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A level RS > Key terms > Flashcards

Key terms Flashcards

1
Q

Rationalism

A

Human reason is the primary source of knowledge / truth

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2
Q

Empiricism

A

All knowledge / truth from the senses alone

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3
Q

Revelation

A

knowledge is revealed to humanity through encounter with god

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4
Q

Theory of the forms

A

Plato’s Theory of two worlds, reality and appearance

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5
Q

Form of the good

A

The highest of all the forms; the source of knowledge

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6
Q

Concept / ideal

A

The innate, ideal of an object eg. its cattiness

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7
Q

Phenomena / particular

A

An object in the material world reflecting the forms. eg a cat

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8
Q

Form (Aristotle)

A

What makes something recognisable, its shape or structure

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9
Q

Material cause

A

What is the object made of (matter)?

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10
Q

Efficient cause

A

Who made the object? Who brought it into existence?

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11
Q

Formal cause

A

The shape, structure and characteristics of an object.

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12
Q

Final cause

A

The purpose (telos) of an object

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13
Q

Prime mover

A

The unchanging final cause of all that exists

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14
Q

Telos

A

end, result, purpose

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15
Q

Body / soul distinction

A

The issue of personal identity - who am I?

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16
Q

Dualism

A

The belief that humans have two elements - body and soul

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17
Q

Substance dualism

A

The two elements (body and soul) are wholly different substances

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18
Q

Monism

A

The view that humans are one substance, not two

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19
Q

Materialism

A

The only substance is a material one

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20
Q

Identity theory

A

All mental activity is centred in the brain and is purely physical.

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21
Q

Theistic monism

A

‘We are an indissoluble psycho-physical unity’ (Hick). Also known as soft materialism

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22
Q

‘Soul one’ (Dawkins)

A

Non- material life force (‘mystic jelly’ - Dawkins); an ancient idea being killed by science

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23
Q

‘Soul two’ (Dawkins)

A

Intellect, reason or consciousness

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24
Q

Category error

A

Incorrectly assuming that two terms (mind and body) are of the same logical type.

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25
Q

A posteriori

A

An argument for god based on sense experience and observations and evidence.

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26
Q

Teleological argument

A

An argument for the existence of god starting with observed design or telos

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27
Q

Cosmological argument

A

An argument for the existence of god starting with observations from the existence of the universe.

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28
Q

Infinite regress

A

A chain of events going backwards forever

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29
Q

Aquinas’ Three ways

A

Way one - Motion; way two - cause; way three - necessity and contingency

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30
Q

Contingent

A

Depends on something else for its existence; can cease to exist

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31
Q

necessary

A

Must exist, cannot not exist. Holds the reason for being within itself

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32
Q

Design qua purpose

A

Design ‘as relating to’ purpose

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33
Q

Design qua regularity

A

Design ‘ as relating to’ the regular cycles and and natural laws of the world

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34
Q

Evolution / natural selection

A

The process in nature where the organisms best adapted to their environment survive and pass on their genetic characteristics while those less adapted tend to be eliminated.

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35
Q

Epicurean hypothesis

A

Given infinite time, an infinite number of particles could produce order

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36
Q

Fallacy of composition

A

What is observed about the parts cannot be assumed to be the same for the whole

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37
Q

A priori

A

An argument based on reason alone (before sense expierence)

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38
Q

Ontological argument

A

An argument for the existence of god starting with reason

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39
Q

Principle of sufficient reason

A

The complete and full explanation (Leibniz)

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40
Q

Analytic

A

A statement that contains the truth needed to verify it within the statement itself

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41
Q

Synthetic

A

A statement which needs external evidence to verify if it’s true/false

42
Q

Logical Fallacy

A

An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid

43
Q

Predicate

A

A quality or property of an object / subject in a sentence

44
Q

Conversion experience

A

A change of heart and turning around of one’s priorities, following a new direction in life

45
Q

Corporate religious experience

A

A religious experience shared with any people

46
Q

Numinous experience

A

(Otto) - the experience of the ‘wholly other’

47
Q

William James’ definiton

A

‘the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may call the divine’

48
Q

Principle of credulity

A

Things are as they seem to be unless we have evidence to the contrary

49
Q

Principle of testimony

A

We should assume people are telling the truth, unless we have good reason to believe otherwise

50
Q

Passive

A

Not in control of the experience; feeling of being taken over by a more powerful being.

51
Q

Noetic

A

Provided new knowledge or insight

52
Q

Ineffable

A

Cannot be described / difficult to put into words

53
Q

Transient

A

Experience does not last long but its significance is out of proportion with its duration

54
Q

Pragmatism

A

(James) the effects of an experience are most important and show it holds value for the individual

55
Q

Pluralism

A

One of James’ conclusions - all religions are valuable and hold truth

56
Q

Volitional conversion

A

(Starbuck) gradual change and slow development of new moral and spiritual habits

57
Q

Mystical experience

A

An experience of something beyond normal awareness

58
Q

Self-surrender conversion

A

(Starbuck) a sudden, pivotal or crisis experience followed by a change of life

59
Q

Privation

A

A lack of essential characteristic or property e.g Blindness is a lack of sight

60
Q

Theodicy

A

The justification of God in the face of evil and suffering

61
Q

Inconsistent triad

A

God cannot be omnipotent and omnibenevolent or evil would not exist

62
Q

Epistemic Distance

A

The knowledge of God’s existence is not obvious to humans in order to allow free will

63
Q

Eschatology

A

The end times or last days of the Universe; often a reference to the after life

64
Q

Soul-making

A

Hick’s phrase referring to growing from the image into the likeness of God

65
Q

Soul-deciding

A

Often used of Augustine’s theodicy - the individual decides where their soul will go depending on their response to Jesus.

66
Q

Moral evil

A

Evil and suffering caused by humans e.g war

67
Q

Natural evil

A

Evil and suffering caused by natural events e.g Tsunami

68
Q

Dysteleological evil

A

Evil and suffering that does not seem to have a purpose

69
Q

Logical problem of evil

A

How can God be all powerful and all loving yet let evil exist?

70
Q

Evidential problem of evil

A

The sheer amount of evil in the world

71
Q

Paradox

A

A situation where two contradictory statements both appear true

72
Q

Eternal - timeless

A

God is outside of time and sees all events as an eternal present

73
Q

Eternal - everlasting

A

God is within time and moving through time; ‘ backwardly… and forwardly eternal’ (Swinburne)

74
Q

Process theology

A

God moves through time with his creation and is affected by this interaction; God is powerful but not omnipotent

75
Q

Middle knowledge

A

God knows all the possibilities of your free choices

76
Q

Schleiermacher and Omniscience

A

God’s knowledge is like that of close friends - can predict our future choices but free will is retained

77
Q

Eternal - Boethius

A

‘Eternity is the simultaneous possession of boundless life which is made clearer by comparison with temporal things’

78
Q

Simple necessity

A

The necessity of nature acting according to the natural, physical laws of the universe.

79
Q

Conditional necessity

A

Dependent on the free choices made; ‘the addition of the condition’

80
Q

Euthyphro dilemma

A

Is an action good because god commands it or does god command what is good?

81
Q

Following necessity

A

The moment of free choice is known in God’s eternal present; God is with us as that moment is in god

82
Q

Preceding necessity

A

Refers to no free agent of choice; e.g God’s knowledge of laws and nature

83
Q

Anslem’s four-dimensionalism

A

All times and places are equally real and present to god

84
Q

Presentism

A

Only the present exists, the past and future do not exist.

85
Q

Univocal

A

The word has exactly the same meaning at all times e.g ‘boy’

86
Q

Equivocal

A

The same word is used with two completely different meaning e.g ‘cricket’ (a game or an insect’

87
Q

Cataphatic way

A

Uses positive language to describe the qualities and nature of god

88
Q

Apophatic way

A

The via negativa - the negative way - the only legitimate way to talk about god is to say what he is not

89
Q

Analogy of attribution

A

A way of talking about god through attributing characteristics of the created to the creator.

90
Q

Analogy of proportion

A

A way of talking about god by comparing limited human concepts with a proportionally much greater idea.

91
Q

Sign

A

Points to something outside itself

92
Q

Symbol

A

Participates in that to which it point and conveys a depth of meaning often at an emotional level

93
Q

Cognitive

A

A statement that is subject to being true or false

94
Q

Non-cognitive

A

A statement that is not subject to truth or falsity

95
Q

Tautology

A

A logical statement true by defintion

96
Q

(Strong) verification principle

A

A statement that is only meaningful if it can be verified by an actual experience or is a tautology

97
Q

(Weak) verification principle

A

A statement is meaningful if it is a tautology or it can be verified in principle

98
Q

Eschatological Verification

A

(Hick) Religious statements will be verified at the end of life’s journey

99
Q

Synthetic Statement

A

A statement that needs external evidence for it to be proved true or false

100
Q

Falsification principle

A

A principle for assessing whether statements are genuine scientific assertions by considering whether evidence could disprove them

101
Q

Blik

A

(Hare) a world view that can be sane or insane; beyond judgement and reason

102
Q

Language gamnes

A

(Wittgenstein) - Words only have a specific meaning within the context of their own ‘form of life’.

A level RS (4 decks)

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