Phil - 110 - Final terms

St. Augustine on God’s relation to time

• God is not in time but causes it

• Foreknows past, present, and future at the same time—without coercion of free will

Why free will is good

• God gave free will to do good—live rightly

• Permits praise of right choice and punishment for wrong

Evidence that we have free will

• It is in our power to will—we will it and it is present

• Only voluntary movements can be judged—not natural movements

• God’s foreknowledge does not coerce our will

Beauty of the Universe Theory (on evil)

• Superior and inferior souls are necessary for the beauty and order of the whole—beauty needs contrast

• Lowest souls still have dignity—superior to material objects and contribute to the order of the universe

God’s foreknowledge and freedom

• God exists outside of time and sees past, present, and future all at once

• He foreknows what we are going to will, but does not coerce us in our decision

• God foreknows both what he causes and what he permits

St. Augustine on suffering of innocents

• Temporal adversities for adults to fix their behavior

• Born in a fallen condition of original sin

• Child martyrs are honored by God

Definition of Moral Evil

• Evil done

• Defective movement of choosing temporal things over eternal

Natural evil

• Evil suffered

• Consequence of disorder introduced by sin

Source of Moral Evil

• The will of the individual is the source—not an external force

• Root of moral evil is cupidity—inordinate desire

Problem with relativism; skepticism

• Subjective truth—is relative to a subject

• Skepticism—Is dependent on performative contradictions e.g. no truth can be known

• Objective truths—are independent from the knower e.g. numbers

St. Augustine’s argument for God and existence of evil

• Free will was given to do good—evil actions are defects to this nature and a privation of good

• God permits evil to exist for greater goods to come from it

St. Thomas’ Arguments for God’s Existence

• Motion:

  • Things are moved → must be moved by something else → can’t regress infinitely

  • First mover is God—put in motion by no other

• Efficient Cause:

  • Every effect has a cause → can’t be a cause of itself → no infinite chain

  • First cause is God

• Contingency:

  • If all things were contingent or dependent on something else to exist—nothing would exist

  • There must be a necessary being—God

• Gradation (degrees of perfection)

  • Degrees of good, true, and noble

  • The superlative to these degrees is the creator—which is God

• Governance

  • Non-intelligent beings act towards an end—which should not be possible

  • Intelligent being directs them to their end—which is God

Pantheism

• God is identical to the universe

• St. Thomas:

  • God is the cause of the universe—not identical to it

  • He is in everything as the creator of it

Reasons for Divine Simplicity, Immutability, and Omnipresence

• Simplicity: God is not composite

  • God is not dependent on parts. The unity of the parts would require a cause, but god is the first efficient cause.

• Immutability: God cannot change

  • God is pure act—no potentiality.

  • Change requires a future potential for the subject to take on—but God has no further perfection

• Omnipresence: God is everywhere

  • God is in everything he causes—but not contained in it

God’s equal but differing love

• God loves all things equally—by willing them good through causing their existence

• If a soul lives rightly—God wills more good to it meaning that he loves it more

St. Thomas on the soul’s incorruptibility

• Human soul is incorruptible

  • Self subsistent

  • It exists without a human body—even though it depends on a body.

• The soul has existence in itself, has no parts, and knows eternal truths.

Why our souls need bodies

• The soul is the form of a physical body

• Body senses are needed by the intellectual soul to gain knowledge—which it was not born with

Priority of will and intellect

• Object of the intellect: Grasp the essence or form of an object—”universal true”

• Object of the will: The good presented by the intellect—”universal good”

• The intellect is more noble because it is more simple and abstract than the will.

St. Thomas’s four conditions of ultimate happiness

• Perfect: Fully satisfies all desire

  • Wealth, honor, and fame leaves us still desiring more

• Self-sufficient: It is not dependent on external—stable on its own

  • Power and fame depend on others

• Enduring: True happiness never decays

  • Glory and bodily pleasures are temporary

• Last end: It is the ultimate end that is not a means to anything else

  • Wealth and power are a means to an end—power to influence

Natural vs. artificial wealth and their limitations for happiness

• Natural wealth: Needed for natural wants—food, shelter, water

  • Means to the end of natural wants

• Artificial wealth: Exist for exchange or appearance—money, luxury items

  • Value is derived from an agreement—dependent on external

• Limitation of happiness

  • Neither fully satisfy desire

  • Both are means to an end

Limitations of fame and honor

• Honor: Recognition of excellence

  • A good person is not derived from honor

• Fame: Well known and praised

  • It can be based on false goodness

• Why they fail:

  • Both are depend on external

  • They are not ultimate ends

Limitations of virtues of happiness

• Virtue:

  • How we express our excellence

  • Virtue points to happiness

• Limitation:

  • It is a means to other goods

  • Soul stands in potential to other goods

Why God alone satisfies happiness (St. Thomas)

• God has perfect goodness—the will doesn’t desire more past him

• Final end—God is desired for his own sake

• Enduring—Infinite and never decays

• Self-sufficient—stable on his own

Three types of goodness

• Useful good: Desired as a means to something else

  • Money

• Virtuous good: Desired for its own sake—terminates the appetite completely

  • Truth, God

• Pleasant good: Terminates appetite in the form of rest

  • Entertainment, food

Four levels of happiness

1. Immediate gratification: Maximize pleasure and avoid pain (immediate)

2. Personal achievement: Ego centered (short-term)

3. Good beyond self: Justice, love, and community (long-term)

4. Ultimate good: Giving and receiving ultimate meaning (Eternal)

Need for law and virtue in life and society

• Provide order—not eliminable

• Promote virtue

• Prohibit vice

Four types of law

• Eternal law—Proper acts and ends from God

• Natural law—Rational creatures participation in eternal law imprinted on them

• Human law—Posited by humans through reason and the natural law

• Divine law—Revealed through scripture because human law is imperfect

Cardinal and theological virtues

• Cardinal virtues:

  • Prudence—Practical reason

  • Justice—Giving others their due

  • Temperance—Moderation of desires

  • Fortitude—Courage to endure adversity to achieve goodness

• Theological virtues:

  • Faith—Belief in the truths of the divine light

  • Hope—Trust that end is attainable

  • Charity—Spiritual unity with God

Definition of law (St. Thomas)

• Law: A dictate of practical reason from the ruler who governs a perfect community

Need for Divine Law

4 reasons:

1. We are directed to an end of eternal happiness

2. Uncertainty of human judgement

3. Interior actions must be judged

4. Human law cannot punish all evil

How the natural law is known

• Divine light is imprinted on our minds and is discovered through reason

Why natural law cannot change

• General precepts—Universal/unchangeable

  • Cannot be blotted out

• Secondary precepts—Conclusions of general

  • Can be blotted out—vices