Philosophy

Flashcards covering key concepts from philosophy related to Plato, Aristotle, and various philosophical arguments regarding existence and religious concepts.

The quote by Heraclitus about knowledge and change

A man never steps into the same river twice.

Rationalism according to Plato

Knowledge can only be gained a priori, not through experience.

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

Illustrates that our experiences are illusions; true knowledge comes from the world of Forms.

Plato’s Forms

Perfect, eternal, and unchanging ideals of things we experience imperfectly.

The Form of the Good in Plato’s philosophy

The highest Form, akin to the sun in the cave analogy, enabling knowledge and moral perfection.

Aristotle’s critique of Plato’s Forms

Forms are unnecessary; knowledge comes from studying causes in the changing world.

Theory of Four Causes by Aristotle

Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final causes explain existence and change.

Final Cause according to Aristotle

The purpose (telos) of a thing.

Aristotle’s Prime Mover

An eternal, unchanging immaterial mind that causes motion by being the final cause.

Modern science’s rejection of Aristotle’s Prime Mover

Newton’s concept of inertia shows motion doesn’t need continuous external causes.

Plato’s view of the soul

Dualist; the soul and body are distinct, and the soul understands the world of Forms through reason.

Plato’s Argument from Recollection

We have knowledge of perfect things we’ve never experienced, suggesting a pre-birth existence of the soul.

Hume’s critique of Plato’s recollection argument

Perfect concepts can be imagined through reasoning, without requiring a soul or realm of Forms.

Aristotle’s view of the soul

The soul is the formal cause of the body and is responsible for vital functions.

Hylomorphism

Aristotle’s belief that objects are a unity of matter and form (body and soul combined).

Modern science’s challenge to Aristotle’s soul theory

Neuroscience shows mental states correlate with brain states; rational thought is brain-based.

Descartes’ substance dualism

Mind and body are distinct substances; mind characterized by thinking, body by extension.

Descartes’ "Cogito ergo sum" argument

"I think, therefore I am" — thinking proves the existence of the mind beyond doubt.

Descartes’ Indivisibility Argument

The mind is indivisible, unlike physical bodies, hence cannot be the same as the body.

Split-brain patients challenge Descartes’ indivisibility argument

They show minds can divide when the brain divides, suggesting the mind is physical.

Descartes’ Conceivability Argument

We can clearly conceive the mind without the body, implying they are separate.

Masked Man Fallacy

Just because concepts can be conceived separately doesn’t mean they are truly separate.

Ryle’s Category Error critique of dualism

The mind is not a distinct ‘thing’ but describes behaviors.

Ryle’s illustration of the category error

Asking “where is the university?” after seeing the buildings reflects misunderstanding logical categories.

Dawkins’ view of the soul

Soul 1 (literal) doesn’t exist; Soul 2 (metaphorical) is acceptable; the mind is brain processes.

Chalmers’ Hard Problem of Consciousness

Explaining why and how brain processes are accompanied by conscious experience remains unsolved.

Aquinas’ Fifth Way (Design Argument)

Natural beings act toward goals without intelligence, implying an intelligent being (God) directs them.

Aquinas’ example of design

An archer directing an arrow at a target implies that the arrow’s movement has a purpose.

Paley’s Watchmaker Analogy

Finding a watch suggests a designer due to its complexity; nature likewise implies God.

Importance of complexity plus purpose in Paley’s argument

Complexity alone might be random, but complexity serving a purpose suggests design.

Swinburne’s defense of analogical arguments like Paley’s

Analogical reasoning is scientifically valid when similar causes are inferred to produce similar effects.

Hume’s two main criticisms of design arguments

1) Similar effects don't imply similar causes. 2) The universe is more organic than mechanical.

Probability version defending Paley against Hume’s critique

It's astronomically improbable that complexity and purpose arose by chance alone.

Hume’s ‘Committee of Gods’ critique

Even if design is proven, it doesn’t imply one God; multiple or imperfect gods are possible.

Swinburne’s response to Hume’s ‘Committee of Gods’ objection

Ockham’s Razor suggests one God is simpler and more probable than many.

Darwin and natural evil challenge the Design Argument

Evolution explains complexity without a designer; natural evil contradicts a perfect designer.

Tennant’s Anthropic Principle

The universe’s fine-tuning for life suggests deliberate design.

Modern astrophysics undermining Tennant’s argument

Discovery of many Earth-like planets shows life-friendly conditions could occur by chance.

Swinburne’s Fine-Tuning Argument

The precise natural laws enabling life suggest deliberate design rather than chance.

Multiverse Theory countering Swinburne

An infinite number of universes would explain fine-tuning without needing a designer.

Aquinas’ 1st Way (Argument from Motion)

Things in motion require a mover; there must be an unmoved first mover — God.

Aquinas’ 2nd Way (Argument from Causation)

Things are caused; nothing causes itself; there must be a first uncaused cause — God.

Difference between temporal and sustaining causes

Temporal causes occur over time; sustaining causes continuously maintain existence.

Principle supporting the Cosmological Argument

The causal principle: "Nothing comes from nothing" (ex nihilo nihil fit).

Hume’s critique of the causal principle

The idea that everything must have a cause is neither logically necessary nor empirically proven.

Aquinas’ use of sustaining causation against Hume

Secondary causes depend on a primary cause that sustains their causal power.

Russell’s challenge using Quantum Mechanics

Quantum events can occur without causes, so the universe might also.

Aquinas’ 3rd Way (Contingency Argument)

If everything were contingent, nothing would exist; there must be a necessary being — God.

Fallacy of Composition

Assuming that because parts have a property, the whole must too.

Hume’s 20 particles analogy challenge to necessary being

If every part is explained, the whole collection doesn’t need further explanation.

Impossibility of an Infinite Regress according to Craig

An actual infinite cannot exist in reality; an infinite past involves an infinite series of events.

Hume’s response to Craig’s argument against infinite regress

The universe could be an infinite series without beginning.

Hume’s critique of a Necessary Being

We can imagine anything not existing; necessary existence is meaningless.

Modern response to Hume’s necessary being critique

God might be metaphysically necessary, non-dependent, not logically necessary.

Universe as the necessary being

It may be simpler to suppose that matter or quantum energy is necessary rather than God.

Anselm’s Ontological Argument

A priori and deductive — based purely on reason, not experience.

Anselm’s first formulation of the Ontological Argument

God is the greatest conceivable being; existing in reality is greater than existing only in the mind.

Descartes’ development of the Ontological Argument

Existence is a necessary perfection of a supremely perfect being.

Anselm’s second formulation of the Ontological Argument

A necessary being, whose non-existence is impossible, is greater than a contingent one.

Gaunilo’s “Lost Island” objection

One could prove the existence of a greatest conceivable island, which is absurd.

Anselm’s response to Gaunilo’s Lost Island critique

God is necessarily non-contingent; the argument applies to necessary beings only.

Gaunilo’s second objection about God’s understanding

God is beyond human understanding, so we cannot fully conceive of him.

Anselm’s response to Gaunilo’s “beyond understanding” criticism

We can grasp the concept of 'the greatest being' without fully understanding God's nature.

Kant’s critique that existence is not a predicate

Existence does not add anything to the concept of a thing.

Kant illustrating existence is not a predicate

100 real coins are no different conceptually than 100 imaginary coins.

Malcolm’s defense of Anselm against Kant

Necessary existence can be a defining property of a necessary being.

Kant’s second critique

Necessity doesn’t imply existence; something existing necessarily doesn’t prove it exists.

Hick’s refinement of Kant’s second critique

A necessary being could simply not exist without logical contradiction.

Ontological necessity according to Hick

A being may have non-dependent, eternal existence without necessarily existing logically.

William James’ pluralism argument for religious experience

Mystical experiences across cultures suggest a common higher spiritual reality.

Key features of mystical experience according to James

Ineffability, Noetic quality, Transiency, and Passivity.

“God Helmet” experiment challenging James’ pluralism argument

Mystical experiences can be artificially induced by brain stimulation.

Feuerbach on the universality of religious experience

Reflects a psychological need for a higher purpose, not evidence of God.

William James’ pragmatism argument about religious experience

Positive life-changing effects of religious experience indicate a higher reality.

James’ example supporting conversion experiences

An alcoholic gaining moral power after a religious experience.

Counter to James’ pragmatism argument

Hallucinations can also produce life-changing effects aligned with individual needs.

Scientific explanation for St Paul’s conversion experience

Possible epileptic seizure, according to Dr. Ramachandran.

Freud’s theory of religious experience

Religious experience is wish-fulfillment due to fear of death and desire for protection.

Criticisms of Freud’s view of religious experience

Anecdotal evidence; overgeneralizes religious psychology.

Conversion challenging Freud’s theory

Converts may switch religions without losing belief in an afterlife.

Swinburne’s Principle of Credulity

If someone seems to experience something, they probably do.

Swinburne’s Principle of Testimony

Trust others’ reports of experiences unless there are strong doubts.

Key criticism of Swinburne’s argument

Naturalistic explanations like hallucinations are simpler (Ockham’s Razor).

Logical Problem of Evil

The existence of evil contradicts an all-powerful, all-good God.

Evidential Problem of Evil

Amount and types of evil make God’s existence unlikely.

Augustine’s Theodicy

Evil results from human free will; God created a perfect world corrupted by humans.

Free Will Defense (Plantinga)

Free will is necessary for genuine love; a world with free will is better.

Hick’s Soul-Making Theodicy

Evil helps develop virtues; challenges allow moral growth.

Rowe’s example for evidential problem of evil

A fawn dying painfully in a forest fire — seemingly pointless suffering.

Epistemic Distance in Hick’s Theodicy

God must remain hidden to allow genuine faith and moral development.

Omniscience

God knows everything that is logically possible to know.

Omnipotence

God can do all things that are logically possible and consistent with His nature.

Benevolence

God is perfectly good and loving.

Eternalism (God and time)

God exists outside of time; all of time is present to Him simultaneously.

View of God being Everlasting

God moves through time alongside creation but never begins or ends.

Paradox of the Stone

Challenges omnipotence: Can God create a stone too heavy for Him to lift?

Via Negativa (Apophatic Way)

Describing God in terms of what He is not.

Via Positiva (Cataphatic Way)

Describing God using positive terms (e.g., God is good).

Aquinas’ Doctrine of Analogy

Meaningful discussion of God using analogies like 'goodness'.

Univocal Language

Words have the exact same meaning when applied to God and humans.