Midterm exam section A Flashcards
Anachronism meaning
Something that is out of its proper time period, often used in literature or history. Like a painting with a picture of a cell phone that was created before the phone had been created.
Anthropomorphism
Attributing human characteristics, form or behaviors to non-human entities, such as animals or deities. “anthro” human “morphism” form, God with a beard (anthropomorphic conception of God)
Apophatic/Negative Theology
A theological approach that describes God by negation, focusing on what cannot be said about the divine rather than what can. Denying features of God, infinite in the sense that space is infinite. Not negating the opposite. “Nothing greater can be thought”
Caritas/Cupiditas
Caritas refers to selfless love or charity (“caritas” charity, love of God, outward directed kind of love), while cupiditas refers to selfish desire or greed (love for material things, comes out of Augustine), often contrasted in Christian ethics.
Great Chain of Being
A hierarchical structure of all matter and life, where each being has its place. Ranking things in terms of greater and worst. Hierarchy means holly origin/order, God at the top, matter (may be nothing) at the bottom, humans at the middle (1 foot in material world, 1 in spirituality due to the soul), angels between humans and God.
Christian Universalism
The belief that all humans will ultimately be saved by God’s grace, regardless of their beliefs or actions in life. Even though some of us are supposed to be saved and some of us are damned, what happens to the damned? They go to hell/annihilated/tortured.
City of God
A concept from Augustine of Hippo, contrasting the earthly city with the heavenly city; also a title of his work. All beings whose wills are directed towards God.
Cognitive Theme/Countertheme
Cognitive themes are central ideas or concepts in a text or discussion; counterthemes challenge or oppose those ideas. “cognitive theme”: linear picture of time.
“countertheme”: circular picture of time.
Compatibilism
The belief that free will and determinism are compatible and can coexist without contradiction. Everything necessarily happens in that way, but nevertheless people are free, changing their conception of what freedom is. It is a free action if it runs through your brain (internal motivation). Being pushed is not caused by internal motivation, so it is not considered free.
Contemptus mundi
A Latin phrase meaning “contempt for the world”, often referring to a spiritual attitude that values the eternal over the temporal. What really counts is the after life. Monks reject/hate the world. You need to turn away from the physical pleasures of the world. It is worthless since you are going to hell or paradise for the rest of eternity.
Credo quia absurdum
A Latin phrase meaning “I believe because it is absurd”, associated with the idea that faith may transcend rationality. Thought by Tertullion, in the end you are supposed to believe not on the basis of what you think about, but on the basis of faith, understanding between faith and reason. Us: I should have beliefs that I find reasonable, I just adopt beliefs if there is reason. He said if you can show me that what I believe is totally crazy, one more reason to believe it, I believe that God exists because it is absurd. Answer: Endorsing the idea that faith can be accepted even when it is irrational.
Demiurge
In Gnostic thought, a creator deity responsible for the material world, often seen as flawed or malevolent. Creator God kind of character, shaping matter into your form, looking in the perfect ideal in the perfect form, forming people on the basis of an intelligible form.
Determinism
The philosophical view that all events, including human actions, are determined by previously existing causes. Causal determinism: things that happened necessarily happened that way, whatever happens has to happen.
Divine Foreknowledge
The doctrine that God knows everything that will happen in the future, including human choices. How we could imagine human free will compatible with that.
Divine Simplicity
The theological belief that God is without parts or composition and is wholly unified in essence. God is one, and simple, he doesn’t have distinct characteristics, we will try (good ultimately good…, omniscient, omnipotent) these are our attempts to try and describe him. God is good, power… they are mysteriously the same thing in God, they seem to us as distinct.
Donatism
A Christian sect that emphasized the purity of the church and its leaders, asserting that the validity of sacraments depended on the moral character of the minister. It is the view that something is the body of Christ (bread, wine) and the substance of bread is replaced by christ. Can only happen if the priest is holy and good. View that you have to be morally proud to deliver the sacraments.
Ego sum qui sum
A Latin phrase meaning “I Am who I Am”, referring to God’s self-identification in the Bible to Moses. Tell them that existence himself sent you.
Epistemology
The study of knowledge, its nature, sources, limitations, and validity. The theory of knowledge. Justification, truth…
Equivocation
A fallacy resulting from using a word in two different senses in an argument, leading to misleading conclusions. When you treat the same word in your argument as it has two meanings. Will for example: capacity to choose, the voice itself, the event and the power. In this way it affects the quality of an argument.
Essence
The intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something that determines its character. (God is essence in Eurigena) As meaning something like a thing’s nature or what it is. We are rational animals, this is our essence. This is our deep nature, our other characteristics are ???.
Eternal/Everlasting
Eternal refers to existing outside of time; everlasting refers to lasting through all time. (God is everlasting in Eurigena) Timeless (lasting for a very long time) : everlasting,
Ethnocentrism
The belief in the superiority of one’s own culture or ethnic group, often accompanied by a disdain for other cultures. Putting your own culture or ethnic group in the center of things, society’s values etc. “Ethnocentric” values your own traditions.
Etic v. Emic Analysis
→ Etic analysis: looks at cultural phenomena from an outsider’s perspective: coming to a culture with our own conceptual scheme.
→ Emic analysis: focuses on the insider’s viewpoint. Both attempt to understand the culture. Learn to see through their eyes before seeing as your culture would. You are going to distort the view of the person you are observing, but when using the practices and views of that person you understand more.
Evil as Privation
The philosophical view that evil is not a substance but rather a lack or absence of good. (Augustine) Denying that there are any substantial entities in the world that are intrinsically evil.
Ex nihilo nihil
A latin phrase meaning “nothing comes from nothing”, often used in discussions of creation and existence.
Fall of Man
The biblical account of humanity’s disobedience to God, resulting in the loss of innocence and the introduction of sin into the world. Disobedience to God (Adam and Eve).
Fideism
The view that faith is independent of reason and that religious beliefs are to be accepted on faith alone. Fides (trust, faith), the view that faith and reason are not the same thing, faith is prior and better than reason, and that reason is bad. Putting faith ahead of reason.
First Cause
The argument that everything must have a cause, leading to the conclusion that there must be an uncaused cause, often identified as God. Later event caused by the first event (throwing a pen on a door that leaves a mark), the primary cause is throwing a pen. God is the first cause.
Future Contingents
Statements about future events that could happen or not happen, often discussed in the context of divine foreknowledge. Future events that may or may not happen.
Gnosticism
A diverse set of beliefs in early Christianity emphasizing secret knowledge and often portraying the material world as evil. Gnos (knowledge), think that physical being you are is a kind of prison, the light trapped inside a darkness, and if you can identify with the light you are freed. An ancient religious philosophical view around the same time as Christianism, the idea that the body is trapped and that the material world is somewhat evil.
