Arguements based on observation Flashcards
What is a A posteriori argument?
They depend on experience and observation, using them to draw conclusions. They look at different possible explanations for whatever it is that we are observing or experiencing, and draw conclusions about which explanation provides the best fit.
what is the teleological argument?
Where you use observation of order, beauty, complexity to draw the conclusion that God exists. Teleological comes from the Greek word ‘ telos’ which means ‘tail’ or ‘end’, because the argument uses the end results as a basis for drawing its conclusions.
what is the cosmological argument ?
It is where you use observation of the fact that the universe exists at all to draw conclusions that it must have been brought into existence by God.
What is natural theology?
Seeks to understand the existence and nature of God through observation of the world around us.
What is Ockham’s razor?
A principle which says that the best explanation is usually the one which requires the fewest extra assumptions.
what was Aquinas teleological (design) argument?
Aquinas thought God gave us reason so that we could learn about him. He uses the fifth of the five ways a short teleological argument to explain this.
What is the example of the fifth of the five ways ?
An arrow heading for a target. If we saw the arrow in flight we would conclude that it must of been shot on purpose because arrows cant move on their own.
When we see plants moving in an orderly way, we can therefore conclude that a divine mind must have put them in motion on purpose, because plants cant move on their own.
what is Paley’s teleological argument?
He set out his teleological argument in his book natural theology.
He used the analogy of someone finding a watch on a health, to show that we see things working in a orderly and purposeful manner, we know they must have been designed.
What did Paley also suggest?
He said we see order and purpose in the world too, in the structure of animals and plants, and can conclude they must have been designed by God.
We can tell from the care God put into creation that God must care for us.
cosmological argument addresses what?
The question of why the universe exists at all, and conclude that it must be because of God.
What is Aquinas first way of Aquinas five ways that are his variations of his cosmological argument?
The first way is the unmoved mover- we observe motion and change in the world. There must be a reason for it, must be God.
What is the second way?
The second way is the uncased causer- we observe chains of cause and effect in the world. There must be a reason for it, which must be God.
what is the third way?
The third way is contingency- we observe that everything in the universe depends on something else for its existence, There must be something that doesn’t depend on anything else, otherwise nothing would ever started, and this must be God.
What is Leibniz and the principle of sufficient reason?
Gottfried Leibniz argued that there must be a ‘ sufficient reason’ or explanation for everything.
The universe requires a sufficient reason, and the only reason sufficient to explain the existence of the universe must be God.
What is the anthropic principle?
This is a principle that says the universe seems expertly fine- tuned to allow for human life to exist. It seems more likely that this fine- tuning is a result of deliberate design, than that it happened by chance against enormous odds.
