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Philosophy > Test 2 > Flashcards

Test 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Essential: What is an argument?

A

A sequence of statements, some of which give reason to accept another statement, called a conclusion

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2
Q

What does the question of validity ask?

A

Whether or not we have reason to accept a conclusion

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3
Q

How to you prove if something is valid?

A

Begin with a condition; if the premises are true, the conclusion must be also

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4
Q

What is modus ponens?

A

A -> B, if A then B

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5
Q

Essential: What is soundness?

A

A valid argument with true premises (a valid argument can be wrong, needs true premises for confirmation)

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6
Q

What is an example of a modus ponens (deductive argument)?

A

All sharks are fish, all fish swim, therefore all sharks swim

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7
Q

Essential: What is the basic idea of the ontological proof for the existence of God?

A

It is a priori (prior to experience); we understand God to be a perfect being, meaning that he exists in our mind, and because he is in the mind as a conceivable being, he must exist

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8
Q

What is the breakdown of the Ontological Argument for the existence of God?

A
  1. God is the greatest conceivable being
  2. Either the greatest conceivable being exists in understanding only or in reality
  3. If the greatest conceivable being exists in understanding only, then it is not the greatest conceivable being.
    Conclusion: God exists in reality, also.
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9
Q

What is the breakdown of the Ontological Argument for the existence of God?

A
  1. God is the greatest conceivable being
  2. Either the greatest conceivable being exists in understanding only or in reality
  3. If the greatest conceivable being exists in understanding only, then it is not the greatest conceivable being.
    Conclusion: God exists in reality, also.
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10
Q

What is the main counter to the Ontological Argument and who made it?

A

Gaunilio- talks about a Perfect Island using same logical formula; Anselm responds saying that his refutation is invalid for something finite like an island, not infinite like God

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11
Q

Essential: Who came up with the Cosmological Proof for God’s Existence and how did he frame it?

A

Anselm; broke it into Five Ways

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12
Q

Essential: What is the breakdown of the Cosmological Proof?

A
  1. Various things are moved, whatever is moved has to have been moved by something else, no infinite cause/effect chains, something must have caused the first movement (God)
  2. Natural world has events, all events have causes, causes precede effects, There must have been a first cause outside of nature (God)
  3. Contingent things now exist, all things will fail to exist, there would be a time when nothing exists, if the world were empty, it would be in the past, it would be empty forever, if everything were contingent, nothing would exist, the world is not empty, so there exists a being that is not contingent (God)
  4. Objects have more or less properties, if something has less of something then something must have more of it, so there is an entity that has all properties to the maximum degree
  5. All objects either have a mind or do not, all that act for an end but don’t have mind must have been designed by being with mind, so a being must have designed all mindless objects (God)
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13
Q

What two people came up with the Classic Rational Proofs? What were they?

A

St. Thomas and St. Anselm; using axioms that they believed to be self-evident, they deduced the existence of God

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14
Q

Why didn’t Descartes use the Classic Rational Proofs?

A

The argument was cosmological which relies on the existence of the world; Descartes only knew that he himself existed, and all of St. Thomas’ theories traced the existence of the world back to God

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15
Q

Essential: To Descartes, what are the three main features of ideas?

A

Where they come from, what kind of reality they have, and what they refer to

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16
Q

Essential: How does Descartes differentiate ideas?

A

By where they came from:
Innate- come from the nature of human reason itself and are natural to all human beings
Factitious- from human imaginative intention
Adventitious- caused by things outside of us in the world

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17
Q

How does Descartes differentiate the types of reality that ideas have?

A

Ideas exist in our mind in two types of reality:
Actual- ?
Formal- ?

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18
Q

What is objective reality?

A

The idea that ideas are of something; the idea of an oak tree is of an oak tree, not of a desk or a lamp or something other than an oak tree

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19
Q

Essential: How does Descartes explain the existence of God as different from other factitious ideas?

A

What makes it possible for us to have this idea can only be God Himself, whose existence causes us to have it

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20
Q

What are Descartes’ Ideas and Causes?

A

There must be as much reality in cause as there is in effect; something cannot proceed from nothing; what is more perfect cannot proceed from the less perfect; nothing could cause my idea of God as a perfect substance that is not as perfect as the idea; therefore, God must have caused the idea

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21
Q

What kind of idea does Decartes say God is?

A

Innate

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22
Q

How did Epicurus refute the existence of God?

A

By posing the problem of evil:
(1) God is omniscient, so he would know how to prevent evil.
(2) God is omnipotent, so he would have the power to prevent evil.
(3) God is omnibenevolent, so out of his love he would be willing to prevent evil.
Conclusion: Evil doesn’t exist. (obviously sarcastic)

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23
Q

How does Hume refute the existence of God through evil?

A

If evil in the world is the intention of the Deity, then He is not benevolent.
If evil in the world is contrary to His intention, then He is not omnipotent.
But evil is either in accordance with His intention or contrary to it.
Therefore, either the Diety is not benevolent, or he is not omnipotent.

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24
Q

What is theodicy?

A

A defense of the justice or goodness of God in the face of doubts or objections arising from the phenomenon of evil in the world

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25
Q

How does Leibniz maintain God’s omnibenevolence in the face of evil?

A

Evils are logically necessary for greater goods, so even an omnipotent being would find them necessary; he also adds that this world must be the best possible

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26
Q

Essential: What are Leibniz’s 3 kinds of evil?

A

Metaphysical- mere imperfection in being; needed for created universe
Physical- means to an end; prevent greater evils to obtain greater good; no pain, no gain
Moral- evil that stems from free will; if we are not to be puppets, then we should be able to act badly

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27
Q

What is the teleological argument?

A

Essentially that the universe biologically resembles human artifacts (also called analogical argument):
1. Artifacts come from intelligence 2. Universe resembles the artifacts 3. Universe is probably from intelligent design 4. Universe is significantly larger than human artifacts 5. There probably is a powerful and vastly intelligent designer

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28
Q

What is the premise of Pascal’s Wager?

A

A rational action towards faith; if we act in faith or we don’t as if making a bet; if God exists, then we have infinite gain, but if he doesn’t, then we lose nothing

29
Q

Essential: How did Hume attack the spiritual component of theism?

A

He finds miracles to be too improbable to believe; no testimony is sufficient unless the testimony’s falsehood would be more miraculous than that which it endeavors to establish; simply viewing miracles as a violation of law is incoherent, attacking human’s gullibility

30
Q

What is fideism?

A

The doctrine that religious faith is founded on faith, which is superior to reason

31
Q

What is the teleological argument?

A

Essentially that the universe biologically resembles human artifacts (also called analogical argument):
1. Artifacts come from intelligence 2. Universe resembles the artifacts 3. Universe is probably from intelligent design 4. Universe is significantly larger than human artifacts 5. There probably is a powerful and vastly intelligent designer

32
Q

Essential: How did Hume criticize the teleological argument?

A

Without saying that he disagrees, Hume criticizes by pointing out that the analogies are too weak; he believes that like effects have like causes, but the theory compares finite biological structures to the infinite universe, which he finds impossible to do

33
Q

Essential: How did Hume attack the spiritual component of theism?

A

He finds miracles to be too improbable to believe; no testimony is sufficient unless the testimony’s falsehood would be more miraculous than that which it endeavors to establish; simply viewing miracles as a violation of law is incoherent, attacking human’s gullibility

34
Q

What is fideism?

A

The doctrine that religious faith is founded on faith, which is superior to reason

35
Q

Who is the father of modern existentialism?

A

Zoran Kierkegaard

36
Q

What did Kierkegaard believe was required to convert to Christianity?

A

A leap of faith; utmost act of will, extreme passion, to believe what otherwise can;t be believed; though confession was necessary

37
Q

Essential: What is the fideist maxim?

A

I believe because it is absurd; impossibility is the divine agency; Christianity is inwardness (inner form or quality)

38
Q

Did Kierkegaard support the crowd or the individual?

A

Individual; Kierkegaard believed that the crowd renders the individual useless and with Christianity being inward, it doesn’t make sense to follow it in a massive group

39
Q

Essential: What did Kierkegaard describe the relationship between an individual and God as?

A

Subjective; attempting to connect with God objectively is just approximation; religion is connecting oneself to God

40
Q

How does Kierkegaard respond to the emergence of Jesus as the son of God?

A

He deemed it a paradox, since the infinite God revealed himself in a finite form; God is eternal and doesn’t “exist:; humans and God interact through faith

41
Q

Who did William James primarily refute?

A

David Hume

42
Q

What is epistemology?

A

The study of, the theory of) theory of knowledge, the study of (a) the origins, (b)the presuppositions, (c) the nature, (d) the extent, and (e) the veracity (truth, reliability) of knowledge

43
Q

Essential: What is the difference between the rationalist and empiricist theory of knowledge?

A

Rationalist- a priori (reason)

Empiricist- a posteriori (sense experience)

44
Q

Can someone learn from only asking questions?

A

Yes; Plato proved in his dialogues

45
Q

How does Plato explain a priori knowledge?

A

the soul acquired knowledge of the Forms before it entered the body, and when we learn we are really recollecting what we once knew and forgot

46
Q

How does Plato explain a priori knowledge?

A

the soul acquired knowledge of the Forms before it entered the body, and when we learn we are really recollecting what we once knew and forgot

47
Q

Essential: What is the difference between knowledge and opinion?

A

Opinion is a looser form that must be “fastened down” to become knowledge; one with knowledge can back up opinion

48
Q

Essential: What is the difference between knowledge and opinion?

A

Opinion is a looser form that must be “fastened down” to become knowledge; one with knowledge can back up opinion

49
Q

Essential: How is the method of mathematics broken down?

A

Intuition-our understanding of self-evident principles, where no rational mind can doubt (2+2=4)
Deduction- orderly logical reasoning, inferences

50
Q

Why is there a flaw in sensory experience to Plato?

A

It can only capture objects that change, therefore not giving true knowledge

51
Q

What is the basis of Descartes’ Theory of Knowledge?

A

Reason is universal in humans and the most important element of knowledge; only reason can determine what is morally right

52
Q

What is the basis of Descartes’ Theory of Knowledge?

A

Reason is universal in humans and the most important element of knowledge; only reason can determine what is morally right

53
Q

Essential: How did Descartes suggest that philosophy could reach certainty?

A

Mathematics, because only mathematicians have reached certainty

54
Q

Essential: How is the method of mathematics broken down?

A

Intuition-our understanding of self-evident principles, where no rational mind can doubt (2+2=4)
Deduction- orderly logical reasoning, inferences

55
Q

What were the three requirements for Descartes’ axiom?

A
  1. Impossible to doubt/self-evident
  2. Certainty must be ultimate and independent
  3. About something which exists
56
Q

What were the three requirements for Descartes’ axiom?

A
  1. Impossible to doubt/self-evident
  2. Certainty must be ultimate and independent
  3. About something which exists
57
Q

Essential: What did Descartes do to reach his theory?

A

He went into methodical doubt and skepticism, using doubt as a vehicle to reach truth

58
Q

Essential: What was Descartes theory after the meditations?

A

Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am)

59
Q

Essential: To Hume, is there a place for philosophy?

A

Yes, so long as we limit our inquiries to things capable of human understanding

60
Q

What ideas did Locke reject?

A

The idea of a priori knowledge, particularly regarding God (he believed in Him, but did not think He was a priori)

61
Q

Essential: What did Locke compare the mind to?

A

A tabula rosa (blank slate) that develops from experience alone

62
Q

How did Leibniz defend innate ideas?

A

Yes, sensory ideas exist, but they only elicit what is already present; you just have to wait until a rational age to comprehend what is present (ideas are not like notices on a board)

63
Q

What does Leibniz compare the mind to?

A

A block of patterned marble (the ideas are already there, they just need to be brought out)

64
Q

What does Hume believe regarding existence?

A

Certainty and truth do not exist. only degrees of possibility exist

65
Q

Essential: To Hume, is there a place for philosophy?

A

Yes, so long as we limit our inquiries to things capable of human understanding

66
Q

Essential: What is William James’ thesis?

A

We must make a passionate decision between two possibilities that cannot be decided intellectually; we must fully commit and cannot be passive

67
Q

Essential: When should we let our heart and not our mind decide?

A
  1. Matter can’t be decided intellectually

2. Choice between them is living, forced, and momentous

68
Q

Essential: What does it mean to be living, forced, and momentous?

A

Living- appears as real possibility (like me becoming a business major as opposed to going into law enforcement)
Forced- exclusive disjunction (must be unavoidable, like do you drink Coke or not rather than Coke or Pepsi)
Momentous- Will drastically affect rest of life; irrevocable

69
Q

Essential: What is William James’ thesis?

A

We must make a passionate decision between two possibilities that cannot be decided intellectually; we must fully commit and cannot be passive

Philosophy (4 decks)

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