Philosophy I Flashcards
Arguments, Attributes, Problem of Evil
Attributes
Numbers 23:19
God = immutable and eternal
God is not human that he should change his mind
Attributes
Isaiah 55:8
Can’t know God
For your thoughts are not my thoughts, neither are your ways my ways
Attributes
Richard Swinburne, The Coherence of Theism
God as eternal and sempiternal
A very lifeless thing
Attributes
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy
Free Will
God’s foreknowledge does not impose necessity on things
Attributes
Friedrich Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith
Omniscience
The one or the other’s freedom is thereby [not] endangered
Attributes
Anselm, Proslogion VII
Omnipotence
God can do nothing by virtue of impotence
Attributes
Anthony Kenny, The God of the Philosophers
Omnipotence
Posession of all logically possible powers which it is logically possible for a being with the attributes of God to possess
Attributes
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
Criticism of Cartesian Voluntarism
Whatever implies a contradiction cannot be a word
Attributes
David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Omnipotence and Problem of Evil
If God metes out infinite punishment for finite crimes, then God is omnivindictive
Attributes
Isaiah 38
Simpiternal God
[King Hezekiah about to die but prays to God, and God adds 15 years of life]
Attributes
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
God can do anything logically possible
Everything that does not imply a contradiction in terms
Attributes
Peter Vardy, The Puzzle of God
Criticism of Cartesian Voluntarism
This could not be a God worth worshipping
Attributes
Descartes, Letter to Antoine Arnauld
Cartesian Voluntarism
Only involve a contradiction in my conception
Attributes
Richard Swinburne, The Coherence of Theism
McEar
Absurd
Arguments - Ontological
Gaunilo, Pro Insipiente
Against Anselm
It must be said that the island exists
Arguments - Ontological
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason
2 Criticisms of Anselm, three quotes
[Reject] Subject and definitional alike
Existence is not a predicate
All existential statements are synthetic
Arguments - Teleological
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
Order and Purpose to the World - Qua Purpose
They achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly
Arguments - Teleological
William Paley, Natural Theology
Complexity = Care
We have no reason to fear our being forgotten
Arguments - Teleological
Isaac Newton, Principia
Design and God
[Creation] could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being
Arguments - Cosmological
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
1st Way
Nothing can be reduced from potentiality to actuality [except by something in a state of actuality]
Arguments - Cosmological
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica
2nd Way
A first efficient cause
Arguments - Cosmological
David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
World and God
Why may not several deities combine in contriving and framing the world
Arguments - Teleological
J. S. Mill, Three Essays on Religion
Natural Evil and Design - Qua Regularity
Not even on the most distorted theory of good [could the world look like the work of an omnibenevolent God]
Arguments - Cosmological
Bertrand Russell, Why I am not a Christian
Cosmological x3
Different Logical Spere
Brute Fact
I should just say that the universe is there and that is all
Arguments - Cosmological
Frederick Copleston
3rd Way
A reason external to themselves
Arguments - Cosmological
David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
3rd Way
The words… necessary existence have no meaning
If you can concieve it not existing
Problem of Evil
Friedrich Schleiermacher, The Christian Faith
Against Augustinian Theodicy
God would create flawlessly
Problem of Evil
Genesis 1:31
World was perfect
God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good
Problem of Evil
Augustine
Reason for Privatio Boni
I thought it better to believe you had created no evil [rather than] it came from you
Problem of Evil
Romans 3:8
Consequentialism and Soul Making
Do not do evil so that good may come
Problem of Evil
William Rowe, The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism
Evidential Problem
Such suffering suggests an absent God
Problem of Evil
John Hick, Evil and the God of Love
World with no evil or difficulty
Morally static
Problem of Evil
D.Z. Philips, The Problem of Evil and the Problem of Good
Criticisms of Irenaeus’ instrumentalism
Like rescuing a prostitue from degradation by telling her to charge higher fees
Problem of Evil
Augustine
Free Will
The evil of mankind has sprung from the free choice of the will
Problem of Evil
Augustine, Enchiridion
Privatio Boni
What is it that we call evil but the absence of good?
Attributes
CCC
Omnibenevolence and Anonymous Christianity
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel… may achieve eternal salvation
Attributes
Philippians 7:2
Kenosis
He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant
Problem of Evil
Irenaeus, Against Heresies
Irenaean Theodicy
Moral and spiritual growth comes through response to challenges
Problem of Evil
Richard Swinburne, The Coherence of Theism
Free Will Defence
The less God allows men to bring about large scale horrors, the less freedom and responsibility he gives them
Arguments - Teleological
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
World’s Purpose
No purpose in mind
Arguments - Teleological
William Paley, Natural Theology
Teleological Argument
There cannot be design without a designer
Arguments - Teleological
David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
Teleological Argument
The world is more like a cabbage than a machine
Arguments - Cosmological
Elizabeth Anscombe, Whatever has a beginning must have a cause: Hume’s argument exposed
Response to Hume’s charge of fallacy of composition
Without absurdity of contradiction
Attributes
Elonore Stump
Eternity and action
God cannot alter the past but he can alter the course of the battle of Waterloo
