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Natural teleology
(Aquinas) an attempt to prove God's existence by appealing to "evidence" found in the natural world.
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Principle of sufficient reason
(Aquinas) A principle in logic which states that:
- 1.) in any series of explanations there must be a stopping/starting point to avoid "infinite regress"
- 2.) the stopping/starting point must be different from the series being explained.
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Argument from motion
(Aquinas) Think about the domino example: nothing can move on its own and needs a first mover to start the motion.
This mover is called the "unmoved mover" (God).
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Argument from necessary beings
(Aquinas) All living things are mortal and dependent (contingent), meaning that there must have been a time when nothing existed, and must have originated from a necessary being (God).
Something can't come from nothing.
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Proof from the gradation of things (cosmological argument)
(Aquinas) When making a comparative judgment about a living thing we appeal to the maximum of that thing, a being that possesses that quality essentially and is supreme in goodness, truth and in being.
We call this being God.
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Contingent being
one which is finite and dependent
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Necessary being
a being which has to exist and is independent and infinite
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Philosophy
"the love of wisdom"
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Metaphysics
the study of the nature of reality
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Epistemology
the study of the scope and limits of human knowledge
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Ethics
the study of morality, values, and character
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Philosophical method
critical thinking and logic
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Religion
belief in a supernatural power
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Monism
there is one ultimate force in the universe
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Henotheism
there are many gods, but I worship one god
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Humanism
human energy, intelligence, resources, etc. should be directed to betterment of humanity
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Correspondence theory of truth
something is true if it matches a body of facts
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Coherence theory of truth
something is true if it is logically consistent
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Darwin's 2 arguments against the teleological argument
- 1.) order does not necessarily imply design; natural processes can explain order.
- 2.) causal explanations are better (more scientific) than teleological ones
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Hume's 3 arguments against the teleological argument
- 1.) the watch analogy is not good because we know empirically how watches are made
- 2.) the universe is not like a watch (machine), it is like an organism
- 3.) there is order in the universe, but much of order is a product of the human mind
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Freuerbach:
Origin of Religion
Problems
Solution
Origin: human aspirations (love, truth, beauty, etc.)
Problems: debases man; alienates man from his true values; creates guilt and shame; creates dependence and hope for an imaginary being and world, respectively
Solution: humanism
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Marx:
Origin of Religion
Solution
Origin: economic inequality and poverty is the real problem; religion temporarily alleviates the pain of real suffering (similar to using a drug)
Solution: economic equality, end of poverty AKA Communism
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Freud:
Origin of Religion
Future of Religion
Religion as mass neurosis
The unconscious mind and memory
Origin: infantile wish-fulfillment
Future: always be here because people need it unconsciously
Mass Neurosis: many people believe in a God, making it real (logical fallacy)
The Unconscious: we still remember infancy and dependence on parents
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3 Stages of life (Kierkegaard)
- 1.) Aesthetic: characterized by the search for pleasure, variety, etc. (young people; teens, young adults)
- 2.) Ethical: characterized by duty, reason, commitment, etc. (get older, settle down, have a family)
- 3.) Religious: leap of faith in belief in God (search for meaning in life)
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Characteristics of faith
Passionate (emotional, not logical), subjective, irrational, divine madness, paradoxical
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Religious existentialism
choose to believe in God in order to have meaning in life.
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Pragmatism
consequences of belief
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Pragmatic theory of meaning
a claim is meaningful if it affects the way I behave
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Pragmatic theory of truth
a claim is true if acting on my belief is confirmed by my experience
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Live option
Dead option
- Live: a belief which is credible and important to me
- Dead: a belief which is NOT credible and important to me
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