Question | Answer |
freedom | The Relationship between the inner will of human beings and the external world. |
Incompatibilism | Its either (A) every event has its cause or (B) we have the free will to make choices. Not both. |
Libertarianism | We have the free will to make choices. Some events are exempt from the causal laws. Human decisions and actions are made by our minds; our minds are cut off from the causal chain. |
Hard-Determinism | Every event has its cause. Everything in the Universe is determined by causal laws. That includes our desires, decisions, and actions |
Compatibilism | (a) Every event has it cause and (b) we have the free will to make choices can both be true. The language of free will and the language of causal relationships are just two different ways of talking about our world. Both are necessary: one is necessary fo |
Atheism | Not believing in any gods |
Agnosticism | Without any knowledge of god. No opinion |
Evidentialism | belief is justified depends solely on what a person's evidence is |
nonevidentialism | Not enough evidence to support god. Evidence and faith are two separate things. U don’t need evidence? |
Fideism | religious belief must be based on faith alone. No evidence is needed |
Monotheism | belief in the existence of one god |
polytheism | the belief in or worship of many gods |
The Ontological Argument | A Perfect Being cannot have any imperfection; it must have all perfect properties; and it cannot possibly lack any of them. God is a Perfect Being; he is all-knowing; all-powerful; perfectly good. He must be real because existence is better than nonexiste |
The Teleological Argument | Everything that has a complex order, regularity, harmony, and logic must have been a purposeful product of some intelligent design. The world -- the Universe, nature in general, life, human life, the human body, etc. -- exhibits so much order and harmony |
Interactionism | Form of dualism. Claim that both entities, although different, causally interact with each other. |
Physicalism | Mind & body are the same. Existence of human beings can be fully explained in terms of their physical or material components |
The identity theory (reductionism) | Treats mental events identical to brain. |
Functionalism | The mind is constituted by the certain patterns or relations between the parts of the physical system, independent of the material that embodies the system. |
Dualism | The mind and the body (including the brain) are separate entities. Descartes’ arguments are often seen as the starting point. |
Descartes argument DOUBT | I can doubt that my body exists but I cannot that my mind does (It’s “I think therefore I am”; there is always that “thinking thing” So the body and the mind are not identical |
Descaretes argument CONSCIOUSNES | The mind is the thinking thing that is able to know, reason, imagine, decide, and so forth. “Material objects cannot have the property of consciousness” |
Descartes argument DIVISIBILITY | The material body (just as any material objects) is divisible while the mind is not, so they are not identical. |
Arguments for Dualism | * Dreams, sleepwalking, and some mental diseases (e.g., schizophrenia) seem to show some splits between body and mind. * Homosexual- mind may be a girl but body is actually a boy. |
Arguments for physicalism | * A brain damage / surgery can change our mental activities, abilities, personalities, and the likes. *Chemical substances can affect our brains and mental acts. Medications & drugs affect our perception of the world and some features of character; for in |
The strong artificial intelligence theory | A well programmed computer could understand, believe, and have other cognitive capabilities, and hence would be a mind. |
The weak AI Theory | Computers and programs can only simulate mental activities. |
The turning test | If the computer program could fool a panel of judges into thinking they were communicating with a human, it would be a proof that the program was capable of thinking |
Three areas of metaphysical inquiry | 1. The nature of ultimate reality 2. The mind-body problem 3. The problem of determinism and freedom |
The nature of ultimate reality DUALISM | Descartes argued that there were two basic yet separate substances in the universe: the material world of things in space and the immaterial world of mind and ideas. |
The nature of ultimate reality MATERIALISTS | Argue that only matter is ultimately real so that thought and consciousness can be derived from physical entities (such as chemistry, brain states). mechanical, physical explanations for why and how things existed. |
The nature of ultimate reality IDEALISTS | Respond that the mind and its ideas were ultimately real and that the physical world derived from the mind. Idealists tend to look for purposes, moral as well as rational, to explain existence. (Ex. the mind of God, Berkeley’s esse est percipi, “to be is |
The Mind-body Problem | A more specific subject referring to human existence: What form of being is human being? 3 answers are given: dualism, physicalism, and functionalism. |
Freedom and Determinism | Is yet another question considering the relationship between human existence and the outside world. Three schools again: hard determinism, libertarianism, and compatibilism. |
Reason and Faith | Even tho there is no real evidence to prove God’s existence, you still have to make a choice between faithful and unfaithful life because avoiding the choice is actually choosing the latter. |
Pascal’s Wager | Cost-benefit analysis, it’s reasonable to get ourselves 2 believe in God nd live religious life, regardless of whether we have evidence 4 God’s existence. If there is no God, u sacrifice very little; but if God exists u can win a lot (heaven) nd pay a hug |
Pious life (religious) GOD EXISTS | I sacrifice some qualities of my earthly life but win the eternal life in heaven. |
Pious life (religious) GOD DOESNT EXISTS | I sacrifice some qualities of my life and get nothing in exchange, perhaps mere satisfaction of being a decent person. |
Atheistic Life (pleasant) GOD EXISTS | I enjoy life and do not worry about sins and other limits but I may pay a huge price: hell! |
Atheistic Life (pleasant) GOD DOESNT EXISTS | I enjoy an none religious life and pay no price for it |
James Pragmatism | Pragmatic idea of the truth. It is better to risk the chance of error than the loss of truth by believing what might maximize our good. Besides, if religious faith serves some practical goals of my life then it would be unreasonable to reject it. |
Kierkegaard’s “leap of faith” | Is the act of believing in something without, or in spite of, available empirical evidence. “Belief is not a form of knowledge but a free act, an expression of the will” |
The problem of evil THE ARGUMENT AGAINST GODS EXISTENCE | If there is God and there is Evil, God must be either unable to fight Evil (hence he is not all powerfull) or he is able to do that but he does not want to (thus being not perfectly good). Thus, there is no God as an all-powerful and all-good being. |
The problem of evil THE GREATER GOOD ARGUMENT | God exists but the evils of the world are mere side-effects or the means for a greater good (like pain in our body serves a higher good, namely life itself). |
The problem of evil THE FREE WILL ARGUMENT | This greater good is our Free Will. If we (or God) have to choose between (1) a world where people have free will and hence are able to harm others and (2) a world where there is no suffering but people have no free will and ability to decide how to live |
Science and religion ADVERSARIAL VIEW | We must choose one and deny the other, it is either science or religion, never both. |
Science and religion TERRITORIALISM | Religion and science apply and operate in two separate realms of the world, physical and spiritual. |
Science and religion PERSPECTIVALISM | They describe nd explore the same reality in different ways, from different points of view |
Science and religion HARMONIZATION | Findings of science & the truths of religion can be consistent & even support each other. |