Essential Scholars Flashcards
David Hume and Richard Dawkins general argument?
- Belief in the transcendent (ideas that exist above and beyond our universe) goes against common sense (counterintuitive)
- Both require stronger (empirical and material) evidence
- Transcendent and spiritual reality is meaningless
Logical positivists general argument?
- Emphasis on empiricism and rejecting ‘a priori’
- Knowledge is gained through experience, not an innate connection to the world of forms
- Against all arguments concerned with the existence of God or metaphysical existence
AJ Ayer quote on metaphysical
“The term ‘God’ is a metaphysical term. And if ‘God’ is a metaphysical term, then it cannot even be probable that God exists.”
Aristotle general arguments
- Experience is a requirement of how we learn
- Challenges Plato and dualism of the soul
- Also applies to ontological argument as it relies on reason instead of empirical evidence
Aristotle experience quote
‘If a man has the theory without the experience … he will often fail’
Davis Hume and Bertrand Russell arguments
- Challenged the existence of God and ancient Greek understanding of metaphysics
- The universe holds no purpose of telos, it is just ‘brute fact’
Richard Dawkins arguments (materialism and evolutionary theory)
Materialism –
- ‘transcendent is meaningless’
- Hard materialist approach
Evolutionary Theory –
- Evolutionary biologist who builds upon Darwin’s work
- Challenges Augustine, Design, and Aristotle
Jean Paul Sartre arguments
- No intrinsic purpose to the universe
- Existential philosopher who relies on empirical evidence
Sigmund Freud arguments
- Psychological challenge to God’s existence
- Psychiatrist who’s his studies into religion and religious experience led him to conclude that the idea of God was a form of neurosis