theme 1 - introduction to inductive proofs

Question 1

what is inductive reasoning based on?

Answer 1

• experience, sense experience and empirical evidence

Question 2

what type of conclusions do inductive proofs reach?

Answer 2

• probable conclusions, inductive proofs do not guarantee certainty, as there are always other possible conclusions

Question 3

what does the cosmological argument propose about the universe?

Answer 3

• the universe requires an explanation for its existence, everything has a cause.

Question 4

what is premise 1 of the cosmological argument?

Answer 4

• everything has a cause

Question 5

what is premise 2 of the cosmological argument?

Answer 5

• the universe has a cause

Question 6

what conclusion does the cosmological argument reach?

Answer 6

• the cause is God

Question 7

• who put forward the most famous form of the cosmological argument?

Answer 7

• St Thomas Aquinas

Question 8

how many ways did Aquinas propose to prove that God exists?

Answer 8

• five ways

Question 9

What are the first three ways of Aquinas known as?

Answer 9

Cosmological arguments

Question 10

Who greatly influenced St Thomas Aquinas?

Answer 10

Aristotle

Question 11

What does Aristotle argue about motion?

Answer 11

Everything that moves is moved by something else

Question 12

What must exist to prevent an infinite series of motion according to Aristotle?

Answer 12

A first mover

Question 13

What is an example of potentiality according to Aristotle?

Answer 13

A piece of marble has the potential to become a statue

Question 14

What is required for potential to be actualized?

Answer 14

An efficient cause

Question 15

What is Aquinas’s First Way focused on?

Answer 15

Motion or change

Question 16

What do we observe in nature according to Aquinas’s First Way?

Answer 16

Things in a state of change or motion

Question 17

According to Aquinas, what initiates the sequence of movements?

Answer 17

Something outside the universe

Question 18

What term does Aristotle use for the origin of motion?

Answer 18

Prime mover

Question 19

What term does Aquinas use for the first cause of motion?

Answer 19

Unmoved mover

Question 20

For Aquinas, who is the unmoved mover?

Answer 20

God of classical theism

Question 21

What do Aristotle and Aquinas argue about change?

Answer 21

Change can only occur when something that possesses actuality acts on potentiality

Question 22

What law is observable in nature according to Aquinas? (Aquinas’ second way)

Answer 22

Cause and effect

Question 23

What did Aquinas state about self-causation?

Answer 23

Nothing can cause itself

Question 24

Why can’t something exist before itself according to Aquinas?

Answer 24

It would be like being your own parent

Question 25

What concept did Aquinas reject regarding the universe?

Answer 25

Infinite regress, the universe cannot go back forever

Question 26

What must there have been according to Aquinas to avoid infinite regress?

Answer 26

A first uncaused cause

Question 27

Who does Aquinas argue is the first uncaused cause?

Answer 27

God

Question 28

What does Aquinas identify about the existence of things? (Aquinas’ third way)

Answer 28

The contingency of things

Question 29

What are contingent beings dependent on?

Answer 29

Something else for their existence

Question 30

What conclusion did Aquinas reach about contingent existence?

Answer 30

If everything was contingent, nothing would ever have come into existence

Question 31

What must there be for everything else to come into existence according to Aquinas?

Answer 31

A necessary being

Question 32

Why can't God be contingent according to Aquinas?

Answer 32

Otherwise he could need a cause to bring him into existence

Question 33

Who is associated with the kalam argument? Where does the argument originate from?

Answer 33

William Lane Craig The kalam argument originates with Islamic philosophers such as Al Ghazali

Question 34

What is the first premise of Craig's argument?

Answer 34

Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.

Question 35

What is the second premise of Craig's argument?

Answer 35

The universe began to exist.

Question 36

What conclusion does Craig draw from his premises?

Answer 36

Therefore the universe has a cause of its existence.

Question 37

What does Craig argue about the nature of the universe's cause?

Answer 37

The cause must be personal

Question 38

What is the significance of the universe having a beginning according to Craig?

Answer 38

The being that created it must have chosen to do so.

Question 39

What attributes must the personal being (God) have according to Craig?

Answer 39

- Omnipotence - Omnibenevolence

Question 40

Does Craig accept or reject potential infinity? why?

Answer 40

- accepts - like the future, events are constantly being added to the sum total - there is a beginning but no end

Question 41

Does Craig accept or reject actual infinity? why?

Answer 41

- rejects - actual infinity has no beginning and no end - if actual infinity was real we would never reach the present moment

Question 42

What example does Craig use about a library with an infinite number of books to prove that actual infinites cannot exist in reality?

Answer 42

- imagine a library with an infinite number of books - suppose the library also contains an infinite number of red books and an infinite number of black books, so that for every red book there is a black book and vice versa - the library must contain as many red books and the total number of black books in the collection - in reality there cannot be as many red books as there are red and black together - therefore actual infinites cannot exist in reality

Question 43

What does William Lane Craig argue about the existence of the present moment? What does this imply?

Answer 43

The present moment exists This implies that time cannot be actually infinite.

Question 44

What conclusion can be drawn from the existence of the present moment according to Craig?

Answer 44

The universe must have had a start.

Question 45

According to William Lane Craig, what must have caused the universe to come into existence?

Answer 45

The universe must have had a cause.

Question 46

Who does William Lane Craig identify as the cause of the universe?

Answer 46

The cause is God.

Question 47

If the universe had a beginning, what does Craig assert about the being that created it?

Answer 47

The being that created it must have chosen to do so.

Question 48

What attributes does William Lane Craig attribute to God based on his arguments?

Answer 48

God is a personal being with divine attributes, including: * Omnipotence * Omnibenevolence