Unit 5 Flashcards
(19 cards)
1
Q
Reasons for atheism
A
- empiricism (ayer, john Locke, scientific method, reason, enlightenment period
- science (natural explanations - Darwin, Freud (unconscious mind) god of the gaps)
- problem of evil (logical, evidential by Epicurus, Mackie and Phillips)
- rejection of moral absolutes
- many faiths ( better to not believe in any god than guess which one is right)
- issues of probability (not sufficient evidence for gods existence, more probable he’s doesn’t exist than he does)
2
Q
Responses to reasons for atheism
A
- empiricism: VP does verify itself, empirical evidence through a posteriori, RE’s provide empirical evidence
- science: says how but not why, can’t prove god doesn’t exist
- evil: theodicies from hick, irenaues, Augustine etc.
- rejection of moral absolutes: many atheists would accept moral absolutes like ‘do not kill innocent people’
- many faiths: religious pluralism, ‘the lamps are different but the light is the same’
- issue of probability: Swinburne cumulative argument
3
Q
Marx’s sociological critique
A
- interpreted religion to be utilised by the ruling classes to dominate and OPPRESS THE MASSES
- communist revelatory who wrote at a time where workers were exploited
- if the masses believe they could find escape and freedom through thee afterlife offered by religion, it would stop them rising up against the ruling classes to try to bring about equality and challenge societal order
- OPIUM OF THE MASSES - religion is a drug that changes the outlook of believers and pacifies them
4
Q
Durkheim - sociological critique
A
- religion as a societal phenomenon to…
1. Give meaning and purpose to life
2. Create general cohesiveness
3. Preserve and enforce the social and moral order
4. Hold and bind societies together
(All reinforced through rituals, profane objects with sacred significance)
5
Q
Freud - psychological critique
A
religion was an ‘illusion’, psychological need to protect fears, anxieties and subconscious to relieve them
6
Q
Carl jung (critique of Freud)
A
- god is an expression of the collective unconsciousness, this explains why so many ideas about god are shared with other people
- religion is the natural process that stems from the archetypes within the conscious mind
- it performs the function of harmonising the psyche
- as such it is a beneficial phenomena
- the removal of religion would lead to psychological problems
7
Q
Movements in thought
A
- scholasticism
- the renaissance
- the enlightenment
8
Q
Postmodernism definition
A
A broad movement that developed in the mid-to late 20th century across philosophy, the arts, architecture and Ccriticism, marking a departure from modernism. The term has been more generally applied to describe a historical era said to follow after modernity and the tendencies of this era
9
Q
Central ideas of postmodernism
A
- there is no truth in meta narratives (big stories)
- there are many narratives and all offer different ways to understand the world
- all things are relative, there is no objective truth
- we must create our own identity for ourselves
- as a result wee are free to pick and choose what works for us
10
Q
Key scholars within postmodernism
A
- Francois lyotard: there are no meta narratives
- Roland Barthes: images convey a complexity of narrative and meaning
- micheal Foucault: power comes from the stories we tell and the way we tell them
- jacques Derrida: deconstruction
- jean baudrillard: simulation and hyper reality
11
Q
Christianity in the postmodernist light
A
- Christianity is a meta narratives
- it can no longer be trusted to be truth
- it can be seen to belong to the Western European attempt to control and subjugate
- Christianity is then just one narrative amongst many that we are free to choose from (lyotard)
12
Q
David Lyon: Jesus in Disneyland (2000)
A
- religion is no longer embedded into cultures, countries or institutions
- religion is now a matter of personal choice and not a duty
- spirituality is a freely available commodity
- as religion enters the online world it becomes a private and personal experience
- in the postmodernist modern world religion offers a source of identity and so many give rise to those wishing to firefly defend it, leading to fundamentalism
13
Q
Westphals view
A
- Christian’s should not see the relativism of postmodernism as a threat
- rather Christian theologians should appropriate the methodology of postmodernism and reject the atheist project of some of its proponents
- theology has been focused on understanding existence, looking for an understanding of purpose, nature and cause
14
Q
Dawkins - religious belief is unnecessary
A
- our existence is a remarkable coincidence
- all species are the result of the process of evolution
- there is very little evidence to count against evolution
- it is enough to explain our existence we do not need a good
15
Q
Dawkins - faith claims
A
- all claims made by religion are escapist
- these claims avoid any form of evidence asked truth
- religion offers an impoverished word view
- claims regarding the supernatural act stop us from investigating existence
16
Q
Dawkins - issue of purpose
A
- all answers regarding purpose lie within humans themselves
- we assume that there is a purpose to existence and we are driven to look for it, but we are wrong to assume that such a purpose can only be derived from something outside of the world
17
Q
Dawkins - the virus that is religion
A
- religion leads to evil
- an indulgence of irrationality that is nourishing extremism, division and terror
- to call a child a Christian or Muslim is child abuse
- religion creates ignorance, fear and prejudice
- religion is a meme, an idea that spreads from mind to mind like a virus
18
Q
Scholars critique of Dawkins
A
A N Wilson: Dawkins seeks out and uses extreme examples to make his point
Melvin tinker: Dawkins exhibits narrow mindedness and introlerance of any fundamentalist
- if religion is a meme so is atheism, a meme is no more than a blik
19
Q
Further critiques of Dawkins
A
- biological reproduction is not our only purpose, we engage in non-reproductive activities
- if DNA is the only driving force then the pathological killer cannot be held responsible for their actions
- Dawkins generalises and makes sweeping statements about all religion
