Midterm Flashcards
Monopoly Analogy (Absurdity)
the money means something relative to the game. But it means nothing outside of the game itself
Likewise, if there’s nothing outside of the material world, none of this (our action, our inaction, our words, our desires, our pursuits) matter.
Pascal’s Wager Chart
look at journal
Aesthetic Stage
live for pleasure (do whatever makes you happy)
unsatisfied
Moral Stage
performing morally good actions
cant live up to being moral
unsatisfied
Religious Stage
leap of faith to God + find ultimate meaning
satisfaction
Dostoevsky’s “anything goes” argument
- cultural relativism = chaos
- if life ends at the grave then what difference does it make living this life as a bad person vs a good one
- what would be wrong with living one’s life only out of self-interest because your destiny wouldn’t depend on it
Greg Gansale’s Absurdity Arg.
- story of atheism is less hospitable to the things they care about, than Christianity
- relationships
- the dissatisfaction with the world points to our need for another one
Clifford William’s needs/desires
- Cosmic security
- Goodness
- love
- Awe
- Meaning
Clifford William OBJ 1: Not everyone feels these existential needs
there’s a difference between feeling a need and having a need
Clifford William OBJ 2: Existential needs can be satisfied without faith
- it’s possible to be mistaken about what truly satisfies us
- other worldviews seem to fall short
Clifford William OBJ 2: Can’t our needs be satisfied by believing in something that doesn’t actually exist?
supplemental evidence will point to god
Leibnizian Contingency Syllogism
- Everything that exists must have an explanation for its existence
- If the universe has an explanation for its existence the explanation is God
- the universe exists
- therefore the explanation of the universe’s existence is God
Necessary Beings
- things that must exist
- other things depend them
- not caused by anything
- don’t need explanation
Contingent beings
- things that can reasonably not exist
- caused by other things
- Need an explanation
Kalam Argument Syllogism
- whatever begins to exist has a cause
- the universe began to exist
- therefore the universe has a cause
- the cause is either personal or impersonal
- the cause is personal
Kalam OBJ: Who caused God?
God didn’t begin to exist so he doesn’t need a cause
Necessary vs Contingent beings
Kalam OBJ: Universe = necessary
the universe can’t exist outside of time and space
Kalam OBJ: Universe caused itself
self-causation is impossible
a person can’t exist before its own exitence
Kalam OBJ: The cause is impersonal
impersonal entities have no causal power
what about fine-tuning + design
Teleological Arg. Syllogism
- the fine-tuning of the universe is due either to physical necessity, chance, or design
- it is not due to physical necessity or chance
- TF, it is probably due to design
Constants are…
Laws, values that if slightly altered would no longer permit life
Constants examples:
Gravity:
- too strong - everything collapses
- too loose - no matter develops
Expansion of the universe
tilt of the earth
Roger Penrose Number
1 in 10 ^10^123
The odds of the universe coming together in a way to support life
Teleological Arg OBJ: Fine-tuning doesn’t exist
most scientists disagree
more likely that a life-prohibiting universe would exist
there are precise parameters
Teleological Arg OBJ: Anthropic Objection (puddle arg.)
it says: we shouldn’t be surprised to see fine-tuning since we couldn’t exist in any other condition
- but this fails to address why the conditions are what they are
Teleological Arg OBJ: result of evolution
how did the parameters that allow evolution to happen get there in the first place?
Moral Arg. Syllogism
- if God doesn’t exist then objective moral values + duties don’t exist
- OMV + duties do exists
- TF, God exists
Objective morality
independent of your thoughts/feelings, Right/wrong for all people, all places, all times
Subjective morality
it depends on you, the culture, time
Moral Arg. OBJ: OMV don’t exist
no one actually lives in relativism
people seem to innately know right vs wrong
Moral Arg. OBJ: God isn’t Necessary for Morality
- this indicates that morality was created by man
- morality isn’t binding to anyone if created by man
- no duty to follow it
Moral Arg. OBJ: Euthyphro Dilemma
does God command good things bc they’re good?
OR
is everything good because God commands it?
This is a false dilemma - God commands from his character (which is good) everything is automatically good
Moral Arg. OBJ: Why is there moral variety
just because there are numerous answers doesn’t mean a right one doesn’t exist
Ontological Anselm syllogism
- there exists in a possible world, a maximally great being
- If a MGB exists in one possible world, a MGB exists in all possible worlds
- our world is a possible world
- TF, MGB exists in the actual world
Ontological OBJ: Gauhilo’s Island OBJ
A maximally great island possibly exists, TF a MGI must exist
- islands are relative
- God = maximally great seems objective
