Philosophy

Why the existence of evil is problematic for Christianity

• The main idea gets to the way christians understand God. omnipotence (all-powerful), omnibenevolence (all-loving and good), and omniscience (all-knowing)

• Evils existence challenges these ideas. Its a problem for christianity because it challenges the christian view of God. 

What Augustine identifies as the primary source of immorality

Inordinate Desires

 Augustine’s understanding of inordinate desire

• A desire we have lost control of and has become too powerful. Dominates the soul 

Augustine’s view of who is ultimately responsible for evil and why

• Human beings are ultimiltly and directly responsible because they freely choose to prioritize temporal things over eternal things (Gods Will)

The part of the soul that knows the moral law and instructs us on how to fulfill it

• Reason

Augustine’s understanding of human happiness and how it relates to the eternal law

• Happiness means eternal life with God. 

• God gives us the eternal law/moral law and by obeying that law is the way we achieve happiness 

Augustine’s understanding of why God gives us a moral law

• God gives the moral law because he desires our good and our happiness therefore he gives the law to show us how to attain happiness. 

  The kinds of obligations that follow from the moral law vs. the kinds of obligations that follow from the temporal law

• Moral law we get moral obligations (things we have to do from a moral perspective) whereas Temporal law (law human beings create) we have legal obligations. Things we have to do to follow the law of society 

 How Augustine’s ethics relates to the ethical theories of the pagan philosophers

• Agustine does not reject the theories of plato aristotle or the stoics instead you can incorporate those perspective in ways of making sense of reality and harmonize with christianity 

Augustine’s understanding of the relationship between goodness and existence

The Christian view that God is all good and all perfect therefore whatever exist is created by god. God wills good to exist. Whatever God creates is inherently God. it may not be perfectly Good but it is God. Nothing is inherently evil.

 Augustine’s understanding of why free will is a good thing

• Free will is a good thing because it is given by God. 

• We need it to live a good life. Necessary tools we have to use to obtain happiness and virtue

What it means to call the will an intermediate good

• Free will can be used for either good or evil purposes. Can be used for immoral or moral purposes. Can become virtuous and happy or vicious and miserable 

  Augustine’s argument for why God does not destroy evil

• God does not destroy evil because in order to destroy evil ,God will have to destroy free will. God will not destroy free will because it leads to our happiness. God wants that for us so he will not destroy free will so god will not destroy evil. 

  Aquinas’s understanding of a law, and all of the essential characteristics of a law

• A law is a rule and measure of action. Tells u what to do and measures you according to it 

• Characteristics include: 

  • Laws come and are known by reason (rational principles)

  • A law always directs us to the common Good 

  • A law follows from or is given by a true law giver 

  • A law is promulgated (it is made known) 

  Aquinas’s understanding of the kind of being that qualifies as a true lawgiver

• A true lawgiver has to be rational, know the common Good, Must have some kind of law enforcing power 

  The definitions of: eternal law, physical law, natural law, divine law, and human

• Eternal Law 

  • The law by which God governs the whole of creation 

• Physical Law 

  • Governs physical beings as far as its physical. Governs bodies 

• Natural Law  (moral law)

  • One of the two parts of the moral law. The part of the moral law that reason can know on its own 

• Divine Law (Moral Law) 

  • Other part of the moral law that must be revealed to us because we can not know it on reason alone (bible)

• Human Law 

  • Laws that are established by governments and legal systems 

 How Aquinas conceives of God’s governance of creation

• The nature of things. God governs creation by giving each substance a certain nature. That nature dictates or determines how that substance lives or exists. 

 Aquinas’s understanding of why God gives us a moral law 

• God gives us the moral law to make us virtues and good so we can obtain happiness 

Two parts of the moral law

• Natural law

• Divine Law

  Aquinas’s understanding of how we know the precepts of the natural law

• We come to know the natural law by examining our nature and or human nature. Aquinas does this by having us examine our basic inclinations. Basic desires. From that we find how to fulfill and satisfy our basic inclinations. Therefore inclinations are not inherently bad things. They are inherently good things. Because God gives them to us. We must figure out how to abide to them properly 

    The various characteristics of the precepts of the natural law

• First principles of practical reason 

• Universal apply to all people

• Unchanging 

• Permanent 

The fundamental precept of the natural law

Do good and avoid evil

The distinctions Aquinas draws between the precepts of the natural law and the precepts of human laws

• Natural Law are general, universal unchanging permanent 

• Human law are the opposite , Concrete/particular, relative (only to a certain segment of human beings), changeable, not permanent 

 The relationship between the natural law and the human law, and how we can distinguish just human laws from unjust human laws

• Human laws are derived from natural law. 

• We can distinguish just from unjust because just laws correspond to the natural law, Unjust bad human law violate the natural law 

Why human laws are necessary for human beings

• Because natural law is very general we need concrete rules to live on.

• We need human laws to more directly coerce us or force us to obey the natural law 

 The moral realm vs. the political realm in terms of the affairs they are concerned with

• The moral realm is concerned with external and internal affairs. Morality cares about how we behave and who we are .  Political realm is only concerned with external affairs. Human

The relationship between human laws and the conscience

• Human laws can move or strike the conscience but only if those laws are just. If a human law is unjust then it has no power to move or strike the conscious  

  Aquinas’s conception of justice and how justice relates to rights

• Justice is the persistent willingness to render to others what is due to them. 

• You have a right to something if it's due to you 

Aquinas’s conception of love

• Love is the act of willing the good for others