philosophy objective exam

Early Modern Criticisms of the Design Argument: David Hume (1711 - 1776) David Hume thought that if the only reason why someone believes in God is the design argument then this person "is able perhaps to assert, or conjecture, that the universe, sometime, arose from something like design: but beyond that position he cannot ascertain one single circumstance; and is left afterwards to fix every point of his theology by the utmost license of fancy and hypothesis." (Rowe, 62-63)

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Early Modern Philosophy of Religion: The Scottish Philosopher, David Hume: The skeptic, David Hume, said that, even if the world was designed, there is no guarantee that it was made by one designer--there may be MANY designers. Correct!

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Early Modern Skepticism: David Hume William Rowe reformulates the argument found in David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion as follows: P1) Machines are produced by intelligent design P2) The universe resembles a machine Therefore, C) Probably, the universe was produced by intelligent design.

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Intelligent Design in Biology vs. Darwinian Evolution (as a complete explanation of human organisms): If Michael Behe's theory about irreducibly complex biological systems is correct, Naturalist (scientific atheist), William Rowe thinks that it would be a significant objection to the ability of Darwinian natural selection to account for complex systems at the molecular level.

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Naturalistic Critiques of Design Arguments: Purdue's famous Naturalist (scientific atheist), William Rowe, thinks that, to the degree that Darwinian evolution is probable, the "Old" Design Argument decreases in its power to persuade.

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New Design Argument (from the Fine-Tuning of the Initial Conditions of the Universe) One atheistic (or non-theistic) response to the "New Design Argument" from the initial conditions of the universe is this: the "Many Worlds Hypothesis." This is the view that says that it is not unlikely that our universe with the constants of physics and improbable initial conditions would come into existence if there were billions of big bangs going on and creating billions of universes. One of these trillions of universes would have the initial conditions like ours. Presentation

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Non-Teleological Naturalistic Evolution vs. Aristotle's Formal and Final Causes One critique your instructor has for Naturalist (scientific atheist), William Rowe, is that he seems to assume teleology fits with Darwinism. What Rowe should say is that biological systems have the appearance of teleology. On Darwinism, teleology is not real. (Commentary on Rowe, 60 - 63)

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Objections to versions of the Fine-Tuning Design Argument from Physics: Naturalist (Scientific Atheist), William Rowe, thinks that the most substantial objection to the New (Fine-Tuned Universe) Design Argument is the multiverse or the "Many Worlds Hypothesis" which suggests that this universe is one of an infinite number of universes that exist in the world. We just happen to be in the one with the perfect initial conditions for life to exist. Some philosophers think this just "pushes back" the problem since the multiverse seems to have many of the aspects of God and it also needs an explanation for its existence.

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Philosophy as a Second-Order Discipline Philosophy is also a practical, instrumentally valuable means to many ends (goals). 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.

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Responses to Critics of the Fine-Tuning Design Argument: William Lane Craig thinks that the "Many Worlds Hypothesis" needs much more than the atheist thinks it does. Not only do the worlds produced by these trillions of alternative big bangs have to occur, but the big bangs have to produce a wide variety of universes. Maybe the trillions of big bangs produce universes with the same constants. What would guarantee that the different universes would vary enough so that it would be somewhat probable that one would support life?

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Thomas Aquinas and Medieval Philosophy of Religion: The "Fifth Way" (argument for God's existence) by Thomas Aquinas is understood as a medieval formulation of the design argument by Aristotle.

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Types of Teleological (Design) Arguments for God's Existence: The "Old" Design Argument, offered by William Paley, argued from the appearance of design in biological organisms to the existence of an intelligent designer.

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Types of Teleological (Design) Arguments for God's Existence: The New Design Argument (as Rowe calls it) is also known as the Fine-Tuning Argument. Proponents of this argument claim that the best explanation of the many improbable, basic features of the universe (like the rate of the expansion of the universe after the Big Bang) is that it was designed by a powerful, intelligent being (i.e. God).

true

Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways (arguments) for God's Existence (from Aristotle): Which of the following is not a premise in Thomas Aquinas' "Fifth Way" to God?

An actual infinite series of events cannot exist in reality

Four Branches of Philosophy: Ethics, Logic, Metaphysics, and Epistemology 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.)

History of Philosophy: Our word "metaphysics" is derived from a Greek term meaning "the books which come after the physics" regarding the writings of _______________ (whom the medievals called, "The Philosopher").

Aristotle

Four Branches of Philosophy: Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics, and Epistemology Which of the following is not a question of metaphysics?

Can we have knowledge without absolute proof or absolute certainty?

The Examined Life _____________________ is a criterion that considers how well the various parts of a theory "hang together."

Coherence

From Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion: "Look round the world: contemplate the whole and every part of it: You will find it to be nothing but one great machine, subdivided into an infinite number of lesser machines, which again admit of subdivisions to a degree beyond what human senses and faculties can trace and explain. All these various machines, and even their most minute parts, are adjusted to each other with an accuracy which ravishes into admiration all men who have ever contemplated them. The curious adapting of means to ends, throughout all nature, resembles exactly, though it much exceeds, the productions of human contrivance; of human design, thought, wisdom, and intelligence. Since therefore the effects resemble each other, we are led to infer, by all the rules of analogy, that the causes also resemble; and that the Author of Nature is somewhat similar to the mind of man, though possessed of much larger faculties, proportioned to the grandeur of the work which he has executed. By this argument a posteriori, and by this argument alone, do we prove at once the existence of a Deity, and his similarity to human mind and intelligence." This statement of the teleological argument for God's existence is found in a work by the following thinker:

David Hume

Four Branches of Philosophy: Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics, and Epistemology Like psychology, ___________________________ is both a descriptive and a prescriptive discipline. In other words, it tells us what is the case, and it tells us what should be the case with regards to knowledge and justification for beliefs.

Epistemology

Four Branches of Philosophy: Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics, and Epistemology The following is a(n) __________________ claim: "Technological advances in an science should always be encouraged by society."

Ethical

Four Categories of Philosophy: Logic, Epistemology, Metaphysics and Ethics The hard sciences (viz. chemistry and physics) cannot answer philosophical questions, in principle. Science and technology cannot determine the difference between a good action and a bad action. In addition to logic, what branch of philosophy is needed to determine the difference between a right action and a wrong action?

Ethics

Postmodernism or Post-Structuralism is a worldview that is an enemy to philosophy since it denies logic and reason are real things and it denies that truth (meta-narratives) exist. So, everyone believes things as a result of non-rational causes (race, economic status, parents, language, culture, movies, biases, bigotry, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, etc.) and not for rational reasons. Also, all philosophical arguments should be ignored and the psychological reasons why people believe things should be discovered. All humans just try to force their "narrative" on others because there is no truth or meta-narrative. Which philosopher influenced this view?

Friedrich Nietzsche

The OLD Design Argument for God's Existence (from Biological Complexity) Who said the following? "For why have we three joints in our legs and arms, as also in our fingers, but that it was much better than having two or four? Any why are our fore-teeth sharp like chisels to cut, but our inward teeth broad to grind (instead of) the fore-teeth broad and the other sharp? But we might have made a hard shift to have lived through in that worser condition. Again, why are the teeth so luckily placed, or rather, why are there not teeth in other bones as well as in the jaw bones? for they might have been as capable as these. But the reason is nothing is done foolishly or in vain; that is, there is a divine Providence that orders all things."

Henry More (1614 - 1687)

Pick the non-teleological statement out of the following:

Humans that have eyes can see.

Objections to the Design Argument of Thomas Aquinas (and Aristotle): Which of the following is not an objection to Thomas Aquinas's Fifth Way to God?

Immaterial consciousness (i.e. mind) could not evolve from a purely physical process like evolution. Therefore, minds do not exist.

Four Branches of Philosophy: Ethics, Logic, Epistemology & Metaphysics The branch of philosophy known as ethics covers three areas. Choose the area that it does not cover below.

Informal Fallacies (e.g. Red Herring, Ad Hominem, Straw Man, False Dilemma, etc.)

This nineteenth-century 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. His ideas also led to the death of over 150 million people in the 20th Century in countries like Russia, Cambodia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Laos, Vietnam, and some in Africa. 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)

Four Branches of Philosophy: Metaphysics Philosophers don't argue so much about whether particular things exist, but about what _______________ of things exist.

Kinds

Teleology in Biology vs. Naturalistic Evolution (Ancient Greek Philosophy) Aristotle argued against the evolutionists of his day (4th Century B.C.) in Ancient Greece saying that Formal Causes (natures or ways organisms ought to be) and Final Causes (purposes or teleology) . Darwin argued the same thing as these three philosophers did, namely, that Material Causes and Efficient Causes (chemistry and physics) can explain everything about human organisms. Which of the following is not one of the evolutionists of Aristotle's day?

Lamarck

Fine-Tuning Design Argument: Fine-Tuning Facts in Physics that require an explanation The following is not used by proponents of the "New Design Argument" (from the initial conditions of the universe):

Little "biological machines" like the universal-joint like apparatus that holds the tail of a paramecium require 42 parts in order to work at all. This is one of Michael Behe's examples of an "irreducibly complex machine."

Four Branches of Philosophy: Consider the following cases: You are trying to understand the behavior of your significant other or your child You are trying to see if you have enough money in your account to buy a Big Mac You are trying to figure out why there is a traffic jam. You are a juror thinking through the evidence to see if the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt In all of these cases, which branch of philosophy is being used in every case?

Logic

Swinburne's response to critics of the "New" Design Argument from the Fine-Tuning of the Universe: . "To postulate a trillion trillion other universes, rather than one God in order to explain the orderliness of our universe, seems the height of irrationality." Richard Swinburne was attacking the following view that responds to the Fine-Tuning (New Design) Argument:

Many Worlds Hypothesis

Four Branches of Philosophy: Ethics, Logic, Metaphysics, and Epistemology "Does a non-physical/immaterial mind or soul exist?" is a __________________________ question.

Metaphysical

History of Philosophy: What philosophers call, _________________, is the same area of study that Aristotle called "first philosophy."

Metaphysics

Maximal and Minimal Goal of Philosophy: If you think that individuals can make serious philosophical progress (even if the truth is not found) by finding out what is false, you believe in this _____________________.

Minimal Goal of Philosophy

Practical Principles for Philosophy: If I am reading Plato or listening to a family member speak, and I am on the fence (50/50) about interpreting them as being coherent or incoherent, if I choose to assume the coherent explanation what am I using?

Principle of Charity

Which famous Ancient Greek philosopher stated, "the unexamined life is not worth living," in Plato's Apology?

Socrates

Existential Philosophy was concerned with questions about the core questions surrounding death, meaning and purpose in life, free will, guilt, and the alienation/isolation that all humans feel. "According to [the melancholy Dane], _______________, what philosophy can give us is self-understanding. Self-understanding involves knowing who I really am apart from the masks I present to others, the social roles I fulfill, or the labels and descriptions imposed on me by my society and my peers. It also involves understanding my beliefs and values . . . [Self-understanding] is something we are often tempted to avoid. It is much easier to be complacent, to be self-satisfied, and to stick with beliefs that are comfortable and familiar than to be painfully and fully honest with ourselves and to subject our deepest convictions to examination." --William F. Lawhead in A Philosophical Journey: An Interactive Approach)

Soren Kierkegaard (19th Century Danish Philosopher). Christian existentalist Author of Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death.

Design Argument for God from Biology: C.D. Broad (1887 - 1971) "The most superficial knowledge of organisms does make it look as if they were very complex systems designed to preserve themselves in face of varying and threatening external conditions and to reproduce their kind. And, on the whole, the more fully we investigate a living organism in detail the more fully does what we discover fit in with this hypothesis. One might mention, e.g., the various small and apparently unimportant glands in the human body whose secretions are found to exercise a profound influence over its growth and well-being. Or again we might mention the production in the blood of antitoxins when the body is attacked by organisms likely to injure it." William Rowe includes the above quote from C.D. Broad (1887 - 1971) to show what?

There is a lot of initial support for the belief that biological organisms are teleological in nature.

Branches of Philosophy: LOGIC (Validity vs. Soundness) It's possible for a valid argument to have false premises. Why?

Validity is about the structure of an argument. If the conclusion follows from the premises, the argument is valid.

Four Branches of Philosophy: Logic, Ethics, Epistemology, and Metaphysics Which of the following questions is least likely to be asked while studying metaphysics?

When is testimony (by an eye witness or a scientist) most reliable for providing good evidence for a conclusion (e.g. the guilt/innocence of a murder suspect, or the truth/falsity of a theory of quantum mechanics)?

One way we can silence the free speech of others and eliminate true philosophy is to use the postmodernist (or post-structuralist) trick of deconstruction or finding non-rational reasons to explain away an argument. For instance, "Ignore that argument he just gave for a wall--he just wants to build a wall because he is a rich, white, racist." What is another name of this kind of attack that we see every day in this country?

ad hominem - circumstantial

A(n) ______________ in the philosophical sense is a set of statements in which one or more of the statements attempt to provide reasons or evidence for the truth of another statement. In other words, a(n) ________________ consists of reasons to believe some claim.

argument

Charles Darwin vs. Aristotelian Biology: Formal and Final Causes "Squirrels that did not bark when danger approached died." This statement is teleological.

false

Design Arguments for God from Biology: Modern proponents of naturalistic evolution are scientists Stephen Meyer, Michael J. Behe and William Dembski. They claim that organisms are not irreducibly complex, and that Natural Selection can explain the appearance of all parts of organisms.

false

Early Modern Design Arguments for God: William Paley (1743 - 1805) compared the universe to an automobile and claimed that every manifestation of design which exists in an auto also exists in the works of nature.

false

Four Branches of Philosophy: Epistemology, Metaphysics, Ethics and Logic For most epistemologists (philosophers who focus on the science of knowledge), knowledge is the same as wisdom.

false

Impact of Charles Darwin's naturalistic philosophy: Darwin thought that eyes were teleological systems.

false

LOGIC and Design Arguments for God's Existence. The "New" Design argument (a.k.a. the argument from the fine-tuning of the universe) is an argument from analogy.

false

Ontological is the Ancient Greek word for "goal-directed"

false

Personal Theists (Jews, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, some Hindus) who think God used evolution to create life: Many personal theists are evolutionists. As a result, they reject the "Old" Design argument (i.e. William Paley's argument from the complexity of biological organisms). Another consequence is that they must reject the "New" Design argument (i.e. the argument from the fine-tuning of the universe) as well.

false

Four Categories of Philosophy: ETHICS 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 the branch of philosophy known as logic, informal fallacies are discussed. Which of the following is not a fallacy in logic?

modus ponens (If p, then q. p. Therefore, q.)

Intelligent Design Arguments vs. Naturalistic Evolution (Charles Darwin's theory) Michael J. Behe is a theistic evolutionist. Behe, the author of Darwin's Black Box, is a biochemist who defines an "irreducibly complex system" as one that has interconnected parts that are all necessary for carrying out the particular function. In other words, if one part was missing from the system, the system would not work at all. All parts are necessary for it to work. What is his favorite example of an "irreducibly complex system" (found in Darwin's Black Box)?

mousetrap

Your instructor, Hammons, believes that all of us can discuss the "taboo" topics of religion and politics if we follow the example of the Stoics, Epicureans, and Christian Paul in Acts 17 and use _________________________________.

sharp minds and tender hearts

Fine-Tuning (or New Design Argument) Steven Hawking claims that, "If the rate of the universe's expansion one second after the 'big bang' had been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand million million, the universe would have recollapsed into a hot fireball." This fact is used by philosophers to argue that Presentation

the initial conditions of the universe are so improbable it seems that they are the result of intellgent design

Minimal Goal of Philosophy: Discover what is false The author of Miracles (which contains a famous argument against the ability for a physicalist/materialist to rationally believe in atheism, C.S. Lewis, expressed this minimal goal of philosophy with the following quote:

"Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered."

Four Branches of Philosophy: Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics, and Epistemology Metaphysics, in modern philosophy, refers to ________________________________

the study of the most fundamental principles of the nature of things.

Arguments for God's Existence: The teleological argument endeavors to answer the question of whether our universe results from intelligent design.

true

Critical Thinking: Having Sharp Minds that use Logic It is difficult for humans to use reason because of 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 Start Mill said the #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

Design Arguments: Teleology Telos is the Greek word for "goal" or "end"

true