problem of evil philosophy quiz #6, Augustines Confessions Philosophy Quiz 9, Life without God Philosophy Quiz #7, Intro to Philosophy Quiz # 1, philosophy final
Some students reading WLC articles say they are offended ... Which of the following are the two French, atheistic existentialist philosophers whom Craig relied upon to explain the absurdity of life without God
Albert Camus Jean-Paul Satre
Which philosopher lived from 353 - 430 AD?
Augustine
Which of the following is not a question of metaphysics
Can we have knowledge without absolute proof or absolute certainty?
What philosopher and book woke Augustine to the love of wisdom and actually changed his affections towards God with his exhortation to philosophy?
Cicero's Hortensius
ATHEIST WILLIAM ROWE There are many cases of suffering and evil in the world we can examine and speculate, but have no idea how God could bring something beneficial from this particular instance of suffering. William Rowe mentions a case where a fire burns alive Bambi and a case of abuse of a little toddler, Sue. William Rowe claims that, in the cases of Bambi burning in the forest and in the physical abuse of a child like little Sue, we do not have sufficient grounds to believe that these are instances of gratuitous suffering
False
T/F "Does the soul exist?" is a theological question- It is not a metaphysical question.
False
T/F For most epistemologists (philosophers who focus on the science of knowledge), knowledge is the same as wisdom.
False
T/F The hard sciences (viz. chemistry and physics) can answer all philosophical questions. With regards to ethics it is no different. Science and technology can determine the difference between a good action and a bad action
False
T/F Tom Morris (Christian Philosopher from Notre Dame) thinks that individuals have a choice whether to have a philosophy or not, of whether to become philosophers or not. We have to choose to operate out of a philosophy or world view.
False
WLC argues that atheist scientists smuggle "God" in the back door in their writings because it is so difficult to believe that life is the result of impersonal forced. What are the ways Craig says they do this?
Francis Crick halfway through his book, the origin of the genetic code begins to spell nature with a capital N...
"there is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. All the rest .. comes afterwards." This is the opening of
French Atheist Existentialist Albert Camus The Myth of Sisyphus
"Whither is God?" he cried. ... What philosopher wrote this and what was it called an what is the point of this>
Friedrich Nietzsche : the parable of the madman: people are saying they don't believe in god, but ..
the madman jumped.... What is this from?
Friedrich Niezsche's Parable of the Madman
Book 2 Ch 5 Book 2 ch 10 book 3 ch 2 book3 ch 11 When you read passages like this, which of the following is NOT what Augustine believes about God?
God is a cosmic tyrant who has placed rules on humans and punishes (with vengeance) all who disobey without mercy
Book 1 What problem did Augustine have with the Greek poet, Homer, and other literature of the day that described what Zeus and the other gods were like?
He attributed divine power to vicious men so that debauchery might not be accounted debauchery, and so that whoever does such things would seem to imitate not immoral men but the gods of heaven
book 8 ch 12 Augustine was on the fence about following Jesus (even though he knew Christian Theism was true) until what experience
He was walking in the garden and he heard the children say....
What does Augustine say his parents cared about most
His education and training to be a great orator and a persuasive speaker
THE ARGUMENT FROM MIND If the argument from consciousness/mind for Gods existence is plausible then, .. Which of the following is NOT a reason related to the argument from mins or consciousness (noological argument) that might enable a purpose to decrease the power of the argument from evil?
In his bestselling book, the God Delusion, Richard Dawkins argues that a supernatural creator....
Questions of metaphysics
Is logic real in relations like the basing relation real entities that scientists (and all humans use) every day? Is mathematics real and what are he properties of its objects Do we have free will (libertarian agency) or are we determined? Are we purely physical creatures made up of atoms which are governed by the laws of physics and chemistry? Or do we have immaterial souls/mind that five us the power of free will? Does a non-physical, immaterial Agent exist who designed and created the universe and keeps it in existence? i.e. Does God exist? Does the past exist? Are human minds designed to accurately report objects in the external world (like stars, planets, animals, etc.)? Are we brains in a vat (like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix), or is the reality we taste, touch, smell, and hear just how God or natural processes (evolution) created us? Does the external world exist outside of our minds, independent of theories? What is the relationship the mind the body? Is there a non-physical or immaterial soul that exists in addition to the brain?
This philosopher was an atheist who thought that humans were completely determined by economic forces (not free will choices). He also thought that humans invented God because of economic oppression by the rich. Who is this famous philosopher who thought religion was the "opium of the people" (or a drug invented by humans to get through life)?
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Deciding if NeoPlatonism and Manichean Dualism and Christian Theism are coherent worldviews requires the use of what branch of philosophy
Logic
Augustine was raised by a Christian Mother, Monica, and a pagan father, Patricius. He revered Christ, but was not a Christian. His father became a Christian when Augustine was an early teenager After his childhood, what was the progression through worldviews/religions before Augustine became a Christian?
Manicheanism, NeoPlatonism, to Christianity
After leaving Carthage Augustine crossed the Mediterranean and taught in Rome before moving to Milan. It is in Milan that Augustine became acquainted with ? and the Bishop of Milan, ?
Neoplatonism, St. Ambrose
In a remarkable address to the American Academy.... A ???? "is one that deceives us, tricks us, compels us beyond self-interest, beyond ego, beyond family, nation [and] race." But without such ??? we cannot live
Noble lie
PROB OF EVIL every worldview has a problem of evil. The problem for Naturalist is what
Nothing is wrong or has been wrong in the history of the world- everything is natural. Jihadist ...
TEACHINGS OF JESUS APPLIED Richard Swinburne, as a Christian philosopher, argues that it is more blessed to give than to receive. ..... To put this point home, he uses this example:
People drafted against their will by their country have a privilege to die for their countrys freedom from foreign oppression. The reason why modern people do not see this is because we are obsessed with avoiding the evil of "purely physical pain"
Book 2 When Augustine says he found pleasure in "the many" instead of "the One", what is he talking about?
Plato and NeoPlatonism. Plato believed ..
VALUE OF LIFE Atheist philosopher, Friedrich N, and Betrand R, and JPS, both struggled with knowing that if there is no God, then objective right and wrong cannot exist. As Dostoyevsky said "All things are permitted" There was a tension with what in their minds?
Sartre though Marx was morally right about economic oppression and thought it was morally wrong. Russel was against...
Who stated, "the unexamined life is not worth living"?
Socrates
On 13 November, 354 AD, St Augustine was born into the Roman Empire in a town called ?
Thagaste (Modern day Algeria in North Africa)
WLC cited Francis Schaeffer's view that atheism.. What illustration and point did Schaeffer use to make what point?
That of a two-story universe. Man lives on the lower story without God...
which of the following is not one of the problems that WLC has with t he noble lie solution to get humans to have false beliefs in objective right and right and wrong, the objective value of humans, the objective meaning/purpose in life, etc.?
The Noble Lie option was endorsed by Plato (his Myth of Metals) and many other philosophers and leaders in history and it has never worked
WLC argues (following Francis S) that atheism is practically impossible to follow and be consistent because atheism eliminates three things from being real in life. Which of the following is not one of the three things that Craig argues?
The reality of the thick worldview of personal theism; on this worldview, life is rich with meaning....
TYPES OF THEODICIES the proponent o this type of theodicy (John Hick) sees the relationship of God to humans as not one of a child an pets in a terrarium. ...
The soul making theodicy
Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in ?
Thee (Speaking to God)
Young atheist, william lane craig, felt anxious and depressed when he thought about his own eventual death.. French atheistic existentialist philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, had an explanation why people do not fear death. He persuaded WLC with his answer. What was it.
They are thinking about it form the third person perspective they haven't thought enough to think about their own death- ...
As Richard Swinburne sees it the "free-will defense claims that it is a great good that humans have a certain sort of free well ... then necessarily there will be the natural possibility of moral evil... A God who gives humans such free will necessarily brings about the possibility, and puts outside his own control whether or not that that evil occurs"
True
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY In is there a god Richard Swinburne thinks that a good God would limit the ability of humans to do harm to other humans. In effect a good god would not allow for humans to frustrate the overall "divine plan" for the earth and its inhabitants (viz. the road to bring Jesus to teach humans how to live and to dies on the cross to atone for the sins of all humans
True
Most philosophers believe that the logical (deductive) argument from evil does not work, so they focus on the inductive (probabilistic) argument from
True
NATURALISTS The atheist, William Rowe, claims that if humans can find just one case of gratuitous (unnecessary) suffering it will show (classical) theism to be probably false.
True
T/F Like psychology, epistemology is both a descriptive and a prescriptive discipline. In other words, it tells us what is the case, and it tells what should be the case with regards to knowledge and justification for belief
True
T/F Our word "metaphysics" is derived from a Greek term meaning "the books which come after the physics" regarding the writings of Aristotle (whom the medievals called, "The Philosopher").
True
T/F Philosophers dont argue so much about whether particular things exist, but about what sort of things exist
True
T/F Philosophy is also a practical, instrumentally valuable means to many ends (goal). In fact, everyone uses philosophy all day long and it is a second-order discipline since every discipline in the academy (physics, chemistry, sociology, history, etc.) philosophical assumptions
True
T/F The following is an ethical claim: "Technological advances should always be encouraged by society."
True
T/F What philosophers call "metaphysics" is the same are of study that Aristotle called "first philosophy"
True
T/F Your instructor believes that individuals can make serious philosophical progress (even if the truth is not found) by finding out what is false
True
WLC argues that immortality is not sufficient to show life and all of the work and dreams of every human in history has ultimate meaning. What else does Craig argue is needed?
a loving person God who cares about humans and human history
Book 3 ch 7 Augustine defined evil as what
a privation of good
Which of the following is NOT one of the aspects/beliefs of the Manichean religion?
all forms of existence flow necessarily from the divinity
In recounting all of his past sin in Book2, ch2, Augustine wrote that a merciful God was always there to help him, and that God was waiting for him to pursue the real pleasure God offers. In the midst of all that, Augustine says that God uses sorrow and pain in our lives to do what?
as a lesson to come back to Him; allows us to get hurt so He can heal us, and let us destroy ourselves so that we might not die apart from Him
What is true of mankind..... In this nook, which reads more like a piece of modern existentialist literature than a book of the ?? , the writers shows the futility of pleasure,....
bible
RESPONSES TO THE PROBLEM OF EVIL FOR THEIST william lane craig appeals to this element in current science to argue that the causal nexus in the world is so complicated that we have no chance of knowing what good could come out of an instance of evil. In other words, he agrees with William Alston that we are not in a good epistemic state to know whether or not this particular instance of suffering or evil will not cause a greater good in the future
chaos theory
After philosophers threw of the shackles of the Catholic Church and Aristotle in the Enlightenment, philosophers like Kant and Mill tried to ground morality in reason. Atheists Friedrich Nietzsche and Kai Nielsen ?? with this attempt to justify the moral life in the ability for humans to reason.
disagree
Many atheist and naturalists argue that without God to create objective standards of good and evil and right and wrong then moral values are just ??
expressions of personal taste or the result of socio-biological evolution and conditioning
Augustine never found joy in chastity. He never found dignity in continence (refraining from sex), even though he was convinced Jesus revealed the person of God
false
CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER RICHARD For swinburnes free will defense, it is the actual existence of moral evil which is necessary condition of the great good, not just the natural possibility for evil
false
Gratuitous evil is evil that is necessary or serves some higher purpose
false
PROBLEM OF ANIMAL PAIN richard s thinks that the classical theist needs a powerful theodicy for why God allows animals to suffer; this theodicy should be as strong as the one explaining why God would allow humans to suffer
false
An event that had a large impact on Augustine.... Even though he said it wasn't a true friendship since god was not a part of it, he still said that his friend was
half of his soul - they ad one soul in two bodes they were so close in friendship
As he says Augustine said his moral corruption was made "complete" when he studies in Carthage. What didnt happen during his study at Carthage?
he had his intellectual conversion to Christianity (ie he found it to be the worldview that was the most rationally persuasive)
Romans 13:13-14 13 because we... Book 8, ch 13: why did the experience in the garden with this verse change Augustines mind and get him off the fence to the point of faith?
he thought it was gods voice telling him to read that verse ...
book 5 ch 13 After Augustine left North Africa, ... Why did Augustine first fall in love with Ambrose?
he was a man who was kind to augustine and welcomed him (as a father would a son) to life in Milan even though augustine was not a christian
What two horrible events occurred in Augustine's life in 387 AD, and two years later back in North Africa in Thagaste (in 389-390 AD)
his mother, Monica, died; his son, Adeodatus dies
What is the point of Nietzsche's Parable of the Madman?
if god does not exist humans have to make serious philosophical adjustments to their worldview, since so many of the common-sense beliefs of humans logically depends upon Gods existence
Augustine became a NeoPlatonist for awhile. The last famous NeoPlatonist, Plotinus, wrote Enneads. Which is NOT on of the features of NeoPlatonism as explained in Plotinus' Enneads?
in this universe, there are two powerful deities that are equally powerful: God and the Devil. They battle it our in an eternal cosmic struggle
The distinction between instrumental value and inherent value has been discussed since the time of Plato's Republic. It can apply to everything humans value (e.g. the value of human organisms and dentists). The value of pursuing knowledge or wisdom for its own sake is known as its ?. This is the opposite of having simply ? value.
intrinsic value; instrumental
In Book 4, ch4, Augustine recounts a story where he just wanted to be evil and steal for the sake of stealing itself with his friends. What did Augustine and his friends steal from the neighbor?
loads of pears from a pear tree
P1 there is a gratuitous evil (in the cases of bambi and little sue P2 if an omniscient wholly good God exists no gratuitous evil exists C Therefore, no omniscient, wholly good being exists this argument has what logical structure
modus tollens
Christian Philosopher Richard Swinbure's distinctions of evil: For richard Swinburne ?? includes "all evil caused deliberately by humans doing what they ought not to do....."
moral evil
PROBLEM: TYPES OF EVIL in his book, is there a god?, Richard Swinburne sees ?? as "all evil which is not produced by human beings and which is not ..." what type of evil is this
natural evil
book 3 ch 12 When Augustine became a famous evangelist for the Manichean sect, ... The bishop said a few things to her. Which of the following is NOT one of the things he saus
quit praying for your son. a man who is a leader of a religion ...
In book 2, ch. 2, Augustine said he confused what two things?
real romantic love (eros) and lust
in book 3 ch 7, Augustine argues against a theory in meta-ethics called moral relativism, by saying that moral principles apply across cultures and across centuries and they do not change What do moral relativists believe?
right and wrong and good and evil is relative either to individuals (subjectivism) ....
book 6 ch 11 Augustine argues that for humans to have these desires for God... CS Lewis and Peter Kreeft develop these arguments.... Kreeft thinks that humans are designed t always grown in giving and receiving love and growing in wisdom and knowledge and these are signs that we are not simply physical meat machines destined for destruction at death, but rather, we are much more than natural objects- we are ? beings
supernatural
A number of years ago, a terrible mid-winter air disaster occurred.... And yet, if the atheist is right, [Craig argues] ??
that man was not noble- he did the stupidist thing possible...
THEISTIC RESPONSES FOR PERSONAL THEISTS many philosophers both atheist and theist agree with Richard Swinburnes claim that the core of any theodicy must be this:
the "free will" defense
THE INNER CONFLICT Augustine had made the "intellectual conversion" to Christianity ... There was one obstacle to keep him from having faith. What was it? What kept Augustine from following Jesus (even though he knew Jesus revealed who the person of God is)
the chains and bondage to lust and desires for sex
P1) An omnibenevolent and omnipotent God exists P2) Evil Exists C) God does not exist While the above argument is missing some premises, it is typically described as which kind of argument
the deductive (logical) argument from evil
PROBLEMS OF EVIL FOR CLASSICAL THEIST According to most philosophers (like naturalist William Rowe and theist William Lane Craig) the "problem of evil" in this form provides the greatest challenge for the theist
the evidential (inductive) argument from evil
THEISTIC RESPONSE As Tom Morris explained in Philosophy for Dummies, this type of theodicy claims that evil is not necessary for free will, but the possibility of it occurring is. And the actuality of evil is something that God can't control without robbing us of our freedom
the free will theodicy
TYPES OF THEODICIES as christian philosopher, Tom Morris, explains, the extreme version of this type of theodicy claims that all suffering to punishment for sin
the punishment theodicy
Metaphysics, in modern philosophy, refers to
the study of the most fundamental principles of the nature of things
excerpt from william lane craic article The Absurdity of Life without God If god does not exist... Therefore everyone must come face to face with what Theologian Paul Tillich has called " ? " For though....
the threat of non-being
for WLC, the death of what other things (besides our own individual deaths) makes this existential situation for humans even worse?
the universe and every star in it
Which of the following is not one of the three major beliefs of the Naturalistic worldview ?
there are no truths or "meta-narratives' because all ....
PROBLEM OF EVIL FOR NATURALIST william lane craig agues that evil is more at home in the worldview of Personal Theism than Philosophical Naturalism. So,... The following is NOT a way to argue that evil makes more sense on the worldview of personal theism rather than philosophical naturalism:
there must be a beginning to time and that beginning must be caused by a person
Any solution to the problem of evil that offers a specific explanation for why God allows evil counts as a theodicy or an attempt for an omnipotent omniscient and omnibenevolent God to allow suffering and evil in His/Her creation
true
EPISTEMOLOGY AND METAPHYSICS Richard S says that people who argue that the only good thing is believing that suffering (for instance dying for ones country) will be of good use is false- comforting beliefs are only good if these beliefs are true. In fact, for him, getting pleasure out of comforting falsehoods is a cheat
true
P1 there is a gratuitous evil (in the cases of bambi and little sue P2 if an omniscient wholly good God exists no gratuitous evil exists C Therefore, no omniscient, wholly good being exists what makes the above argument by William Rowe inductive is the first premise describing specific evils in the world
true
RESPONSE BY THEIST: AQUINAS thomas aquinas argued against the problem of evil- not by giving a theodicy- but by giving five positive arguments (ways) for Gods existence
true
RESPONSES TO THE PROBLEM OF EVIL FOR PERSONAL THEIST Christian philosophers, William Lane Craig and William Alston, argues (against Row) that we are not in a good epistemic position to judge whether or not an instance of evil is gratuitous or not
true
T/F C.S. Lewis claimed "Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered."
true
T/F It is difficult for humans to use reason because on emotional and psychological obstacles. "Group Think" can stop the rational exploration of arguments against your view, since we like to insulate ourselves with people who believe the same things. Because of this, we must be very careful when we think we have the truth and we are unaware of the arguments against our view. John Stuart Mill said the number 1 reason why we should know our opponents' arguments better than our own is because they might have the truth and we might be wrong
true
THEISTIC RESPONSES Tom Morris claimed that in the Biblical Book of Job, the question of why evil exists in not answered. Instead, ...
true
THEISTIC RESPONSES TO THE PROBLEM OF EVIL the inductive (evidential) version of the problem of evil has the potential to work only against someone who has no solid reasons to believe God exists
true
This poem is meant to illustrate the complexity of the causal nexus, an dhow difficult it is to determine the consequences of a particular action. In other words, we are not in good epistemic position to evaluate the impact of the little things
true
book 9 ch 11 Augustines mother, monica, died in Italy when he was 33 and she was 56
true
book 9 ch 6 Augustines son, adeodatus, died at the age of 17
true
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy involved in the study of
ultimate reality (e.g. whether or not immaterial minds/souls exist, the existence of moral properties like good and evil, free will, when living human organisms become things of value, etc.)
