The Concept of God

Question 1

define omniscience

Answer 1

God is all knowing

Question 2

define omnipotence

Answer 2

God is all powerful

Question 3

define eternal

Answer 3

lasting forever, God has no end or beginning

Question 4

define everlasting

Answer 4

God lasts forever within time, there is not a time where he is not present

Question 5

what is the issue in claiming that God is omniscient?

Answer 5

we have no free will (he knows your future, so you don’t have free will because your actions are necessary )

Question 6

what is the issue in claiming that God is omnipotent?

Answer 6

evil exists and the paradox of the stone

Question 7

what is the issue in claiming that God is eternal and everlasting?

Answer 7

impossible to be both as they contradict each other

Question 8

what is the issue in claiming that God is omnibenevolent?

Answer 8

Euthyphro dilemma and evil exists

Question 9

outline Anselm’s ontological argument

Answer 9

in the form of a prayer in the proslogian. you prove God exists from the definition of God. “God is greater than which no greater can be conceived”. because god is the greatest conceivable being he must exist in reality. Anselm’s discussion of the fool; when you think of God you are really saying God exists.

Question 10

what issues does Gaunilo raise about Anselm’s ontological argument?

Answer 10

he said just because you can conceive the greatest conceivable thought it doesn’t mean this thing now exists. e.g. the perfect island

Question 11

what is Anselm’s response to Gaunilo?

Answer 11

God is not comparable to an island as an island requires things to exist (contingent) and God doesn’t rely on anything (necessary)

Question 12

what is Descartes ontological argument?

Answer 12

subject and predicate. existence is a predicate of God (subject). God is a supremely perfect being. existence belongs to a supremely perfect being, so God exists.

Question 13

what issues does Kant raise about Descartes ontological argument?

Answer 13

existence isn’t a predicate as a predicate gives you more information about something e.g. the 100 thalers (gold, rusty coin)

Question 14

what is Leibniz’s ontological argument?

Answer 14

all of Gods perfections fit together like a diamond. when you add a characteristic nothing is taken away from the other characteristic

Question 15

what is Malcom’s ontological argument?

Answer 15

God is a limitless being with necessary existence. so Go is worthy of worshipping, if God wasn’t limitless he wouldn’t be worth worshipping but people do worship God so God must be limitless.

Question 16

what is Plantinga’s ontological argument?

Answer 16

if a maximally great being exists it has to exist in all possible worlds. the attributes of a maximally great being only belongs to God so God must exist.

Question 17

what is Hume’s fork?

Answer 17

a priori (analytical approach) and a posteriori (synthetic approach). things may be analytically true but it doesn’t mean they exist. synthetic truths do relate to the world and existence as we can test them.

Question 18

what is a synthetic truth?

Answer 18

we know something is true through our senses e.g. Katie is wearing a black top

Question 19

what is analytical truth?

Answer 19

looking at a relation between ideas e.g. all girls like pink, Katie is a girl, Katie likes pink

Question 20

how does Hume criticise the ontological arguments?

Answer 20

he states that they fail because they use an analytical approach to prove something synthetic.

Question 21

what is Paley’s design argument?

Answer 21

watchmaker; analogy of complex design. a watch has a complex design so must have a designer. the universe has a complex design so also must have a designer. the only being capable to design something like the universe is God.

Question 22

what is Aquinas’ design argument?

Answer 22

archer and the arrow. everything has a purpose and can only achieve their purpose by being directed by their purpose. the only being intelligent enough to direct is God.

Question 23

what is Swinburne’s deign argument?

Answer 23

from something small you can create greatness e.g. the world only have a small amount of elements that have created the universe. used Occam’s razor- the argument of design is more simply explained by God.

Question 24

how does Hume challenge the design argument?

Answer 24

1. epicurean hypothesis=if you have a finite amount of resources and an infinite amount of time, order will eventually result and there is no need for a designer.
2. you cannot assume a cause from an effect-can’t assume the designer of the world is God
3. Paley is wrong to compare a watch to the world as they are completely different

Question 25

how does Kant challenge the design argument?

Answer 25

he said it was flawed because it can’t tell us what or who the designer is.

Question 26

what is Aquinas’ cosmological argument? (three ways)

Answer 26

from the summa theologica. he believed there had to be a first cause. way 1. motion= (chain of movement)movement is caused by something. there must be a first mover which is God as God is the only one capable of not requiring movement to change. way 2.cause=something cannot cause itself. cannot be an infinite regress chain. God can be the only uncaused cause. way 3. contingency=our world is full of things that exist so something must of caused this that is out of time and not contingent/necessary. God.

Question 27

what is the Kalam cosmological argument?

Answer 27

the idea that everything has a beginning and because everything has a beginning it must have a cause. the universe is in time (we know this because its getting older) so it cant be infinite. because its not infinite it must have a starting point which would be God.

Question 28

how does Russell criticise Aquinas’ cosmological argument?

Answer 28

he argued we should just accept that the world exists and doesn’t have to have a cause

Question 29

how does Hume criticise Aquinas’ cosmological argument?

Answer 29

1. how do we know for sure that we operate around a chain of causation?
2. we were not there when God created the world so how do we know he created it?
3. the fallacy of composition-you cant jump from parts to an overall statement. Aquinas recognises cause in the universe but argues there is an overall cause which is a leap of logic.

Question 30

outline the logical problem of evil

Answer 30

God is omnipotent, omnibenevolent and omniscient but yet evil exists. all the statements together aren’t coherent. any 3 can be true but on has to be false to make sense

Question 31

outline the evidential problem of evil

Answer 31

there is so much evil and suffering in the world that it does not indicate the existence of God e.g. the parasitic wasp

Question 32

what is Plantinga’s response to the problem of evil?

Answer 32

the free will defence. natural evil is caused by our free will and moral evil. he states that free will is being able to refrain from morally significant actions. he assumes a world with free creatures is better than no free creatures and if free creatures were caused to only do right then they wouldn’t be free. God can only get rid of moral evil from free creatures by eliminating the greater good of free creatures.

Question 33

what problems arise in Plantinga’s response to the problem of evil?

Answer 33

assumes a world with free will is better than a world without. the value of free will depends on what you do with it. free will allows us moral responsibility.

Question 34

what is Hick’s response to the problem of evil?

Answer 34

He stated God had created us but not fully finished his work. God could of made us fully good with virtues already in our nature but they wouldn’t of been as rich if we didn’t develop them through evil and suffering. you cant properly develop forgiveness if nobody ever wrongs you.

Question 35

what are some issues with Hicks response to the problem of evil?

Answer 35

1. if humans souls need developing why do animals suffer e.g. the parasitic wasp
2. is so much evil necessary?
3. how do bad people become good if they have caused the bad? no punishment-not just
4. babies who have died before the chance to develop virtues?
5. why do good people suffer?