theme 1 - challenges to inductive arguments Flashcards
What philosophical stance does Hume represent?
Hume is an empiricist
An empiricist relies on observation and experience as the primary sources of knowledge.
What does Hume accept as true?
Things are accepted as true when there is empirical evidence for it
Empirical evidence refers to information acquired by observation or experimentation
What aspect of the cosmological argument does Hume criticize?
He rejected the idea of a necessary being
The cosmological argument posits that everything must have a cause, leading to a necessary being
What is Hume’s argument regarding the nature of a necessary being?
Even if there was a necessary being, that doesn’t mean that being is God
Hume challenges the assumption that a necessary being must possess the attributes traditionally ascribed to God
What is Hume’s first criticism of the cosmological argument and Aquinas
Why should the first mover/cause be the God of classical theism?
Aquinas makes a huge leap from the need of a first mover to identifying it as God
What does Hume argue about the starting point of the cosmological argument?
The argument begins with something that is within our experience - the universe and reaches conclusions about things that are outside our experience - God.
What fallacy does Hume point out regarding the search for a cause?
The fallacy of composition
Hume questions the necessity of finding a cause for the whole chain if each item can be explained individually
What stance does Hume take on infinite regress?
Hume accepts infinite regress, something which Aquinas rejects
What is a key challenge to the Teleological Argument regarding the leap it makes?
The argument makes a leap from saying there is a designer to saying it is God
Why is the uniqueness of the universe a challenge to the Teleological Argument?
The universe is unique, thus we have no basis for inferring that there is anything like a human designer behind it.
What analogy is used to illustrate the imperfection of the Teleological Argument?
If we see a house, we conclude that it had an architect because we have experienced this.
What is stated about the universe in relation to the analogy of a house?
The universe is not like a house; we cannot with the same certainty infer a similar cause, the analogy is imperfect.
What question arises if there is a designer according to the challenges of the Teleological Argument?
What explanation do we have for the designer?
What might the order in the universe be the result of?
Chance
Why is there a question about the existence of only one God?
Could it be a team of Gods?
How does Paley’s argument compare the universe?
Compares it to a machine or artefact
What is the analogy used by Paley considered to be and why?
Unsound - humanity and nature is organic and dissimilar to a machine which is mechanical
What signs does the universe show in terms of ‘bad design’?
Signs of disorder or defects
What term is used to describe the universe’s flaws?
Bad design
What types of suffering are mentioned in relation to the universe?
Random suffering and natural disasters
alternative explanation to cosmological argument - the big bang theory and multiverse / string theory
- big bang: 13.7 billion years ago there was a singularity (explosion) which inflated, expanded and cooled to give us the universe we have today
- multiverse: the most recent scientific theory, there is more than one universe, universes begin and end but the multiverse is infinite
alternative explanation to teleological argument - evolution (darwin)
- darwin proposed the theory that random that random chance organises life in the universe according to the principles of evolution and natural selection
- natural selection works on a principle of survival of the fittest - the strongest survive and pass on their genes
