Metaphysics Flashcards
Can two objects exist in the same place at the same time?
One could say that if you hold a clay model, you are both holding a clay model and a lump of clay. This would indicate so. However, there is a Just Matter Theory.
What is Just Matter Theory?
It states that the only thing of significance is the material of an object, and its shape doesn’t matter. This means that a fork is just a lump of metal.
What is Cohabitation?
It states that two or more objects can exist in the same place at the same time, corresponding to material and shape.
Why are we the same person over time?
We have no major changes, we just gradually change as we mature. Therefore, there is a large amount of continuality.
Why aren’t we the same person over time?
When we compare two people, we just compare them at that instant point of time. What happens in between is irrelevant, and it is clear that we change over time.
What is Dualism?
It states that there are two universes, the physical and the mental and that these two interact together in humans. Therefore, one could not stimulate a brain, as the consciousness lies elsewhere.
What is Materialism?
It states that there is just a physical universe and that everything can be traced back to scientific interactions.
What is the idea of the soul?
The soul is the idea that you do not only exist in the physical universe, but you also exist in the mental universe. The soul is the part of you that doesn’t exist physically.
What are the Five characteristics of God?
Omniscient - All-knowing Omnipotent - All-powerful Omnibenevolent - All loving Omnitemporal - everywhere Omnipresent - all of the time
What problems do these characteristics present?
The main problem is the Omnipotent statement, as if God is all-powerful, they he could make all of the others not true if he wanted to. This would change the definition of God. Therefore, these descriptions present a paradox.
What are Aquinas’s three ways to prove God’s existence?
- Things are changed by other things changing. When something changes, it forces something else to change. There has to be something that changed something else, without changing itself.
- Events are caused to happen. But there must be some Event that wasn’t caused, if the world doesn’t go on forever.
- Everything has a non-permanent existence. This means that at one point, nothing existed. However, how does something exist now. There must be a permanent existence.
What are some arguments against the cosmological argument?
Why is this god the god of classical theism?
What if the world has gone on forever?
Why does it have to be god that did the first action?
What is the Teleological Argument?
It states that the universe is too perfect and regular to have appeared randomly, and that when we see something so regular, we normally assume that there is a designer, so why isn’t there a designer of the universe.
What is the Fine Tuning argument?
I states that if the chances of our universe being so perfect is so small, it must have been designed, for one does not assume that an incredibly rare event happened naturally, but rather that it was designed.
What is the Multiverse counter argument?
It states that there could be infinite universes, and that in each one, each possibility has been tried out. We are simply in the universe that has had the right possibility, but it is not extremely unlikely that one of the universes would have these conditions.
