Phil 1 Test 2

What is Plato's allegory of the cave?

-people grow up in cave chained and can only look straight forward; various objects and fires behind them; sometimes people walk between them and the fires; people only see the shadows of the people and the objects, distorted shadows, but for them it's real; when one breaks free and sees the sun, the light and the recognition is painful; then they must tell the other people in the cave about reality!

Evil Demon Argument

Argues that instead of a God, humans were created and are overseen by an evil demon. This idea supposes that everything we know are just deceptive ideas thrust into our minds by this evil demon creating falsehoods as our memories, experiences, ideas, etc.

What is the definition of God that Anselm uses for his proof? How does this show that god must exist?

God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.

What is the one undoubtable truth that Descartes finds?

I think, therefore I am

Explain Pascal's Wager.

If we believe in God, then if He exists we will receive an infinitely great reward in heaven, while if He does not then we will have lost little or nothing. If we do not believe in God then if he exists we will receive an infinitely great punishment in hell, while if he does not then we will have gained little or nothing. The possible outcomes of belief in God, then, are on balance better than the possible outcomes of disbelief in Him. It is better to either receive an infinitely great reward in heaven or lose little or nothing than it is to either receive an infinitely great punishment in hell or gain little or nothing.

What is Paley's watch argument? What are some responses to it?

If you find a watch on a beach you would assume that the watch was made by design even if you had never seen one before. Everything has a purpose/design. So that means that God is the designer

What are the three sources of ideas that Descartes identifies? How does Descartes use these to argue that God must exist? How does Descartes rescue knowledge?

Innate, adventitious, Fictitious

What are St. Thomas Aquinas' five ways?

It is five ways to prove that god exists. The first four are cosmological arguments. Which use the properties of the universe to show that God must exist. The last is teleological. The first cause, everything has a cause. the cause is God.

What is the divided line?

It represents a hierarchy of two worlds the visible and the intelligible. First is images/objects. Second is Belief, Third is knowledge and last is the forms. The divided line is a visual metaphor for Plato's ontological (and epistemological) view of the Universe. Reality is divided into two basic parts: the invisible, unchanging realm of universals (or Ideas also sometimes called Forms), and the visible, ever-changing realm of particulars (i.e., physical objects).

three main arguments for the existence of god?

Ontological: Definition of God Cosmological: proves God exist through the universe Teleological: the argument for the existence of God from the evidence of order, and hence design, in nature

What are Aristotle's four causes?

material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, final cause

What is the problem of evil? Name and explain the three properties that God must have in order to generate the problem of evil.

omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence. The problem is that evil exists. Since God is all knowing God must know that evil exists. Since god is all powerful god should be able to get rid of evil. And since God is all good God should want to get rid of the evil.