EOYE Y9 Flashcards
What is agnosticism?
Being unsure as to wether or not god exists
What is pantheism?
The belief that a god(ess) is found in everything, especially nature
What is monotheism?
Belief in the existence of only one deity
What is polytheism?
Belief in the existence of multiple deities
What is atheism?
The belief that no deities exist; as it’s against science it’s illogical
What is empiricism?
The belief in god due to experience of god in own life/ the the world around us
What is indirect empiricism?
When you don’t experience something yourself, but you only rely on one piece of evidence
What is direct empiricism?
When you experience something yourself
What is cumulative empiricism?
When you don’t experience something yourself but you have lots of pieces of evidence to form an opinion from
What is rationalism?
The belief in god because, after having thought about it, you logically believe that god exists
Problems of just using rationalism
You may never believe anything that you see, even if it is real, if you can find a logical explanation for it
Problems of using just empiricism
You don’t use your logic to check wether something really is right as relying on just your senses means that your senses can deceive you
What does omniscient mean?
The believe that god is all-knowing
What does omnipotent mean?
The belief that god is all-powerful
What does omnipresent mean?
The belief that god is present everywhere all the time
What does Omnibenevolent mean?
The belief that god is all-loving
Explain Aquinas’ 1st proof
- proof 1 = the argument of motion
- Nothing moves without being moved, so there must have been a first mover that started this chain reaction of movement. This was god.
Explain Aquinas’ 2nd proof
- proof 2 = the argument of cause
- nothing is able to cause itself as it would have had to exist before it existed
- the must have been something that was the first causer of everything in the universe
- this first causer is god, who however is the only uncaused thing
Explain Aquinas’ 3rd proof
- proof 3 = the argument of necessity
- everything on earth comes into and eventually goes out of existence = possible existence
- this must mean that there’s something that’s always existed (necessarily existed) independently
- this something is god
What does possibly exist mean?
Something that comes into or is born into existence then is dies out of or goes out of existence
Explain Aquinas’ 4th proof
- proof 4 = the argument of degrees of excellence
- everything on earth has varying degrees of goodness in them (some have more good in them than others)
- there must be something with the highest degree of good
- that something is god, that causes good in other things
Explain Aquinas’ 5th proof
- proof 5 = the argument of intelligent design
- all natural things have no way of knowing their purpose but they just do it
- if all natural beings just ‘know’ how to fulfil their purpose, then there must be an intelligent being that designed them to do this
Reason to agree with AP1
- seems logical
- because everything moves and needs a mover (cause and effect) this mover could be god
Reason to disagree with AP1
- makes no sense scientifically = the first movement, even if their was one, can either be the atoms that first reacted to cause the Big Bang, or the forces that act on all things in the universe
Reason to agree with AP2
- seems logical = everything must be caused and nothing can cause itself to exist. Without a fist cause, none of the other would be able to come into existence
Reason to disagree with AP2
You could use the same argument abt god being eternal and uncaused about the universe as well. The universe is eternal and infinite and requires no cause, even more so than god, so it always existed without external intervention from him
Reason to agree with AP3
Everything that we know of, including planets, stars and even the universe come into and eventually go out of existence. So it makes sense to believe that there must be one thing in the universe that has always existed
Reason to disagree with AP3
Why must god be the only exception? Why is everything in the universe (including the universe) possibly existing?
Reason to agree with AP4
The fact that everything on earth has different amts of goodness is true, so it a makes sense to believe that there must be a god who is 100% good and is the source of everything else’s good
Reason to disagree with AP4
If god is 100% good, then why did he let there be evil and suffering in the world
Reason to agree with AP5
When you plant something, you don’t need to tell it how to grow, it just germinates and does it. So it makes sense to believe that there must be an intelligent god who designed all these complex beings to do this
Reason to disagree with AP5
However, the ways that plants and organisms grow can be explained by then evolution over millions of years to adapt and become what they are today.
Explain Anselm’s argument for the existence of the god
- God is the greatest conceivable being
- This means that even those who deny god’s existence still have the thought of god in their minds
- Things that exist in reality are better than those that just exist in the mind. This means that we could imagine a greater conciveable being than god. But, this would contradict our definition of god, as he is the greatest conceivable being
- Therefore, god exists!
Reason to agree with anselm
- if the person is religious, then god really would be the greatest conceivable being so the rest of the argument would be true for them
- makes logical sense to believe this, even for an agnostic
Reason to disagree with anselm
- when anselm says that things that exist in reality are always better than those that exist in thought, this is not always true as things in reality don’t always live up to the expectation
- the idea of the greatest conceivable being is subjective ; everyone doesn’t have the same idea of the greatest conceivable being
- if god is so great, then why did he let evil and suffering happen inthe world
- if someone can’t accept that something is more perfect in reality than in the mind, then that disproves god as he’s reduced to an idea made by humans
Is Hinduism monotheistic or polytheistic?
Polytheistic, as there are around 1M different deities worshipped
Why can Hinduism also be interpreted as monotheistic?
All the deities are representative of the different aspects and qualities of one spiritual power, Brahman
What is the syllable Om used to represent?
Brahman
Why is the OM syllable used to represent bramhan?
- using a name can restrict who Brahman is as an ultimate power
- the sound encapsulates the power of a syllable better than a name
- when you say Om, the sound echoes around the room, symbolism that Brahman is everywhere
What are the 3 parts of the Trimurti?
- Brahman = the creator
- Vishnu = the preserver
- shiva = the destroyer
What is the Hindu idea of reincarnation?
Hindus believe in reincarnation. Death isn’t the end and your soul goes into another form. If you do good deeds in your current life, you will be happier and richer in your next life.
What does puja mean?
Worship
What happens during puja at home?
- all the family come together for worship
- offerings of food (Prashad), flowers, and incense as well as holy fire are made to the deity
- families tend to have a decorative shrine at home with idols in it which they perform the puja to
What happens in puja at temple?
- food and flowers are offered to the deity by the priest
- special mantras are chanted to bring the deity to the idol
- a bell is rung to get the deity’s attention
- the priest hold up aarti (holy fire) to the deity so they can bless it
- the priest then brings the article around for people to get its blessing
- prashad is offered to everyone there
- people sing, chant and clap whilst saying the mantras
What is the story of Ganesh?
- Parvati made a boy from the dirt of her body to protect the house whilst she went to bathe
- when shiva her husband came back, he was infuriated to see a little boy stopping him from coming in, so beheaded the boy
- when Parvati came back, she was sad as she regarded Ganesh as her son
- shiva, eager to please his wife, ordered the guards to go to the forest and get the head of the first animal they saw.
The first animal was an elephant so Ganesh has an elephant head
What are the names of the 3 universal truths?
- anicca
- annatta
- dukkha