Unit 4 - Christianity Lecture

Question 1

Manicheism

Answer 1

Council of Nicea decided which books shd be in the bible

Manicheism was pervasive heresy, believed in powerful god and devil with cosmic struggle between them

Question 2

Mind-body problem

Answer 2

We are in 2 parts - body and soul

Why do we feel like our immaterial soul controls our material body?

Question 3

Material monism

Answer 3

Intuition is an illusion
Everything in universe is material
Most physiopsychologoists and scientists (eg. Hobbes)

Question 4

Phenomenological problem

Answer 4

Why is it like something to be me?

Counter-intuitive

Question 5

Interactionism

Answer 5

Descartes
2 parts with interface between them (pineal gland)
Or whole brain can be panel
Accounts for both sides of the problem

Question 6

Psychophysical paralellism

Answer 6

Leibniz
Mind/body do not influence each other
Rather, they are in parallel so perfectly that it feels like they are one but are not

Question 7

Dual-aspect monism

Answer 7

Spinoza
One substance but not physical
Hard to describe in our own language
Both physical and mental

Question 8

Spiritual monism

Answer 8

One substance that is spiritual

Matter is an illusion

Question 9

Freewill problem

Answer 9

God is good and powerful
So everything he creates is good
But why are there lots of things that are not good?
Outside of Aug, what do we mean by free will?

Question 10

Free will

Answer 10

Capacity to make decisions without God
People make bad decisions and create evil
But free will is only a problem if you believe in god

Question 11

Are people free agents?

Answer 11

1. Genetic determinism
2. Environmental determinism
   (These two are oversimplified)
3. Combination of the 2 with complex interactions
4. People do have free will
   Something like executive function?

Question 12

Kierkegaard

Answer 12

Passion, commitment and leap of faith into Christianity
Thought he was cursed and was miserable
Saw superficial life around him and thought people lacked passion
Quest for meaning
Considered first existentialist

Question 13

Kierkegaard’s steps for authentic and meaningful living

Answer 13

1. Feel passion about something
2. Attach that passion to something consistent
3. Commit to god

Question 14

Kierkegaard’s evidence for god

Answer 14

None, you have to take a leap of faith

Question 15

Nietzsche

Answer 15

One of the fathers of existentialism

Contempt for leap of faith

Question 16

Nietzsche’s problem in life?

Answer 16

It exists in an irrational, purposeless meaningless world
God is dead and we have killed him
God used to give meaning and now it is lost due to skepticism, science and capitalism

Question 17

Philology

Answer 17

Gap between reality and our mental representation of it

Question 18

Purpose of cognition and consciousness

Answer 18

Cognition as an interpretive process

Question 19

Nietzsche’s view of consciousness

Answer 19

Mental representations and concepts are a social disease

Conscience is an outgrowth of social nature and also a disease

Question 20

Relativism

Answer 20

THeories as manifestations of elements of the psyche
No interpretation is valid so no theory can claim to be truth
All theories are outgrowths of the person who created them

Question 21

Nietzsche’s existential problem

Answer 21

The death of god
External return and recurrence - if your life keeps happening over and over again; if not happy then doing it wrong
Must embrace meaninglessness, not run away from it

Question 22

Nietzsche’s solution

Answer 22

Become an ubermensch (superman) or superior human being
Recognize that theories and social norms are contingent to time and place used to control the weak
Throw off the shackles as an ubermensch
Do what you want and create new set of beliefs and behaviors

Question 23

Neitzsche’s 2 options

Answer 23

1. Leap of faith

2. Acknowledge that everything else is wrong and embrace it

Question 24

What must we reconcile?

Answer 24

Meaning is fundamental

But life is meaningless