Key Terms Flashcards
Deductive argument
Truth of premise guarantees truth of conclusion
Inductive arguments
Try to reveal something new in the conclusion
A Posteriori
Premise based on knowledge depending on, or coming after experience
A Priori
Premise that doesn’t depend on experience of world around us
Necessary existence
A property with even higher value than existence
Contingent existence
Something/ someone caused a contingent being to exist
Synthetic statements
Truth of falsity are determined by sense experience
Analytic statement
Those that are true by meaning of the words used
Predicate
Gives information about subject
Reductio ad absurdum
Attempt to disprove an argument by showing its logical consequences are absurd or opposite to that intended
Tautology
A statement that is true by definition
Anthropomorphism
Habit of attributing human form/ideas to being other than humans e.g God, animals
Natural theology
View that questions about God can be answered without scripture
Fideism
View that faith doesn’t depend on logic or reason, so if faith and reason point different ways, fideists are justified in following what they believe
Metaphysical necessity
Form of necessity deriving from essence of something
Evil
Profoundly wicked and immoral, something inherently wrong, malevolent force causes human suffering
Moral evil
Evil caused by mankind either through commission (act) or omission (choosing not to act)
Natural evil
Events that cause human suffering but aren’t man-made
Theodicy
Justifications if God’s goodness in face of problem of evil
Suffering
Mental/physical pain/hardship/distress brought on by both natural and moral evil
Libertarianism
View that although same aspects of human existence are determined by physics, biology etc, humans have degree of free will
Casual determination
View that not every event is determined by preceding events and conditions so by laws of nature, humans don’t have free will
Compatibilism
Means determination and free will are compatible where there are no external restraints on a persons actions so able to act free
Soul- deciding
Idea that humans have choice to turn back to heaven/God through salvation of Jesus
Soul-making
Where humans are equipped to make own decisions to develop into perfection to make souls better
Original evil
Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden fruit
