CH1.3 Arguments based on observation Flashcards
what does teleological mean?
it means looking to the end results in order to draw a conclusion about what is right or wrong
what does cosmological mean?
it is to do with the universe
what is natural theology?
it is drawing conclusions about the nature and activity of God by using reason and observing the world
what does contingent mean?
it means depending on other things
what is the principle of sufficient reason?
the principle that everything must have a reason to explain it
what are a posteriori arguments?
arguments which draw conclusions based on observation through experience
what is meant by necessary existence?
existence which does not depend on anything else
what are a priori arguments?
arguments which draw conclusions through the use of reason
what do some people who think the existence of God is not a matter of philosophy think it is a matter of instead?
they think its a matter of faith instead
are the cosmological argument and teleological argument a priori or a posteriori arguments?
they are a posteriori
how does the teleological argument attempt to demonstrate the existence of God?
it tries to do so from the evidence of order and purpose in the world around us. They reason that we could not have complex, purposeful features in the world unless there was a divine intelligence who designed those features
how does the cosmological argument try to demonstrate the existence of God?
by asking the question ‘why is there something rather than nothing?’ The existence of the universe, it is claimed, requires an explanation, and the best explanation is the existence of god
what is revealed theology?
it is a reflection on the content of what is believed to have been shown to humanity by God
what are teleological arguments often known as?
they are often known as ‘design arguments’
in Aquinas’ way, what are the 2 ways in which knowledge of god could be reached?
-one is through revelation, where god chooses to reveal the truth to people, e.g. through the words of the Bible
-the other is through our own human reason (which Aquinas thought was given to us by God for this very purpose). Aquinas thought that if we applied reason to the evidence that we see around us, we can reach valuable truths.
-he believed that faith and reason could be combined in order to reach a better understanding of God
what is Aquinas’ design argument?
-in his book, Summa Theologica, he wrote ‘Five Ways’ of showing that God exists. The last of these 5 is the one that makes up his version of the design argument.
-in the Fifth Way, Aquinas said that nature seems to have an order and a purpose to it. We know, he suggested, that nothing inanimate is purposeful without the aid of a ‘guiding hand’ (he uses the example of an archer shooting an arrow at a target). What he means here is that no non-living thing can have its own purpose; the river cannot decide to flow out to the sea because a river has no mind, and yet it does. The sun cannot decide to rise in the morning and to make each day the right length, and yet it does.
-therefore, everything in nature which is moving but which has no intelligence must be directed to its goal by God