Conception of God attributes, Descartes' foundationalism, and Newtonian gravity

A vocabulary-style set of flashcards covering key concepts from the notes: divine attributes of God, Descartes' epistemology, and Newtonian gravity.

Omnipotent

God is all-powerful, capable of creating anything without constraint.

Benevolent

God is supremely good and morally good.

Free creator

God creates the world freely, without external necessity or compulsion.

Divine simplicity

God is simple and indivisible—cannot be divided into parts.

Immutable

God does not undergo change; remains constant over time.

Descartes' foundationalism

The view that knowledge rests on foundational beliefs that do not require justification from other beliefs.

Foundational beliefs

Basic beliefs that do not require further justification and support other beliefs.

Raw sensory data

Immediate sensory experiences used as the basis for beliefs (e.g., appearances of objects).

Cartesian doubt

Descartes' method of doubting beliefs to identify secure foundations for knowledge.

Third law of motion

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Universal gravitation

Newton's claim that a mutual gravitational force acts between every pair of bodies in the universe.

Gravity (inverse-square law)

The gravitational force is proportional to the product of masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Dreaming argument

The possibility that one could be dreaming, which challenges the certainty of sensory beliefs.

Commensurable premises

Premises that are commonly accepted or shareable with the audience; not all premises must be universally agreed upon.