Test 2 Flashcards
Summarize Aristotle’s theory of change, pointing out where he thought Parmenides had gone wrong and what he did to correct it.
Aristotle that change requires three principles: matter, form, and privation. The subject of any change must be a material object. A change occurs when the potential in the subject gets actualized, giving it a new property that it previously did not have. Aristotle thought that Parmenides was wrong about all being is fully actualized Being.
Summarize Aristotle’s moral philosophy
Aristotle’s theory is teleological. It begins by focusing on our end goal, and then considers how we can reach it. The ultimate goal is happiness from a fulfilling life. The virtues are habits that help us thrive as humans. Virtue is usually the mean between two extremes, excess and deficiency, relative to the individual.
Summarize the “problem of evil,” explain how the Manicheans avoided the problem, and briefly indicate the key to Augustine’s solution.
The problem with evil, is that if God exists then why does evil exist. The Manicheans that instead of one all powerful God there are just good and evil. Augustine utilized Plato’s belief that evil is a privation. As blindness is the privation of sight, evil is the absence of good. Thus, evil is not something created by God.
What group taugh Augustine dualism and believed in good and evil being the two sources of all things?
The Manicheans
What do the Skeptics believe?
The Skeptics believed that humans are not capable of achieving certainy in knowledge. So the wisest course was to hold judgement and make no claims.
What two reasons did Augustine give for why he rejected Skepticism?
We know that I exist and that the principle of contradiction exists.
Why did Augustin reject his faith?
The Problem of Evil
According to Augustine what is that view that has 2 tenets/ 2 elements? Name those 2 tenets.
The Great Chain of Being.
- DIfferent levels or degrees of being
- Being and goodness are together proportional
Explain evil is a privation.
Evil is not something real in a positive sense, rather, it is the privation or absences of goodness.
According to Augustine what is the root cause of moral or human evil?
It is the misuse of our free will.
What is evil?
A privation
Who is famous for the ontological argument?
Anselm
What is the short ontological argument?
The statement “God does not exist” is a self contradictory statement.
What is the heart of ontological argument?
God is perfect in every way. It is greater to exist than not to exist. The statement “God does not exist” is therefor a self contradictory statement. To think that something that is completely perfect that is not completely perfect because it doesn’t exist is a contradiction. Since self-contradictory statements are false, the statement “God does not exist” is false.
Who famously criticized Anslem’s argument?
Gaunilo
Explain one criticism of Anslem’s ontological argument?
Just because we can think of perfect things does not prove their existence.
Who was Aquinas famous teacher?
Albert the Great
What name do we give to this overlap between faith and reason?
Natural theology
Name one example of Natural Theology
The existence of god and ethics
Gaunilo was an atheist?
False