main arguments

Question 1

arguments in favour of Plato’s forms

Answer 1

1. explains the puzzle of change
2. the ideal standard
3. the one over many argument

Question 2

arguments against Plato’s forms

Answer 2

1. no empirical evidence
2. process and change doesn’t need a solution
3. lack of clarity to the forms

Question 3

arguments in favour of the four causes

Answer 3

1. most objects seem to conform to the idea
2. they tell us whether something is doing its job correctly or not

Question 4

arguments against the four causes

Answer 4

1. a weak form of empiricism
2. relies on the idea of telos
3. seems to oversimplify the world

Question 5

arguments for Aristotle’s Prime Mover

Answer 5

a better solution to a christian God?

Question 6

arguments against Aristotle’s prime mover

Answer 6

1. does not seem to be empirical
2. a generally unappealing idea
3. we can reject the idea of a telos

Question 7

arguments for the teleological argument

Answer 7

1. the unlikelihood of chance
2. the importance of faith

Question 8

arguments against the teleological argument

Answer 8

1. we can reject the idea of telos
2. the challenge of evolution
3. evidence of design does not equal a christian god

Question 9

arguments for the cosmological argument

Answer 9

1. the importance of faith
2. modern science suggests there is a definite beggining to the universe

Question 10

arguments against the cosmological argument

Answer 10

1. evidence of a designer does not mean we can jump to a christian god
2. must everything have a cause
3. the concept of a necessary existence

Question 11

arguments for the ontological argument

Answer 11

1. Anselm’s argument
2. Anselm’s reply to Guanilo
3. modern variations

Question 12

arguments against the ontological argument

Answer 12

1. Kant’s criticisms
2. Guanilo’s criticisms
3. more modern criticisms along the same line

Question 13

arguments that religious experience can act as the basis for belief

Answer 13

1. mystical and nouminous experiences
2. conversion experiences

Question 14

religious experiences cannot be used as the basis of belief

Answer 14

1. conversion experiences do not provide proof
2. too big a leap from positive effects to a christian god
3. physiological or psychological explanations

Question 15

corporate religious experience is convincing

Answer 15

1. more people to back it up
2. better a group than an individual ‘favourite’

Question 16

corporate religious experiences are not convincing

Answer 16

1. trivial acts
2. individual experiences tend to have more lasting and profound effects

Question 17

is personal testimony enough for religious experience

Answer 17

1. people should be believed
2. but rather the effects should be studied
3. they may still have scientific explanations

Question 18

arguments for Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 18

preserves the omnibenevolent nature of God

Question 19

arguments against Augustine’s theodicy

Answer 19

1. not really a theodicy
2. doesn’t fit with God’s nature
3. the issue of religious language

Question 20

arguments for Hick’s theodicy

Answer 20

1. overcomes many of the weaknesses of Augustine’s argument
2. evil is a tool of God
3. in line with modern interpretations of Genesis
4. universal salvation
5. gives a purpose to natural evil

Question 21

arguments against Hick’s theodicy

Answer 21

1. evil may have a purpose but why is it so extreme
2. issues with universal salvation
3. issue of religious language

Question 22

overview of the evidential problem of evil

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

overview of the logical problem of evil

Answer 23

• 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

Question 24

the three approaches to God’s omnipotence

Answer 24

1. he can do the logically impossible
2. he can’t do the logically impossible
3. he technically can but he has self-imposed limitations

Question 25

two views on God’s omniscience

Answer 25

atemporal
sempiternal

Question 26

issues with God’s omnibenevolence

Answer 26

omniscience and omnipotence: if God knows about future evil and can stop it then why doesn’t he

Question 27

arguments for the apophatic way

Answer 27

avoids anthropomorphic talk of God

Question 28

arguments against the apophatic way

Answer 28

1. does it provide any meaningful discussion of God
2. undermines the importance of evangelism

Question 29

arguments for the cataphatic way

Answer 29

1. resolves issues of the apophatic way
2. method of analogy is not dissimilar to scripture

Question 30

arguments against the cataphatic way

Answer 30

everyone interprets analogies differently

Question 31

arguments for symbols

Answer 31

preserves the transcendency and mystery of God

Question 32

arguments against symbols

Answer 32

1. everyone interprets symbols differently
2. the fact our idea of symbols changes over time might mean our idea of God does as well

Question 33

strengths and weaknesses of Plato’s view on the soul

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Descartes’ thought on dualism

Answer 34

• 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

Question 35

materialists arguments

Answer 35

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

Question 36

property dualists

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Aristotle and Aquinas’ view on the soul

Answer 37

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