Cosmological, Teleological, and Ontological Arguments Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover various cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments for the existence of God, along with major rebuttals and the problem of evil as discussed in the lecture transcript.

Platonic Cosmological Argument

A foundational argument from the Timaeus asserting that everything that begins to exist must have a cause distinct from itself; and since the universe is sensible (empirical) and transitory, it must have a beginning and a cause that terminates in something infinite or eternal.

Causal Principle

The philosophical claim that whatever begins to exist must have a cause for its existence that is distinct from itself.

Aristotle's Cosmological Argument

An argument based on motion, stating that everything in a state of motion must have been caused to be in motion by something distinct from itself, concluding that there must be a first cause without motion to avoid an infinite regress.

Leibniz Cosmological Argument

An argument focused on contingency, asserting that everything that is contingent (that which exists but need not be) must have a reason or explanation distinct from itself, terminating in something non-contingent or necessary.

Actual Infinity

A completed set of real things, such as the set of all natural numbers or an infinity of past moments; Philoponus and Craig argue this cannot exist in reality.

Potential Infinity

A type of infinity distinguished by Aristotle that exists only in theory where one can always keep adding to it, but it is never a completed set of real objects.

Euclid’s Whole-Part Axiom

The axiom stating that a whole must be larger than its units or parts ($\text{Whole} > \text{Part}$), which Bertrand Russell rejects as a "mental prejudice" when dealing with infinities.

Personal Cause (Craig & Swinburne)

The conclusion that the first cause of the universe must have agency or intentionality because mechanical causes involve matter and laws that did not exist prior to the universe.

Hume’s Objection to the Causal Principle

The claim that the causal principle is neither intuitive nor demonstrable because it is possible to conceive of an event without a cause without logical contradiction.

Quantum Vacuum (Krauss)

A region of space where fluctuations come into being without observable cause; Krauss equates this to "nothingness" to argue that the causal principle is false.

Kant’s Restrictive View on Causal Principle

The argument in the Critique of Pure Reason that cause and effect are a priori categories limited to experience within space and time, and thus cannot be justifiably applied to the origin of the universe.

Metaphysical Deduction (Kant)

Kant's process of identifying a priori concepts like cause and effect that must be presupposed as preconditions in order for thought to be possible.

Principle of Sufficient Reason (Van Inwagen)

The principle that contingencies must have sufficient reason; Van Inwagen critiques Leibniz by arguing that if a necessary existence entails the universe, then the universe itself would be necessary.

Socratic Argument for Design

A teleological argument claiming that because biological structures involve purpose and purpose involves intentionality, they must involve a mind.

Epicurean Objection (Classical)

The argument that purposeful-looking structures could arise from nature (atoms) by chance without a mind, and that the presence of evil suggests any potential cosmic mind cannot be good.

Darwinian Evolution (Natural Factors)

The theory that apparently purposeful biological structures result from random genetic mutation and natural selection, omitting the need for a mind.

Ernest Mayr on Randomness

The definition of biological randomness as a lack of correlation between new genotypes and the adaptational needs of an organism in a given environment.

Suboptimal Properties (Dennett)

The presence of clumsy or imperfect biological features, like in the eye, which Dennett uses to argue that organisms were not purposed by an optimal mind.

Fine-Tuning Design Argument

The claim that physical constants of the universe are precisely adjusted to enable life and matter, presupposing intentionality and mind.

Multiverse Theory

The proposal that numerous other universes exist, which accounts for the apparent fine-tuning of our universe as a result of observational bias.

Copenhagen Interpretation

The quantum mechanics view that a wave collapses into a particle when measured, which some critics find anthropocentric.

Many Worlds Interpretation (Everett)

A mathematical model stating that measurement situates an observer in one of many worlds, used as an alternative to the Copenhagen Interpretation.

Weak Anthropic Theory

The idea that our recognition of fine-tuning is subject to the constraints of our specific reality; that is, we wouldn't be here to wonder if things were different.

Modal Ontological Argument

An argument using modal logic operators to assert that if it is possible for a maximally great being to exist, it must exist in all possible worlds, including the actual world.

Kripke’s Semantics

A framework where Necessary A ($\square A$) is true in all worlds, Possible A ($\diamond A$) is true in at least one world, and a possible world is defined as a maximal state of affairs.

S5 Standard Modal Logic Principle

The logical principle that if it is possible for something to be necessary, it is necessary ($\diamond ◻ A → A$).

Transworld Identity

The problem of how a concrete individual can exist in multiple abstract worlds, solved by distinguishing between concrete property-bearers and their abstract individual essences.

Accessibility Relation (Irvine)

The concept that what is necessary in one world is true in all worlds; Irvine argues that if a scientific attitude is held, this relation must be rejected to allow propositions to be possibly false.

Reformed Epistemology (Plantinga)

The view that belief in God is rational if it appears true to a person, they lack counter-evidence, and they are not suppressing information, even without scientific evidence.

De Dicto vs. De Re Necessity

De Dicto necessity applies to propositions ($◻ p$), whereas De Re necessity applies to the being or properties of an object itself.

Epicurean Problem of Evil

The dilemma that if God is willing but unable to remove evil he is feeble; if able but unwilling he is envious/not good; leading to a dismissal of the traditional concept of God.

Mackie's Logical Argument from Evil

The claim that there is a logical contradiction between the three propositions: 1. God is powerful/omnipotent, 2. God is wholly good, and 3. Evil exists.

Free Will Defense (Plantinga)

The argument that it is possible God cannot create a world with moral goodness without moral evil because significant free actions cannot be causally determined by God.

Transworld Depravity

The possibility that every person God could create would, in any world where they have moral significance, freely choose to do at least one wrong action.

Rowe’s Evidential Argument for Evil

The claim that the existence of "pointless evil" (evil that can be omitted without losing greater good) makes it rational to believe that an all-good, all-powerful God does not exist.

Skeptical Theism

The response stating that humans are not rationally entitled to determine if an evil is "pointless" because they lack access to the bigger picture/the total state of the universe.

Hume’s Semantic Vacuity Objection

The argument that the term "good" as applied to God is semantically vacuous (an honorific title) because there is no analogy to human goodness when God permits all things.