...In the Proslogion, St. Anselm puts forth the ontological argument that God cannot exist in the mind alone. According to Anselm, everybody has in his conscious an idea of God as a being of infinite perfection that nothing else matches. As the “Greatest Conceivable Being”, God would necessarily have to exist in reality if He is capable of existing in the mind, as existing only in the mind would render Him less than perfect. Therefore, the being imagined to only exist in the mind would not be God, as a greater being could still be conceived—one that actually exists. This leads Anselm to conclude that God existing only in the mind is a logical contradiction, and must mean that God exists in reality as well. Anselm also responds to a critic of his argument, Gaunilon, who is speaking on behalf of a hypothetical atheist (“the Fool”). Gaunilon reasons that by the same logic that Anselm uses, one could conceive of an island that possesses “…an inestimable wealth of all manner of riches and delicacies in greater abundance than is told of the Islands of the Blest; and that having no owner of inhabitant, it is more excellent than all other countries, which are inhabited by mankind, in the abundance with which it is stored.” (387). If this perfect island can be conceived, it exists in the understanding. By Anselm’s logic, according to Gaunilon, the island would have to exist in reality as well; if it only existed in the understanding, one could still imagine an even more perfect island...
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...lifetimes debating over the existence of a Supreme Being. With the amount of varying belief systems, consisting of contrasting views and practices, it is difficult to find a common ground to discuss these different religious views. However, there is one simple question that brings nations together; does God exist? This is an inquisition that Has stumped many and has resulted in the emergence of countless theories to prove the existence of a Supreme Being. Following the three different arguments, defended and criticized by numerous philosophers, the ontological, cosmological, and teleological argument are indisputable proof of the existence of God. The idea of God has been around for thousands of...
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...for the existence of God. (18) Ontology is the branch of philosophy that explores the whole concept of existence. Sometimes scientist have to assume that something exists in reality in the physical world even if they have never come across an example of it, because a combination of factors indicate that there must be X, even if we have not found it yet, in order to explain other things. The ontological argument for the existence of God is an a priori argument, working from first principles and a definition in an attempt to demonstrate the existence of God. It is also a deductive argument, using logic rather than depending on the evidence of sense experience. In this way, then the ontological argument is different from other attempts to argue for the existence of God. The ontological argument argues that almost everything, which exists, does so in a contingent way; it depends upon other factors. We as individuals are contingent beings; everything else apart from God exists contingently. God, however, it is argued by religious believers, is necessary rather than contingent, there was no time when God didn’t exist. There is nothing that could happen which would cause God to cease to exist. The ontological argument begins with assumptions about God, without any empirical evidence such as the characteristics of God: Omnipotent, omniscient and omnipotent. This is what makes the argument an a priori argument, as most of the evidence used are based on assumptions of what God is like...
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...Does God Exist The question of God’s existence has lingered in the mind of man since the dawn of religion. The simple fact that billions of people consider themselves to have some allegiance to a deity means that this question deserves to be seriously considered. In this paper I will argue for the sake that God does exist and the reasons why. I will include many of the arguments found in our philosophy book and those covered in class as well as other subjects such as human suffering and the reasons God chose to make the world as it is today, also including examples from life and the movies we watched in class. St. Thomas Aquinas had many arguments for the existence of God and one of those was the fifth way. In the argument of the fifth way Aquinas says “The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things which lack knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that they achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly. Now whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is directed by the archer. Therefore, some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God”. Here St. Thomas Aquinas is basically saying that the existence of order and apparent purpose in the universe...
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...Arguments About God The question of God’s existence has plagued people across the planet as long as we have existed. It has shaped our lives and civilizations as a whole. Cosmological arguments for the existence of god are some the oldest. They have been supported by theorists such as Aristotle and Plato and philosophers throughout history. “They all begin with the empirical fact that the universe exists—and end with the conclusion that only God could be responsible for this fact” (63). While they take different forms, they all have this basic structure. Several of their forms were developed by St. Thomas Aquinas, one was his famous was the first-cause argument. It explains that everything that happens has a cause. So something must have been the first cause, which causes the second, and so on. God must be the first cause. Arguments against Aquinas’ question the idea that an infinite regress could not exist. Philosophers, like David Hume, state the universe needs no beginning, it could just be eternal. “The universe may have simply always been” (67). While cosmological appeals stand on the evidence mainly of experience, ontological arguments stand solely on logic. St. Anselm, originator of this theory, described god as “that which no greater can be conceived” (Oppy). He reasoned that nothing can be greater than a being that which no greater can be conceived therefore that being (God) exists. There are many objections to ontological arguments. One general criticism is that...
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...there is more to “goodness” than merely obeying the laws of our countries and keeping contracts. Morality for him has to do with those acts for which human beings can be held responsible, for Hegel, the essence of morality is located within a person’s purpose. Moral responsibility, then, begins with the acts that can be designated to a free will, a will that intends the act. Also the stoic philosopher Epictetus said that moral Philosophy was a form of an act, where each person is an actor/ actress in a drama, he means that an actor does not chose a role, it is the author or the director who does the picking. In the drama of the world it is God who is the author or the director, who will pick out whom the person will be portraying and what to portray and or how he or she will be situated in the story, people have no choice because it is God who is responsible for the...
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...that supports the existence of God. The ontological argument used for the existence of God was fist constructed in the Proslogion of Saint Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The ontological argument is concerned with the nature and relations of being. It attempts to answer questions like “What is real?” Anselm’s ontological proof tends to answer the question of whether or not God is real. In this argument, Anselm defines God as “which nothing greater can be conceived,” which can also be understood as God as perfect. God is defined as “the greatest possible being” in this argument. God too is said to have perfect power : omnipotence. There arises the question if God can create a round square. Can this God bend the rules of logic? But it can be said that God is only omnipotent to the greatest possible extent. Also, in this argument it claims that God cannot do what is logically impossible, but he can do anything that can be done. To conclude, it comes down from “God is omnipotent and can do literally anything,” to “God is omnipotent to the greatest possible extent.” Chapter 2 In this St. Aquinas’ cosmological argument for the existence of God, it is constructed in 5 proofs. First is the argument from motion which talks about, from his observations from Aristotle that concluded from common observation that an object that is in motion is put into motion by another object or force. From this, St. Thomas believes that there must have been an unmoved mover (God) who first put things...
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...INTRODUCTION Thomas Aquinas held the view that human beings are born without any ideas in their minds, man only knows through the process of abstraction of the essences of particular things and forming them into universal ideas. Moreover, the problem of how we know things had been one of the major preoccupations of philosophers over the ages. The ostensive problem raised in an attempt to find out where human knowledge comes from has led to diverse views. Some believe that human knowledge comes from experience and that human beings are born tabula rasa. Others believe that human beings do not acquire knowledge from experience; rather human beings are born with knowledge which is called the innate ideas. In this essay, we intend to look into Thomas Aquinas’ views about abstraction. We shall do this as one should in philosophy by employing the tool of conceptual clarification. We will first attempt a definition of the meaning of the term abstraction and the types of abstraction. This will serve as a springboard for our exploration into the basic thought of Aquinas on the theory of abstraction. Second, we shall carry out a holistic examination of Aquinas theory of abstraction. Finally, we will conclude. 1. ABSTRACTION: A CONCEPTUAL ELUCIDATION. In ordinary language abstraction designates the attitude of someone who is detached from everyday life and does not account what is real. In Philosophy the term abstraction designates a specific operation of the...
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...Philosophy Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Discussed in this paper will be the most prominent individuals in each time period and their ideas, starting with the “Pre-Socratic” philosophers and ending in the era of post modernism. The time period in ancient Greece between the end of the seventh century B.C. and the middle of the fourth century B.C. is what is known as the “Pre-Socratic Era”. The thinkers known as the “Pre-Socratic Philosophers” used the four basic elements (water, earth, fire, and air) as their foundations for their ideas. Thales and most of the other Pre-Socratic philosophers limited themselves mostly to inquiring the nature of existence, being, and the world. They were mostly Materialists, believing that all things are composed of material and nothing else, and were mainly concerned with trying to establish the single underlying substance of which the world is made up. They used this idea of “Monism” without resorting to supernatural or mythological explanations. To these men even the commonest of phenomena like lightning, water freezing to ice, and natural disasters would have appeared miraculous. Empedocles, first of the pluralists, who proposed that reality, is composed of an irreducible plurality of elements. He also documented the first theory of evolution. Democritus developed the extremely influential idea of Atomism (that all of reality is actually...
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...AS Philosophy & Ethics Course Handbook 2013 to 2014 [pic] OCR AS Level Religious Studies (H172) http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/gce/hss/rs/index.aspx OCR AS Level Religious Studies (H172) You are studying Philosophy of Religion and Religious Ethics and will be awarded an OCR AS Level in Religious Studies. The modules and their weightings are: |AS: |Unit Code |Unit Title |% of AS |(% of A Level) | | |G571 |AS Philosophy of Religion |50% |(25%) | | |G572 |AS Religious Ethics |50% |(25%) | If you decide to study for the full A Level you will have to study the following modules at A2: |A2: |Unit Code |Unit Title |(% of A Level) | | |G581 |A2 Philosophy of Religion |(25%) | | |G582 |A2 Religious Ethics |(25%) | Grading | ...
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...but also of his views on ethics, politics and epistemology as well. It begins with an account of medieval philosophy and its chronology followed by a brief survey of the problems central to medieval musings. The problem of universals and particulars is then brought in and is discussed with reference to the raging conflict between the realists, on one hand , and the nominalists on the other . The views of Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus ,in reaction to whom , much of the philosophy of William of Occam took shape , are related . What follows is an account of Occam’s razor, its being rooted in Occam’s position on the problem of universals and the distinction he draws between the knowledge capable of being reasoned and the understanding based solely on faith. His ethical and political views are touched and a few comments are made about the impact and relevance of his views in the Middle Ages. The beginnings of what has come to be classified as the ‘Medieval period ‘ in the historical discourse on philosophy lie in the latter period of the Roman Empire . St Augustine ( c.354-43- AD) can be said to have been the first philosopher of note who drew on Christian theology to develop his philosophical standpoint. The medieval period extends from Boethius and Augustine right up to the 17 the century, so that it becomes a long, intriguing and important phase in the philosophical thinking...
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...to do what is right. • All wrongdoing is the result of ignorance – nobody chooses to do wrong deliberately. • Therefore, to be moral you must have true knowledge. The problem of the One and the Many Plato was trying to find a solution to the problem that although there is underlying stability in the world (sun comes up every morning), it is constantly changing (you never step into the same river twice). 1. An old theory about this problem is that we gain all knowledge from our senses – empirically. 2. Plato disagreed with this. He said that because the world is constantly changing, our senses cannot be trusted. Plato illustrated his idea in the dialogue, ‘Meno’: Socrates sets a slave boy a mathematical problem. The slave boy knows the answer, yet he has not been taught maths. Plato suggests that the slave boy remembers the answer to the problem, which has been in his mind all along. So, according to Plato, we don't learn new things, we remember them. In other words, knowledge is innate. Plato’s Theory of the Forms Plato believed that the world was divided into: 1. Reality and; 2. Appearance |REALITY |APPEARANCE | |An intelligible world |A visible world | |A world beyond the senses |A world of senses | |A world of true knowledge |A world of opinions | ...
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...] PHILOSOPHY, SOPHISM/SOPHISTRY, “PILOSOPO” Rolando M. Gripaldo PHILOSOPHY: Ancient Philosophy literally means “love of wisdom.” In contemporary philosophy there are as many definitions of philosophy as there are schools of philosophy.1 What is interesting is that one school defines philosophy to the exclusion of other schools. For instance, the analytic school defines philosophy as the clarification of the meanings of words, phrases, and sentences, and it rejects metaphysical propositions as cognitively meaningless. Its emphasis is logic and language. On the other hand, the continental school defines philosophy in terms of the meaning of life and one’s relationship with the world and the Other (other human beings and/ or God). It considers the activities of the analytic tradition as meaningless to one’s life. Its emphasis is life. It is therefore advisable to just leave the definition of philosophy in its original etymological meaning, although even this is not safe. Quite recently, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1989), an hermeneute, has rejected epistemic wisdom as within the realm of human control. The ancient Greeks defined philosophy as love of (epistemic) wisdom. Thales, who is traditionally considered the father of philosophy, was interested in “knowing” the ultimate reality, or the funadamental/basic stuff out of which everything comes into being and to which everything eventually returns. Metaphysics is the study of ultimate reality, but to “know” the...
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...4 March: City of God – Utopian Reader – include a little bit on it – 22 volumes in all. Christianity – Augustine – classicly trained greek scholar. City in north Africa. Story like apostle Paul – orginially a person who persecuted Christians – north African wealth family from – found enlightenment in Christianity. Once he joined became one of the early scholars trained in greek – regulized Christian theology. Influence on western world – top four or five who influenced. Confessions and City of God his writings…look up! What’s the purpose of improving human society – complex – why do it? Can human society be made better? Why bother, what is the point, justification? Takes effort, misery involved, change, unknowns, takes energy, takes risks. HAPPINESS – justification for improving society. What do you have to have to be happy? What is happiness – PHI 101 – happiness according to whom? Lack of misery; literally the elimination of misery. Secondly, food – gives pleasure – Happiness is lack of human misery and maximizing /pleasure and happiness. Bliss 24/7 – hedonism Epicureanism – eliminating misery and maximizing happiness. The justification of utopianism = why did plato want the republic? Justisifcation for improving human society among the Greeks? Poor always poor, always unhappy, death claims everyone - it is rational to maximize pleasure and eliminate misery. Do eternally accouding to plato. Opinions – 1. Relativism is a retreat in the 20th century. Can’t...
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...Why was Socrates regarded as a man of virtue? Why was Socrates regarded as a man of virtue? Socrates: Man of Virtue (470-399 B.C.E.) Socrates proposed the theory of value in which there are two sorts of good: virtue and happiness. Both are unconditional goods. But happiness is a "self-generated" good in that it "derives its value strictly from its inherent properties;" whereas virtue is an "other-generated" good in that it derives its value from happiness, precisely from its conduciveness to happiness. Virtue is an instinct in all humanity which can be aroused through self-examination. This universal truth is accessible to everyone who thinks and question. Socrates assumes that any person with whom he talks has the resource to answer his question correctly, that is, that no specialist knowledge is required. Socrates thought that knowledge is virtue, and virtue leads to happiness. It makes sense to think that moral people know what morality is. If you know right from wrong, then you might be able to choose to do what you know to be right. It also makes some sense to suspect that our beliefs about right and wrong influence our decisions. If we believe its right to help a drowning child, then it would be fairly shocking to decide not to do so—and it would less surprising when we decide to help the child. It is quite a shocking statement to say that virtue always leads to happiness. Criminals commit crimes that hurt others to help themselves. To think that their crimes would...
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