main arguments Flashcards
arguments in favour of Plato’s forms
- explains the puzzle of change
- the ideal standard
- the one over many argument
arguments against Plato’s forms
- no empirical evidence
- process and change doesn’t need a solution
- lack of clarity to the forms
arguments in favour of the four causes
- most objects seem to conform to the idea
- they tell us whether something is doing its job correctly or not
arguments against the four causes
- a weak form of empiricism
- relies on the idea of telos
- seems to oversimplify the world
arguments for Aristotle’s Prime Mover
a better solution to a christian God?
arguments against Aristotle’s prime mover
- does not seem to be empirical
- a generally unappealing idea
- we can reject the idea of a telos
arguments for the teleological argument
- the unlikelihood of chance
- the importance of faith
arguments against the teleological argument
- we can reject the idea of telos
- the challenge of evolution
- evidence of design does not equal a christian god
arguments for the cosmological argument
- the importance of faith
- modern science suggests there is a definite beggining to the universe
arguments against the cosmological argument
- evidence of a designer does not mean we can jump to a christian god
- must everything have a cause
- the concept of a necessary existence
arguments for the ontological argument
- Anselm’s argument
- Anselm’s reply to Guanilo
- modern variations
arguments against the ontological argument
- Kant’s criticisms
- Guanilo’s criticisms
- more modern criticisms along the same line
arguments that religious experience can act as the basis for belief
- mystical and nouminous experiences
- conversion experiences
religious experiences cannot be used as the basis of belief
- conversion experiences do not provide proof
- too big a leap from positive effects to a christian god
- physiological or psychological explanations
corporate religious experience is convincing
- more people to back it up
- better a group than an individual ‘favourite’
corporate religious experiences are not convincing
- trivial acts
- individual experiences tend to have more lasting and profound effects
is personal testimony enough for religious experience
- people should be believed
- but rather the effects should be studied
- they may still have scientific explanations
arguments for Augustine’s theodicy
preserves the omnibenevolent nature of God
arguments against Augustine’s theodicy
- not really a theodicy
- doesn’t fit with God’s nature
- the issue of religious language
arguments for Hick’s theodicy
- overcomes many of the weaknesses of Augustine’s argument
- evil is a tool of God
- in line with modern interpretations of Genesis
- universal salvation
- gives a purpose to natural evil
arguments against Hick’s theodicy
- evil may have a purpose but why is it so extreme
- issues with universal salvation
- issue of religious language
overview of the evidential problem of evil
- William Rowe’s argument (Sue and Bambi)
- Stephen Fry
- open theists defence but Anselm’s objection
- Wykstra’s parent analogy
- Plantinga’s defence using free will and love
overview of the logical problem of evil
- Epicurus: is God willing… etc.
- JL Mackie triad
- Romans 11:34 (‘who has known the mind of the Lord?’)
- the two main theodicies
- Leibniz’s best of all possible worlds theodicy: despite the existence of seemingly gratuitous evil, our world is the best one God could have created because it leads to the greatest good
the three approaches to God’s omnipotence
- he can do the logically impossible
- he can’t do the logically impossible
- he technically can but he has self-imposed limitations
two views on God’s omniscience
atemporal
sempiternal
issues with God’s omnibenevolence
omniscience and omnipotence: if God knows about future evil and can stop it then why doesn’t he
arguments for the apophatic way
avoids anthropomorphic talk of God
arguments against the apophatic way
- does it provide any meaningful discussion of God
- undermines the importance of evangelism
arguments for the cataphatic way
- resolves issues of the apophatic way
- method of analogy is not dissimilar to scripture
arguments against the cataphatic way
everyone interprets analogies differently
arguments for symbols
preserves the transcendency and mystery of God
arguments against symbols
- everyone interprets symbols differently
- the fact our idea of symbols changes over time might mean our idea of God does as well
strengths and weaknesses of Plato’s view on the soul
Strengths
- innate knowledge: the story of the uneducated slave boy suggests we have knowledge from our past lives
- the linguistic argument: ‘i am happy’ vs ‘i have a body’ - suggests we are not our bodies
Weaknesses
- you also say ‘I have a headache’…
- Wittgenstein said language has gone on holiday
- all criticisms of materialists
Descartes’ thought on dualism
- med 1 (doubt all things) med 2 (cogito ergo sum)
- Leibniz’s law, mind and body can’t be the same
- the soul exists in the pineal gland
materialists arguments
Gilbert Ryle
- belief in the soul was making a category error: when something is talked about in completely the wrong way and belongs to a different category entirely
- called substance dualism ‘the dogma of the ghost in the machine’, the idea that it is impossible for a non-physical soul to interact with a physical body or brain, a ghost cannot operate a machine
Dawkins
- the soul is a mythological invention to explain the mystery of consciousness
- modern science will one day explain it (soul 1 v soul 2)
Daniel Dennett
- the mind is a computational system, a more mechanistic understanding
neuroscience
- states of consciousness are affected by brain chemistry like depression, one day we will be able to explain everything
property dualists
Susan Blackmore
- rejects the idea the conscious is non-physical but accepts it is ‘the last great mystery in science’
Frank Jackson
- having a thought or experiencing pain cannot be reduced to a specific location in the brain even though they are caused by the brain
John Searle
- mental states caused by the brain’s physical processes but are not reducible to them
Aristotle and Aquinas’ view on the soul
Aristotle
- the soul is a property that is possessed by the body but is not additional to it (football)
Aquinas
- Integrated Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology, emphasising the unity of the soul and body and advocating for the soul’s immortality
