OCR A Level Philosophy of Religion

A posteriori

Knowledge based on experience (e.g., Cosmological Argument).

A priori

Knowledge independent of experience (e.g., Ontological Argument).

Analogy

Using comparison to explain religious language (Aquinas).

Anthropic Principle

The universe appears fine-tuned for life (Tennant).

Bliks

Non-falsifiable religious beliefs (Hare).

Cognitivism

The belief that religious/moral statements are objective and true/false.

Cosmological Argument

Argument for God’s existence based on causation (Aquinas, Leibniz).

Credulity, Principle of

Religious experiences should be taken as true unless proven otherwise (Swinburne).

Determinism

The belief that all events are pre-determined and inevitable.

Evidential Problem of Evil

The sheer amount of suffering makes God’s existence unlikely.

Falsification Principle

A statement is meaningful if it can be proven false (Flew).

Free Will Defence

Theodicy arguing that God allows evil due to human freedom (Plantinga).

Gaunilo’s Objection

Critique of Anselm’s Ontological Argument (Perfect Island analogy).

Hume’s Fork

The distinction between matters of fact and relations of ideas.

Irenaean Theodicy

Evil exists for human growth and soul-making (Hick).

Language Games

Wittgenstein’s theory that religious language is meaningful in context.

Materialism

The belief that only physical matter exists (opposed to dualism).

Meta-Ethics

The study of the nature of moral language and judgments.

Moral Argument for God

God is needed as a basis for objective morality (Kant).

Mystical Experience

Religious experience involving direct encounter with God (William James).

Natural Law

Moral order inherent in nature, given by God (Aquinas).

Numinous

The feeling of awe and wonder in religious experience (Otto).

Omnipotence

God’s all-powerfulness, debated by theologians.

Ontological Argument

An a priori argument for God’s existence (Anselm, Descartes).

Predicate

A quality or property attributed to a subject (used in Ontological Argument).

Process Theodicy

The idea that God is limited and suffering is part of His experience (Griffin).

Quinque Viae

Aquinas’ Five Ways to prove God’s existence.

Religious Experience

Personal encounters with the divine (James, Otto, Swinburne).

Religious Pluralism

The belief in multiple valid religious truths.

Revealed Theology

Knowledge of God gained through divine revelation (Barth).

Soul-Making Theodicy

The view that suffering helps humans develop spiritually (Irenaeus, Hick).

Teleological Argument

The argument for God’s existence based on design (Paley, Tennant).

Theodicy

An explanation for why a good God allows evil.

Transcendence

The belief that God exists beyond the physical world.

Verification Principle

The idea that only verifiable statements are meaningful (Ayer).

Wittgenstein

Proposed Language Games theory in religious language debates.