The Universe and place of humans

Cosmological argument (first cause)

The big bang theory, it is scientific and it states that the universe formed in a rapid expansion from gas and dust.

The Teleological (Design) Argument

Key Idea: Just as a watch’s intricate design implies a watchmaker, the universe’s complexity implies a creator (William Paley).

Examples: The human eye, fine-tuning of the universe, and ecosystems.

Strengths: Logical, supports religious beliefs, based on observable evidence.

Genesis

A religious theory that states that God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th day, making it the holy day.

What does Genesis say?

The universe was made by God out of nothing- Ex Nihilo

God was pleased with it

God created humans specifically

Created in God’s image ‘imago dei’

Given free will

Made to rule over everything on the earth

Women come from men

Fundamentalist Christian

Bible is free from all error, it is the word of God. Where the bible contradicts science, fundamentalists will take the bibles word.

Conservative Christians

The Bible is not the direct word of God. Accept certain truths that appear e.g. that Jesus was born of a virgin

Liberal Christians

Writers may have had an experience of God but may have made mistakes in their writing

Many passages are symbolic e.g. miracles didn’t actually happen but are symbolic of the teachings of Jesus

What is a humanist?

A person who does not belive in an after life, so they focus on seeking happiness in this life. They rely on science for the answers to questions such as creation, and base their moral and ethical decision-making on reason, empathy and compassion for others.

Anthropocentric

human-centred view of value. The earth is valuable because of what it does for us. We want to protect it as a way of protecting human interests

Geocentric

world-centred view. The earth is valuable in and of itself. It is worth protecting because it is unique and beautiful.

Theocentric

God-centred view of value. The earth should be valued because it is part of God’s creation. He ‘saw that it was good’ and therefore, because he values the world and gave it to us to care for, we should show our respect and love for him through our treatment of the world.

Stewardship

God created the world and therefore we must look after it

Dominionship

God created the world for our personal use meaning that we can use it however we like.

Imago dei

loved and intended by God, sharing in his attributes, capable of love, reason and morality

Posessing free will

demonstrated through choosing to eat the forbidden fruit

Soul

the spiritual or non-material part of a person, regarded as immortal

Dualism

we are made of two separate parts: 

1. Physical body

2. Spiritual soul

Our soul lives in our physical body. It is the true, inner part of us which will live on after our material body dies.

Materialism

 only physical matter. All we have, as human beings, is a physical body; there is no soul or spirit that survives death.

Physicalism

Physicalism is the philosophical claim that only what is physical is real, the real world is nothing more than the physical world. What exists in the world observable by the outer senses

Plato’s views on the soul

Plato considered the soul as the essence of a person- that which decides how we behave. The Soul is our true selves and has three parts: Reason, bodily desire and emotion.

Aristotles views on the soul

Aristotle was a physicalist. He used the term ‘soul’ but only to describe the ‘essence’ of a thing  Our ‘soul’ is what makes us function as the being we are, but when we die, and therefore stop functioning, we lose our essence, or soul. The soul cannot live on without the body

Aquinas’ views on the soul

We are ‘spirited bodies’ or ensouled bodies. We exist as two parts (body and soul) but need both to live. These physical bodies will die and our souls will live on. We will be complete again when soul reunites with resurrected bodies in the afterlife. Aquinas thought of souls were whatever it is in living things that makes them alive. The job of an anima (Aquinas’s word for soul) is to animate non-living physical stuff into a living organism. 

Dawkins views on the soul

Dawkins is a materialist. He rejects all talk of souls as he believes were are just our physical beings. The operation of this physical system gives rise to consciousness, emotions, personality etc, but these are not separate from the body in any way. Believes the ides of a soul is a human construct.

The Duncan Macdougal experiment

An experiment trying to prove that the soul is real. A doctor, Duncan Macdougal got 6 terminally ill patients and he weighed them before and after their death, he concluded that there was a loss of 23 grams after death.

Philosopher David Hume said that only 2 types of statement can be considered ‘true’, what are they?

Statements that are true by definition e.g all bachelors are unmarried men or a triangle has 3 sides. Statements that are observable e.g. the walls are white, there are no men in the room etc. These two truths are known as anylitic truths and synthetic truths

Free will

Humans have agency over their life and can do as they please

Determinism

Every event has a cause, which may also involve believing that human beings cannot have free will, as their choices and actions are caused

Moral evil

Arises from responsible human actions which cause suffering E.g. stealing, murder, tyrannical regimes

Natural evil

Arises from events which cause suffering but over which we have little control E.g. earthquakes; disease; AIDS Also, physical evil - pain or mental suffering

Ultimate reality

something that is the supreme, final, and fundamental power in all reality