humes critcisims

Question 1

humes criticisms generally

Answer 1

• Epistemological limits-The cosmological arguments takes us beyond the scope of human understanding.
• To conclude that there was a first cause of the universe is out of our understanding.
  Whilst the universe exists, we cannot prove that it is caused.
• The fallacy of affirming the consequent
  fallacy of composition
• Aquinas rejects the possibility of an infinite regression without probable cause
• it is from a unique case
• we do not know the creator would have to be God

Question 2

How is Aquinas guilty of ‘The fallacy of affirming the consequent’

Answer 2

He goes from cause to effect
whilst we know the world exist and there could b a reason for its existence. we cannot know what the effect is because there are an endless amount of possibilities.

Question 3

how is Aquinas guilty of ‘the fallacy of composition’

Answer 3

What is true of part of the whole is not true of the whole thing.
Whilst we may observe everything in the universe has a cause that doesn’t necessarily mean the universe also is caused. Bertrand Russel said ‘just because just because everyone has a mother. doesn’t mean the universe also has a mother’.

Question 4

explain humes epicurean hypothosis

Answer 4

the worlds order and purpose may be by chance
epicureas argued that the basic constitutes of the world are indivisble atoms
modern physics is similar- the world is no more than the changing of atoms
so if given infinate time it is likely that the perfect/optimum arrangement for human life would be created
so the observed order and purpose in the universe occured via chance and it was not a result of God
the oscillating universe theory further illustrates this

Question 5

what are humes criticisms of the design argument (teleological/ 5th way) ?

Answer 5

why must design be caused
evidential problem of evil
fallacy of affirming the conceuent
fallacy of composition

Question 6

what are humes criticisms of the design argument?

Answer 6

1. why must design be caused - epicurean theodicy
2. even if we accepted it caused - why must God be the creator
3. it is from a unique case
4. evidential problem of evil - we cannot use the world as a starting point because it is evil

Question 7

what does hume mean by it is from a unique case?

Answer 7

• he challenges the idea that we could possibly know the cause of complexity
• inferring the existence of one thing requires experience of their constant conjunction
• we need experience of the thing being made and its designer or the same thing being made by a designer

Question 8

what example of unique case does hume use

Answer 8

a house
justifying the existence of a designer require experiencing the house being made by a designer or experiencing other houses being made by a designer

Question 9

hume quote about unique experience

Answer 9

’ we need to have experience of the origins of the world’

it ‘ exceeds all human reason’

Question 10

why is origin of the world a unique case?

Answer 10

• we only experience one case of the universe
• we do not experience the origin of the universe
• or a creator
• therefore the univserse is a unique case
• we lack the reuiqred experience to confirm that God exsists from inference of our universe but our experience is independent and unique

Question 11

humes rejection ti the causal principle

Answer 11

humes fork

the causal principle is not analytical, it is not true by definition that everything has a cause because we can imagine something not having a cause

that makes it synthetic

we can only know through experience if something/everything has a cause

yet we cannot experience ALL events of cause and effect so we cannot say that ALL events are caused

not matter how many times you observe A effect B this doesnt make their causation necessary

so, just because we observe a degree of cause in the world doesnt mean that we can say the universe has a cause