philosophy test 1
C.S. Lewis's "natural order" defense
CS Lewis argues that for persons to interact in a meaningful way and for humans to be free, the physical world must have a regular order that we can recognize and share
John Hick's position
argues that even God himself could not achieve certain results without allowing us to struggle against evil and to endure suffering
atheism, agnosticism, and theism
atheism: the claim that God does not exist; typically atheists are evidentialists agnosticism: position that not enough evidence exists for us to know whether there is or is not a God theism: that claim that God exists
soft determinism/compatibilism
believes that human actions are 100 percent determined just as much as a hard determinist does. the difference is that the compatibilist believes that the implications of determinism are not as hard and severe as the hard determinist believes
hard determinism
believes that we are determined and that because we are determined, we lack the freedom necessary to be morally responsible. we are not morally responsible for our actions.
contingent beings vs. necessary beings
contingent beings: cosmological argument begins with the fact that the world is a collection of things that are contingent; basically it can exist or not exist; because the world consists of contingent things, the world itself is contingent according to the argument necessary being: sometimes thought of as the opposite of a contingent being; one who contains the reason for its existence within its own nature; does not depend on anything for its existence and nothing can prevent it from existing; God would be such a being
Chalmers' naturalistic dualism
david chalmers created a contemporary version of descartes argument showing that physicalism is false. does not think consciousness can be reduced to or explained in terms of physical processes chalmers is kind of a dualist: naturalistic dualism- consciousness is a part of nature, even if it cannot be reduced to physical processes (property dualism and double-aspect theory)
descartes on the criterion for intelligence
descartes was convinced machines could never be intelligent b/c they do not have immaterial minds and because the thought of having such a mind is necessary to be a thinking being descartes argued that understanding language was a criterion that could be used to distinguish machine responses from genuine intelligence
describe one of the major fields of philosophy: epistemology
epistemology: the theory of knowledge; the philosopher asks "what is knowledge? what is a fact? what is truth? how could we know that something is true or not? is there objective truth, or are all opinions relative?" asking fundamental questions about the nature and source of knowledge, the concept of truth, and relatively of our beliefs.
describe one of the major fields of philosophy: ethics
ethics: the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles; philosopher would ask, "are there any objectively correct ethical values, or are they all relative? Which ethical principles (if any) are the correct ones? How do we decide what is right or wrong?
Descartes position on the mind-body problem and his arguments for it
his position is mind-body dualism (psychophysical dualism), commonly referred to as Cartesian dualism Argument from Doubt: realizes he cannot doubt his own existence, even though he could doubt the existence of the external world, including his own body (he can doubt his body exists but he cannot doubt his mind exists and since they don't have the same properties, the mind and body are not identical) Argument from consciousness: because the body is a material object, it cannot be conscious, but we know from our immediate experience that our mind is conscious. basically his mind is thinking while his body is not and so they don't have the same properties
versions of physicalism
identity theory: treats mental events as real but claims they are identical to brain events (can be reduced to brain states) eliminativism: believes that our mentalistic talk is so deeply flawed that it must be abandoned, b/c there is no hope of correlating our talk about beliefs and desires with our talk about brain states, as the identity theorist does (folk psychology)
identity theory
one form of materialism is the view that mental states are identical with brain states; mind-brain identity theory- to think a certain thought is to have another sort of thing happen in the brain; It asserts that mental events can be grouped into types, and can then be correlated with types of physical events in the brain.
william paley's teleological argument
one of the clearest and most famous versions of the teleological arguments given by william paley; book was natural theology; supposes if he were to find a watch on the ground and starts inquiring how the watch came to be in that place; several parts of this watch are framed and put together for a purpose; you see it and can imply that there is a designer behind it
skepticism
one of the main teachings of the group of philosophers called the Sophists (traveling educators who would offer practical courses for the payment of a fee) skepticism is the belief that we cannot have knowledge, "moral goodness" and "truth" are sounds we make with our mouths, they don't refer to anything
Thomas Aquinas's version of Cosmological argument
one of the most famous defenders of the cosmological argument; "first cause argument" - argues that because the world contains things whose existence was caused, there necessarily had to be a first cause of the entire series. (the world contains things whose existence depends upon some cause, everything that exists is either uncaused or caused to exist by another, there cannot be an infinite regress of causes, there must be an uncaused first cause, an uncaused first cause is what we mean by God, therefore God exists
The free will defense and criticisms of it
one way of dealing with the problem of evil is the free will defense. its strategy is to claim that god could not create creatures such as us who have freedom of the will but who are incapable of doing evil. hence its not a limit on God's power to say that he cannot create free creatures who are programmed to do only what is good. such creatures would be like well-behaved robots. critics have raised several problems with this. first, the defense assumes that it is impossible for the creatures to be free at the same time that they are incapable of doing evil (libertarianism); why couldn't god make us such that we would always freely choose the good? after all, God is said to be free, but his nature is such that he cannot do evil
ontology and fundamental reality
ontology: area of metaphysics that asks the question: what is most fundamentally real? how do u define fundamental reality? fundamental reality is that upon which everything else depends. for some people, this reality may be a spiritual reality, such as God. fundamental reality is that which cannot be created or destroyed
metaphysical issues addressed in ancient Greece
philosophical questions about the nature of reality fall under the heading of metaphysics (originally coined by scholar in 1st century BC) in ancient Greece, early philosophers began to examine nature of reality for themselves Greeks concerned with the problem of permanence and change Greeks wanted to ask: in all our experiences, what things are just appearances and what things are real?
Plato on knowledge, reality, and value
plato didn't really have arguments about logic and critical thinking plato argues that there is a distinction between appearance and reality (what is ultimately real) there is a difference between human opinion and true knowledge its possible a higher, nonphysical reality transcends the physical world, the way the higher realm transcended the world of the cave plato doesn't discuss political philosophy
Plato's Allegory of the Cave
plato suggests the possibility that reality may be entirely different than our taken-for-granted assumptions suppose it to be. plata uses the figure of his teacher Socrates to present his ideas. (Glaucon is the other guy) the story is an allegory in which the events in the narrative symbolize a deeper meaning. Plato's main point is similar to the relationship between two levels of knowledge and two levels of reality. experience is like the land of shadows (shadows the prisoners see are like lesser realities) physical objects are the truer realities Plato questioned if things like justice is subjective or objective (lesser reality)
Anselm's "reductio ad absurdum" ontological argument for God's existence
reducing to an absurdity argument; its a priori proof to God's existence Anselm starts with premises that do not depend on experience for their justification and then proceeds by purely logical means to the conclusion that God exists. His aim is to refute the fool who says in his heart that there is no God (Psalms 14:1). This fool has two important features. He understands the claim that God exists. He does not believe that God exists. Anselm's goal is to show that this combination is unstable. Anyone who understands what it means to say that God exists can't be led to see that God does exist. On this view, the atheist is not just mistaken: his position is internally inconsistent.
David Hume's criticisms of the teleological argument
scottish skeptic, provided formidable series of objections to argument from design; homes arguments are presented in the course of a conversation between three fictional characters; Cleanthes says this: in human creations, we find the adaptation of means to ends that are the result of design, thought, wisdom, and intelligence in nature we find a similar adapting of means to ends, but on a much grander scale from similar effects we may infer similar causes so, it must be the case that the magnificent mechanism of the universe is the result of a very great, very wise, intelligent designer Philo responds by first ending that there are relevant similarities between human machines and nature and concluding that the design argument does not give us anything like the Judeo-christian God
Socratic wisdom
socrates lived and died a philosopher- lover of wisdom. wisdom was, he thought, the most important goal we could pursue. without it, we would be cursed with the most dire poverty a person could endue
jeffrey olen's story about the watch
some people who have never seen a watch find one along a roadside. they pick it up and examine it, noticing that the second hand makes a regular sweep around the watch face. after discussion, they conclude that the watch is run by a gremlin inside. they remove the back of the watch but cannot find the gremlin. after more discussion, they conclude the gremlin must be invisible. they also decide that it makes the hands go by running along the gears inside the watch. they replace the watch's back and take it home. the next day the watch stops and they assume the gremlin to be dead/sleeping. they shake the watch to awaken the gremlin and it remains stopped. someone finally turns the step. the gremlin awakens. the gremlin represents a non-physical mind. people who discovered the watch were interactionists
Descartes compromise
sometimes called the cartesian compromise concern was to reconcile the scientific and religious views of the world he divided reality into completely separate territories and that let him accomplish his goal. one part of reality is made of physical substances that can be studied by scientists and explained by mechanistic principles. other part of reality consists of mental or spiritual substances. people have genuine free will science can't tell us about the eternal destiny of our souls, only about our bodies.
sound and unsound deductive argument
sound argument: a valid argument with true premises unsound argument: could be valid or invalid, but does not have true premises
intelligent design theory
the argument that the complexity of biological organisms is a result of intelligent design and that it could not have been from random processes
theistic determinism
the belief that God is the ultimate cause of everything that happens in the world, including human actions; you make the choices that you do because God made you the sort of person that you are. all your actions were predetermined by God before the creation of the world
define "philosophy" and list its fundamental beliefs
"love of wisdom", philosophy is the search for self understanding, love and pursuit of wisdom, the asking of questions about the meaning of our basic concepts, and the search for fundamental beliefs that are rationally justified the sorts of questions asked by the philosopher in 6 different areas: logic, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of religion, ethics and political philosophy
A priori arguments vs. a posteriori arguments
A Posteriori statements are statements or truths 'post experience'. In other words, you have to have experienced something in order to make the claim. Remember it because 'post' means after - after experience. A Priori Philosophical statements are based on logic A Priori statements are usually 'analytic' in nature and A Posteriori statements are usually 'synthetic' in nature.
W.K. Clifford's evidentialism and his ship owner example
Clifford argued that believing has ethical implications. We have no right to believe anything unless we have earned that right through a rational, critical investigation of the belief in question. Clifford illustrates his point by telling the story of a shipowner who sent a ship full of families off to sea. He knew that the ship was old and probably should be inspected. however, he put aside all his doubts and convinced himself that it was seaworthy, trusting in the providence of God to see the passengers safely to their destination. Inspite of his sincere convictions, the ship went down in the middle of the ocean, killing all the passengers while the shipowner collected his insurance money
multiple realizability
Contends that a single mental kind (property, state, event) can be realized by many distinct physical kinds. A common example is pain. Many philosophers have asserted that a wide variety of physical properties, states, or events, sharing no features in common at that level of description, can all realize the same pain.
William James essay "The Will to Believe"
James responded to Clifford's ethics of belief. In this essay James defines an "option" as any choice we face between two contrasting beliefs. options may be living or dead, forced or avoidable and momentous or trivial. every knower has two duties: we must know the truth and we must avoid error
The Socratic Method
Socrate's method of doing philosophy was to ask questions. Plato called this method dialectic, because you're literally having a conversation. Socrates' hope in using the socratic method was that in weeding out incorrect understandings, he and his conversational partner would be moving toward a clearer picture of the true answer. one of Socrates' most skillful techniques for showing the weakness of someone's position was his use of the reductio ad absurdum form of argument (reducing to an absurdity) - begin with assuming your opponents position is true and then show that it logically implies either an absurdity or a conclusion that contradicts other conclusions held by the opponent.
Socrates' central philosophical views
Socrates' main philosophical concern was with ethics. Socrates' teachings can be summed up in three theses: 1. the unexamined life is not worth living: what we do is not so important, what is important is who we are and who we are tying to become 2. the most important task in life is caring for the soul (the real person): according to socrates, ignorance is the most deadly disease of the soul; Socrates was concentred about moral health of the soul 3. a good person cannot be harmed by others. if the real me, the most important part of who I am, is not my possessions nor the outward, physical part of me, then no one can corrupt me or damage me from the outside
The problem of evil
The difficulty of reconciling the existence of suffering and other evils in the world with the existence of God
fine-tuning teleological argument for God's existence
The fine-tuning argument: 1. If theism is true, then a fine-tuned universe is not at all improbable. 2. If atheism is true, then a fine-tuned universe is very improbable. 3. The prime principle of confirmation. The fine-tuning of the universe favors the theism over atheism. (1,2,3)
why was socrates given a trial
The trial of Socrates (399 BCE) was held to determine the philosopher's guilt of two charges: asebeia (impiety) against the pantheon of Athens, and corruption of the youth of the city-state; the accusers cited two impious acts by Socrates: "failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges" and "introducing new deities". The death sentence of Socrates was the legal consequence of asking politico-philosophic questions of his students, from which resulted the two accusations of moral corruption and of impiety. At trial, the majority of the dikasts (male-citizen jurors chosen by lot) voted to convict him of the two charges; then, consistent with common legal practice, voted to determine his punishment, and agreed to a sentence of death to be executed by Socrates's drinking a poisonous beverage of hemlock.
Gaunilo's objection to Anselm's ontological argument
a monk who was a contemporary of Anselm who writes sarcastic reply to him called "On Behalf of the Fool"; Gaunilo was a fellow Chrisitan, so he believed that God existed but he did not think that Anselm's argument was good; Gaunilo argued that same form of argument could be used to demonstrate necessary existence of a perfect island (basically it could be anything)
"argument" as seen in philosophy
a set of statements in which one or more of the statements attempt to provide reasons or evidence for the truth of another statement
self-referential inconsistency
a subtle kind of inconsistency that occurs if an assertion implies that it itself cannot be true or cannot be known to be true, or should not be believed.
inference to the best explanation
a type of reasoning in philosophy (sometimes called abduction); does not try to directly prove the truth of a theory, it tries to show that the theory is superior to all its competitors and that it is therefore the one most likely to be true 1. there is a collection of data that needs an explanation 2. a theory is proposed offering an explanation 3. this theory offers the best explanation of all known alternatives 4. therefore, until a better explanation is proposed, its rational to believe this one
Richard Taylor's version of the cosmological argument principle of sufficient reason
american philosopher who develops argument from contingency; argues that even if the world had no beginning, it would still need a cause; principle of sufficient reason- in the case of any positive truth, there is some sufficient reason for it, something which makes it true (there is some sort of explanation for everything) a posteriori argument
phineas gage
an american railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head; one of the first cases to suggest the brains role in determining personality and that damage to specific parts of the brain may induce specific personality changes
voluntary actions
an anticipated goal-oriented movement.
teleological (design) arguments for God's existence and criticisms of it
another argument for the existence of God; telos: end or "goal"; argument points to the fact that many things and processes in the universe seem as though they were designed to fulfill purposeful ends or goals; it is a posteriori argument because it reasons from some observed features of the world; main thesis is "evidence of design implies a designer" we need to address: how do we distinguish the mere appearance of design from genuine design? can the order in nature be explained by any hypothesis other than that of an intelligent, purposeful cause that is above nature but operates on it?
Kierkegaard's views on faith and reason & his parable about two worshipers
in a controversial and extreme statement of his fideism, kierkegaard expresses the tension between reason and faith by saying that Christianity is absurd when viewed through the eyes of our rational understanding. because reason has its limits, it cannot make sense of christianity with its inadequate categories, so it must be transcended in a leap of faith
Theodicies
in its most common form, is an attempt to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil.
six criteria for evaluating philosophical claims and theories
in order to evaluate and choose between competing philosophical claims and theories, we need to meet some criteria. conceptual clarity, consistency, rational coherence, comprehensiveness, compatibility, compelling arguments
moral responsibility
is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission, in accordance with one's moral obligations. Deciding what (if anything) counts as "morally obligatory" is a principal concern of ethics.
define logic
logic is the study of the principles for distinguishing correct from incorrect reasoning the philosopher studies how we ought to think if we are to be rational and seeks to clarify the good reasons for holding a belief.
cosmological arguments for God's existence and criticisms of it
many versions of it, all begin with the fact that the universe is not self-explanatory and they argue from there that the cosmos depends on a self-sufficient cause outside itself. cosmological argument seeks to provide answer for this question: why is there something rather than nothing? critics argue the cosmological argument begins with the claim that the universe could not exist without a cause and concludes that an uncaused being is the explanation. why is the notion of God as an uncaused cause accepted when the notion of an uncaused universe is rejected? could a number of causes have worked together to form the universe?
metaphysical freedom vs. circumstantial freedom
metaphysical freedom: identical to what we ordinarily mean when we talk about free will, a concept that refers to the power of the self to choose among genuine alternatives. does not relate to external circumstances but to our internal condition circumstantial freedom: we have this when we have the ability and the opportunity to perform whatever action we choose; it is a negative condition because it means we are free from external forces, obstacles, and natural limitations that restrict or compel our actions. (ex. you can't jump 50 feet in the air)
metaphysical monisms: materialism & idealism, and dualism
metaphysical materialism: claims that reality is totally physical in nature (i.e. if the word mind has any meaning at all, it has to be explained in terms of the body (brain states for example)) idealism: the belief that reality is entirely mental or spiritual in nature; ultimate choice of reality (feature of hindu tradition) dualism: a compromise position because the dualist can accept physical reality and the physicalists explanation of it while insisting that there is more to the big picture than the physical dimension alone
the major fields of philosophy
metaphysics, epistemology, ethics
describe one of the major fields of philosophy: metaphysics
metaphysics: area of philosophy concerned with fundamental questions on the nature of reality; the philosopher asks "is physical reality all that there is? are all mental events really brain events, or is the mind something separate from the brain? asks " is all behavior (good and bad) causally determined, or do we have some degree of genuine freedom that cannot be scientifically explained?
monotheism vs. pantheism
monotheism: the claim that one God created the world and sustains it while transcending it. pantheism: the claim that God constitutes the whole of reality
Moral evil vs. natural evil
moral evil: consists of the bad actions and their unfortunate results for which humans are morally responsible (lying, theft, murder) natural evil: consists of the suffering to humans and animals that results that results from he natural causes such as genetic defects, diseases, earthquakes and tornados
The greater goods defense and criticisms of it
the claim that God allows some evil to exist because it is necessary to the achievement of a greater good is known as greater goods defense some critics would say that positive human traits exist because there is evil in the world and it is a way to combat it.
evidentialism
the claim that belief in God must be supported by objective evidence. can be both religious believers and atheists
eliminativism
the claim that people's common-sense understanding of the mind (or folk psychology) is false and that certain classes of mental states that most people believe in do not exist. It is a materialist position in the philosophy of mind.
incompatibilism
the doctrine that if we are determined, we lack the freedom necessary to be held morally responsible
Platos apology
the most definitive information on socrates life comes from the apology. basically socrates is telling the court how he got into so much trouble in the first place. s the Socratic dialogue that presents the speech of legal self-defence, which Socrates presented at his trial for impiety and corruption, in 399 BC
determinism
the philosophical view that we are determined because we believe that all events are the necessary result of previous causes; if it were true and if it were possible to have complete knowledge of the universe at the present moment, we could predict not only the state of the universe but also everything that will happen in the future
libertarianism
the position that rejects determinism and asserts that we do have metaphysical freedom, and consequently, we have the freedom to be held morally responsible for our actions.
the principle of Ockham's Razor
the principle motivating the quest to simplify our understanding of reality; named after William of Ockham; states that we should shave off all unnecessary entities and explanatory principles in our theories
physicalist criticisms of substance dualism
the problem of explaining how a non spatial mind can influence a spatially located brain if the mind is the seat of our mental life and consciousness whereas the body is simply a machine made out of flesh, why does physical damage to the brain have such a dramatic effect on a person's mental life? is the real you your mind? where does your mind go when you are unconscious?
natural theology
the project of attempting to provide proofs for the existence of God based on reason and experience alone. does not necessarily reject revelation or faith, but believes that it is possible to demonstrate cGod's existence solely thru philosophical reasoning.
the thesis of universal causation
the theoretical or asserted law that every event or phenomenon results from, or is the sequel of, some previous event or phenomenon, which being present, the other is certain to take place.
valid and invalid deductive arguments
valid argument: an argument in which it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false. if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true (true conclusion does not mean that the argument is automatically valid) invalid argument: an argument whose author claims that it provides this sort of support for its conclusion and fails to do so
Pascal's Wager
whether God exists or not, if I am not a believer, I will obtain the finite gain of being able to live my life the way I want to and can pursue whatever earthly pleasures I choose without fear of eternal consequences. However, if God does exists and I have failed to believe in him, then I will suffer an infinite loss. I will be deprived of the eternal life and happiness that await me in God's heaven
