PHILOSOPHY EXAM 1
A posteriori argument for God's existence
A posteriori arguments for God's existence are based on common, ordinary experiences, such as appreciation of the beauty of nature and curiosity about the origin of the universe. The cosmological and teleological (design) arguments for God's existence are a posteriori
A priori argument for God's existence
A priori arguments, on the other hand, are not experience-based. Instead, they demonstrate the existence of God through the use of reason alone, that is, through analysis of concepts and propositions. The ontological argument for God's existence by St. Anselm is an a priori argument.
The name "metaphysics"
Aristotle referred to it as First Philosophy because he understood metaphysics as a study of the first causes and principles of reality. Metaphysics goes beyond Physics, a branch of knowledge that deals with the natural world. Metaphysics is the study of that which "is" or that which "exists.
Categories
Aristotle's classificatory system that can be used to classify the ordinary objects of our experience.
Aristotle on God
Aristotle's conception of the unmoved mover. Aristotle doesn't think of the unmoved mover as a person or a creator god. He posits the idea of such a being to explain the source of motion in the universe, such as the eternal motion of the sphere of the fixed stars.Aristotle argues that either there is an infinite series of causes or a final uncaused cause of every motion
Anselm on God
Benedictine monk. Major works are the Monologion ("Soliloquy), Proslogion ("Discourse) and Cur Deus Homo ("Why God Became a Human Being?"). He argues for God's existence through rational analysis alone without the support of any religious assumptions. If God exists only as an idea in the mind (mental being), then there are other beings that are greater than God because they exist in reality (real beings) outside the mind.
Essence, nature (definitions)
ESSENCE: The essence of a thing is that which makes it to be what it is and not something else. NATURE: When we are referring to essence as that which specifies how a thing acts or operates, that's what we mean by nature. For example, we say, "The nature of the dog is to bark"
Blaise Pascal on God
He argues that it is reasonable for us to believe in the existence of God even though we may not have good evidence for that belief. He claims that when we consider the propositions "God exists" or "God does not exist" reason can decide nothing because it can neither prove nor disprove any of them. If you believe that he exists, you lose nothing if he does not. Instead you gain so much including happiness and eternal life. If you believe that he does not exist, you lose everything if he does exist. So, believing in God's existence is a wise wager.
Metaphysics compared to other sciences
If metaphysics is the science of being, and since everything is being, then metaphysics must study everything—the totality of beings.
William Paley on God
In his work Natural Theology, he shows how the existence of God can be inferred from our observation of nature. The thumb tells us that God intelligently designs the human body for its own good. There are designs in works of nature. We were made a way for a reason.
Thomas Aquinas on God
Italian philosopher and theologian. In his Summa Theologiae, he offers five proofs that God exists. These proofs are known as the "Five Ways." The First Way: Argument From Motion That prime mover is God. Things need a force to move. The Second Way: Argument From Efficient Causation. Nothing can cause itself to exist because that will require that thing to pre-exist itself. This first cause is God The Third Way: Argument From Possibility and Necessity There must be a being that had always existed. This necessary being is God. The Fourth Way: Argument From Degrees of Perfections We find things around us that are more good and less good, more true and less true, more excellent and less excellent.This implies that there must be something that is most good, most true, and most excellent. The Fifth Way: Argument From Harmony (Design) Natural material substances act for the sake of an end (purpose)Therefore, there is an intelligent being who orders all things of nature to their ends, and we call this being God.
Branches of philosophy: Logic, metaphysics, epistemology. Aesthetics
LOGIC: branch of philosophy that deals with the rules and principles of correct reasoning. analyzes the structure and evaluates the validity of arguments. METAPHYSICS: area of philosophy that deals with the nature and fundamental properties of being or reality.study of that which "is" or that which "exists. EPISTEMOLOGY: the theory of knowledge, inquires into the nature, structure, criteria, and possibility of knowledge. it seeks to distinguish opinion and knowledge AESTHETICS: the philosophical study of beauty, especially in the arts
Matter and form
MATTER: is a universal substratum of pure passive potency. Without substantial form, matter is indeterminate and could never exist on its own. Only when it is combined with or actualized by form, could it exist as a determinate material substance. FORM: Apart from matter, form could never exist on its own. As mere metaphysical principles of material beings, each of them does not exist by itself. For Aristotle, all material substances are composed of matter and form
Definition of Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of religion is a critical examination of the different aspects of religion, such as the nature of religion itself, religious beliefs, religious language, religious phenomena, ultimate reality and the existence of the deity
Substantial change
Substantial change is a permanent change such as a death, digesting food, and burning paper. What once was is no longer the same. Living to dead, paper to ash, food to waste. Accidental change is superficial. Changing hair color, changing style, rearranging furniture. Things continue to be what the are even though some properties are changed.
The pre-Socratics:
THALES: Milesian. First Western philosopher. Common element in the diversity of nature is water. Everything is made up of water. Without water, life is impossible. Water is flexible: gas, liquid, solid. ANAXIMANDER: Milesian. Universe must be ageless, "boundless," and indeterminate. He called this principle apeiron. ANAXIMENES: Milesian. he thinks that the boundless is a specific, determinate substance, namely air. Air has ability to be transformed into basic elements through condensation and rarefaction. Through rarefaction, air becomes fire and through different degrees of condensation, it can change into wind, water, clouds, earth, and stone. Air is god, and being divine, is eternal. PYTHAGORAS: When a person dies, his soul leaves the body and takes on another form---human, animal, demon, or a god. It seems that the sensible world would not make sense to us unless we have an idea of "number" that enables us to count, measure, enumerate, and distinguish things around us. This view suggests that numbers promote order and harmony in the universe. HERACLITUS: His view is based on the characteristic of fire as constantly changing as it burns. To say that everything is fire is to acknowledge the reality of change that marks reality. What accounts for the constant change in fire and in every reality, is the tension between opposites. PARMENIDES: proposes that there is only one reality, namely a changeless, eternal being. This means that multiplicity is an illusion. The multiplicity that we find in things is simply appearances of this single being. According to his view, change or motion is impossible. ZENOS: In this paradox, he argues that what moves, always moves in the now. Whatever is at rest, it always occupies a space equal to itself. Think of a flying arrow. At any given moment in its flight, it must occupy a space equal to itself. So, in that moment of its flight, the arrow is actually at rest. DEMOCRITUS: They claimed that there are in fact two elements that constitute the universe, namely "body" and "void" or empty space. This "body" is not just one but infinite in number. They are minute and indivisible. They are called atoms
Judeo-Christian-Islamic concept of God
The conception of God as unmoved mover overcomes the idea of "imperfection" that is contained in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God.
The desire to know
The desire to know is the dynamic force behind the human person's inquiry and persistent search for understanding
Aristotle's 9 accidents
The nine accidents are quality, quantity, relations, time, place, action, passion, position, and habit.
Substance and accidents
Whatever exists, according to Aristotle, is either a substance or an accident. SUBSTANCE: that reality to whose essence or nature it is proper to be by itself and not in another subject.A particular desk or cat or person or tree, is a substance ACCIDENT: a reality to whose essence it is proper to be in something else, as in its subject. Red, round, 120 pounds, tall, and other properties are accidents. They cannot exist by themselves. They can only exist in a substance
Metaphysical inquiry
When one engages in metaphysical inquiry, he tries to study reality as a whole by establishing intelligible unity among multiplicity and diversity that characterize the world. Metaphysical inquiry is directed to the whole of reality and not just part of it, such as living beings, material beings, spiritual beings, and so on.
The term "Pre-Socratics"
concerned with the external world of nature. Philosophers before Socrates.
Principle of non-contradiction
first principle of being. If something exists, it exists; it cannot be otherwise. "To be" is the opposite of "not to be" and, therefore, a thing cannot be both at the same time.
The charges against Socrates
impiety and corrupting the youth. The jury decided for the death penalty by a vote of 360 to 141.
The value of philosophy according to Bertrand Russell
importance of philosophy not so much for enhancing one's physical wellbeing or providing definitive answers to philosophical questions but rather in enriching one's mental life. The value of philosophy also includes the greatness of the objects which it contemplates, such as truth, reality, the good, and the beautiful.
Meta-questions
philosophical inquiries and have to do with mapping and understanding the conceptual equipment used in asking questions of fact, value, and explanation