Philosophy - Concepts

Question 1

Problem of Evil - What goes under the logical problem?

Answer 1

• Inconsistent trait (J.L mackie)
• Epicurus
• Cruelty in nature (J.S.M)
• (Doetovsoky) brothers kalamazov

Question 2

What is the logical problem of evil

Answer 2

The idea that the concept of evil would not be permitted by an all-loving, all-powerful and supreme good God.

Question 3

Moral evil:

Answer 3

Torture, theft, poverty, pollution - the problems coming from humans and not nature

Question 4

The logical problem of evil poses the greatest challenge to religion

Answer 4

• Logical evil - J.L Mackie and the inconsistent Triad, God would not let evil exist, yet it does - so he cannot be the 4 omni qualities.
• Logical problem poses a great challenge as it is coherent and universal.
• Suggests very powerfully that God either lacks love or power - and he is more like the prime mover than the traditional understanding.

Question 5

The evidential problem of evil poses the greatest challenge to monotheism.

Answer 5

Dostoevsky, brothers Karamazov - the story of the boy in the field / turkish warcrimes. God would not look on and refuse to act.

• Life is cruel for most people, and suffering challenges the creation of life by God
• John Stuart Mill - God can exist, but he cannot be all-powerful - he is limited but loving.
• Immanuel Kant argues that is is possible that God exists despite it appearing illogical, if he gives out just reward and punishment post mortem.
• Logical problem only exists if you use the evidential, therefore cannot be more challenging.

Question 6

Teleological - Aquinas’ Fifth way

Answer 6

Archer and the arrow. An arrow cannot motion itself so must have been fired. Things move from potential to actuality, and thus the universe must have been caused.

Question 7

Teleological - Humes’ Critiques

Answer 7

• Possible council of inferior Gods
• Possible infant God
• The strength of the analogy is related to the proximity of the analagous
• Any being claimed to exist may or may not exist. Just because the universe may have come from somewhere, doesn’t mean we can say what created it.
• Origin of the universe surpasses cause and effect - supersedes human understanding.

Question 8

Teleological - Natural Religion

Answer 8

Natural religion refers to the natural world.

Question 9

Teleological - The challenge of chance

Answer 9

• Possibility that life came from evolution

- Chaos theory, where patterns occur from random chaos if given long enough.

Question 10

Teleological - Paley’s Watch Analogy

Answer 10

• The world operates like a machine with finely tuned gears that work too intricately to be coincidence.
• Hume counter of biology does not relate to mechanisms therefore cannot compare universe to world.
• Complexity cannot arise from simplicity due to the entropy of the universe.

Question 11

Teleological - Weaknesses of Teleological

Answer 11

Darwins Evolution
Hume + baby god
Cruelty of Nature
Problem of Evil
Inconsistent triad (J.L Mackie)

Question 12

Teleological - Strengths

Answer 12

Ockhams Razor
Watch analogy
Fifth way - inanimate objects propogate to object
Irreducible complexity
Biblical Support (Job)
Anthropic Principle (laws of universe are too finely tuned / just correct)
Goldilocks Enigma -> correct conditions
Entropy -> science proves that things go from high order to low order. Cannot go backwards.

Question 13

Plato - World of Forms

Answer 13

A metaphysical world that our souls originated from, and can only be returned to through proper philosophy. Contains perfect “ideas” that we all insinctually recognise in objects.

Question 14

Plato - Analogy of the Cave

Question 15

Plato - Strengths

Question 16

Plato - Weaknesses

Question 17

Aristotle - 4 causes

Question 18

Aristotle - Demiurge

Question 19

Aristotle - Prime Mover

Question 20

Aristotle - Strengths

Question 21

Aristotle - Weaknesses

Question 22

Teleological:

Answer 22

Argument from purpose. Aquinas’ Fifth way

Question 23

Cosmological:

Answer 23

Argument from design. Paley’s watch.

Question 24

Hume successfully dismantles the teleological argument. (Strengths)

Answer 24

• Epicurean hypothesis - events necessary to create the universe could happen by chance (infinite opportunities)
• possible multiple gods or infant deities
• contradictory design (desert / polar regions)
• could be trial and error creation (imperfections of disease / tsunamis)
• we have no experience of world-making. Cannot tell if it was designed or not.
• problem of evil could eradicate teleological.

Question 25

Hume Unsuccessfully dismantles the teleological argument

Answer 25

• Humes comparison of world to food than watch is over-simplified
• Arthur Brown / F.R Tenant - anthropic principle
• Similar properties across the world (gravity)
• Qualities of judeo-christian God align with creator God.
• plenty evidence to suggest existence of God
• Scientific explanations do not rule out God working through natural methods. (Keith Ward)

Question 26

Epicurean Hypothesis

Answer 26

• Whatever happened prior to the universe, if infinite could bring the conditions to create the current universe, simply by chance.

Question 27

Anthropic Principle:

Answer 27

• If the conditions of the world / physics were marginally different, then life would not be able to exist (example: gravity imploding / exploding planets.)

Question 28

The teleological argument is nothing more than a logical fallacy: Yes

Answer 28

• A priori reasoning cannot be trusted
• Noumenal is unknowable, Aquinas and Paley are prescribing qualities onto God which is an error.
• Hume demonstrates that even if the teleological has merit, there are a multitude of answers
• ## Hume is correct in stating that the comparisons drawn by Aquinas and Paley are poor ones.

Question 29

The teleological argument is nothing more than a logical fallacy: no

Answer 29

• Anthropic Principle and Goldilocks enigma demonstrate that the probability is increasingly low that life developed as it did
• Entropy and irreducable complexity would seem to completely contradict science’s basic tendencies.
• Mathematical probabilities for identical early mutations are too low to be realistic.
• Gaps in evolution demonstrate that there must be a designer or a long-term goal. We enjoy literature and art that have no survival basis.
• Judeo-Christian God can be reasoned with the existence of meritable arguments, even if not 100% confirmable.

Question 30

Cosmological argument - Aquinas’ third way

Question 31

Cosmological argument - Leibinies’ principle of sufficient reason

Question 32

Cosmological argument - Coppleston

Question 33

Cosmological Argument - Strengths

Answer 33

• Principle of sufficient reason, there needs to be a good cause for the universe (Leibiniz)
• Nothing cannot arise from nothing - there is no case of ex nihilo inside of the universe. Something must have caused the universe.
• There is a tendency for objects to propogate between potential and actuality.
• Premise supported by empirical evidence and Aristotle. Based on observation.
• Leibiniz - we always want a sufficient reason for the universes’ existence.

Question 34

Cosmological Argument - Weaknesses

Answer 34

• Nelson, if a series were literally infinite then there would be no reason for a first cause
• Post hoc post proc fallacy, where just because something is, that it was caused by something preceeding
• Inanimate or animate objects that travel towards potentiality do so as the result of scientific systems (e.g gravity for water) they are not sentient.
• Hume still applies here. Could be baby god or whatnot. We’re prescribing not describing.
• Strange for a necessary being to create contingent beings.

Question 35

Cosmological Argument - Aquinas’ second way

Question 36

Cosmological argument - Aquinas’ first way

Question 37

Problem of Evil - Moral Argument

Answer 37

Kant believes it’s possible for evil to be reconciled with God if he acts as judge after death.