilo 11th Century

Books?
Topics?

Answer 7

Book - On behalf of the fool

Topics - Critiqued Anselm’s ontological argument

Question 8

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Books?
Topics?

Answer 8

Book - Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of ethics

Topics - Critiqued the Ontological argument, said existence was not a property
The chief founder of Deontology and also opposed Fletchers thinking

Question 9

Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274)

Books?
Topics?

Answer 9

Book - Summa Theologiae

Topics - The Cosmological argument
The five ways with the Prime Mover, First cause, Necessary beings
Natural Law Theory
Saw consciousness as right reason, recta ratio, divided into parts

Question 10

Fredrick C. Copleston (1907-1994)

Topic?

Answer 10

Topic - Formulated a new version of Aquinas’ five ways

Question 11

William Paley (1743-1805)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 11

Book - Natural Theology

Topics - Best known adapter of the design/teleological argument (can relate to the fine tuning argument also)

Question 12

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 12

Book - On the Origin of Species

Topics - proposed the theory of evolution, explaining the complexity of the world entirely in the terms of natural processes

Question 13

Issac Newton (1642-1727)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 13

Book - Philosophiae Naturalis Principia

Topics - Proposed a version of the fine tuning argument which includes astrophysics, rather than biology like Paley.

Question 14

William Lane Craig 20th Century

Article?
Topics?

Answer 14

Article - The design argument/Anthropic Principle

Topics - Wrote a paper on the Anthropic Principle, Strong/Weak, the idea that the universe looks designed and implies God (Strong) or we just think its designed (weak)

Question 15

Rudolph Otto (1896-1937)

Book?
Topics?

Answer 15

Book - The Idea of the Holy

Topics - Examined, described and created a criteria for religious experiences

Question 16

William James (1842-1910)

Topic?

Answer 16

Topic - A philosopher and psychologist that examined religious experiences.

Question 17

Richard Swineburne (1934- present)

Books?
Topic?

Answer 17

Book - The Existence of God

Topics - A philosopher who examined religious experiences and wrote of the Principles of testimony and credulity

Question 18

Peter Vardy (1945-present)

Books?
Topic?

Answer 18

Book- The Puzzle of God

Topic - A contemporary critic of Swineburn and wrote a book on God

Question 19

St Augustine (354-430)

Books?
Topic?

Answer 19

Book - City of God

Topics - Founder of the ‘Augustine Theodicy” that evil is a lack of good
Saw conscience as the law of God somehow written in u

Question 20

Karen Armstrong 21st Century

Books?
Topic?

Answer 20

Book - History of God

Topic - Claimed Augustine had misunderstood the Adam and Eve story or sin

Question 21

St Irenaeus (130-202)

Books?
Topic?

Answer 21

Book - Adversus Haereses

Topic - The Irenaean Theodicy that humans are created ‘immature’ humans

Question 22

John Hick (1922-present)

Books?
Topic?

Answer 22

Book - The ‘Vale of Soul-making’

Topic - That our souls ‘grow’ and’ evolve’ on earth due to problem of evil

Question 23

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

Books?
Topic?

Answer 23

Book - Tractatus (1921)
Philosophical Investigations
(1953)

Topic - Helped to create the Verification Principle and was apart of the Vienna Circle and wrote the most influential book for the group
Founder of the Language game theory

Question 24

Rudolph Bultmann (1884-1876)

Topic?

Answer 24

Topic - A proponent of ‘demythologisation’ - getting rid of the more deeply mythological aspects of religion.

Question 25

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) Books? Topic?

Answer 25

Book - On the Law of War and Peace Topic - Said that Natural Law requirements would be valid even if God did not exist

Question 26

The Vienna Circle met 1907-1936 Book? Topic?

Answer 26

Book - ‘Language Truth and logic Topic - Created the Verification Principle and the theory of Logical Positivism stems from their work.

Question 27

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) Books? Topic?

Answer 27

Book - Emile Topic - Claimed humans are naturally good, but corrupted by society

Question 28

Jean-Paul Satre (1905-1980) Topic?

Answer 28

Topic - A Existentialist who claimed that there was no purpose common to all humans

Question 29

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) Topic?

Answer 29

Topic - A psychologist that emphasised the irrational, animalistic part of humans

Question 30

Joseph Fletcher (1905-1991) Books? Topic?

Answer 30

Book - Situation Ethics Topics - The founder of Situation Ethics

Question 31

Henry Sidwick (1838-1900) Books? Topic?

Answer 31

Book - Methods of Ethics Topic - A critique of Kant and said a man may refused help thus the maxim ‘don't help’ would arise

Question 32

``` Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) Topic? ```

Answer 32

Topic - James Mill’s partner who created utilitarianism and hedonic calculus

Question 33

``` James Mill (1773-1836) Topic? ```

Answer 33

Topic - Propounded the earlier form of utilitarianism, in which pleasure were not categorised

Question 34

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) Books? Topic?

Answer 34

Book - Utilitarianism On Liberty Topic - The founder of Utilitarianism in its best-known form. Distinguished intellectual from sensuous pleasures A libertarian who proposed the ‘One Very Simple Principle'

Question 35

James Lovelock (1919-Present) Topic?

Answer 35

Topic - Creator of the Gaia hypothesis

Question 36

Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) Books? Topic?

Answer 36

Book - A Sand County Almanac Topic - Wrote a book which advocates ‘land ethics’, or a responsible relationship between people and land

Question 37

Milton Friedman (1912-2006) Article? Topic?

Answer 37

Article/Topic - Wrote the 1970 essay, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits Founder of monetarism

Question 38

Sam Harris (1967 -present) Topic?

Answer 38

Topic - A prominent Ethical Naturalist, said that ‘moral goodness’ correlates to ‘an increase in the well-being of conscious creatures’

Question 39

John Searle (1932 -present) Topic?

Answer 39

Topic - A thinker who purports to be able to derive an ‘ought’ from an ‘is’ in 5 steps

Question 40

AJ Ayer (1910-1989) Books? Topic?

Answer 40

Book - Language, Truth and logic Topic - A member of the Vienna Circle who supported Emotivism

Question 41

GE Moore (1873-1958) Books? Topic?

Answer 41

Book - Principia Ethica Topic - A Cambridge philosopher who, in 1903, published a book founding modern intuitionism

Question 42

Joseph Butler (1692-1752) Topic?

Answer 42

Topic - An Anglican bishop and a theologian who is considered to be one of the ancestors of Intuitionism