Philosophy: First Cause & Design Arguments

• Study notes for Philosophy Exam 2.

First Cause Argument & Argument from Design

• First Cause Argument asserts that everything that begins to exist has a cause, implying a first uncaused cause, often identified as God.

• Reformulated Premise states that only things that begin to exist require a cause, helping to avoid the problem of infinite regress.

• Infinite Regress lacks an ultimate explanation, making it seem unreasonable.

• Explanation and Causation are essential for the argument's strength and often depends on identifying causes.

• Argument from Design has two versions: Analogy and Best Explanation.

• Analogy Version compares the universe to a machine and suggests it requires a designer.

• Best Explanation Version states that the complexity of the universe is best explained by a designer.

• Weaknesses of the Argument from Design include the universe not being machine-like enough for the analogy and evolution/natural selection as alternatives to the best explanation.

• Philo's Critique undermines the analogy because the universe doesn't closely resemble machines.

• Even accepting the analogy from Philo's Critique, it leads to questionable conclusions, such as imperfect or multiple gods.

• A machine-like universe and creator suggests both being mechanistic, which could challenge divine perfection.

• Paley's Limitation lacked knowledge of evolution, which offers a naturalistic explanation.

Evil and God

• Problem of Evil raises how evil can exist if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good.

• 3-O God refers to a being that is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnibenevolent.

• Types of Evil include Moral Evil, which is human-caused, and Natural Evil, which is nature-caused (e.g., earthquakes).

• Mackie's Arguments challenges the logical consistency of evil with a 3-O God.

• Mackie's Arguments refute solutions like evil being necessary for good or evil being a counterpart to good.

• Free Will Defense argues evil results from God allowing humans to choose freely.

• Mackie's Objection states that God could have created free beings who always choose good.

• Types of Freedom (Mackie) include first-order freedom to act and second-order freedom to choose desires.

• Swinburne's View emphasizes responsible freedom.

• Swinburne's View states that natural evil allows for meaningful moral choices.

• A criticism of Swinburne's View is that it doesn't fully remove divine responsibility for suffering.

Ethics of Belief

• Prudential Reasons for ethics of belief are based on benefit.

• Evidential Reasons for ethics of belief are based on evidence.

• Pascal's Wager suggests belief in God is a rational “bet” due to infinite gain if true.

• Objections to Pascal's Wager include multiple possible gods and whether belief can be genuine if motivated by reward.

• Miracles (Blackburn & Hume) present two options: believe a miracle happened, or believe the testimony is wrong.

• Miracles (Blackburn & Hume) are both surprising, but miracles violate nature's regularities.

• Miracles (Blackburn & Hume)'s Implication states that testimony alone isn't enough to justify belief in miracles.

Key Concepts from Exam 1 (Review)

• A Priori knowledge is known by reason, while A Posteriori knowledge is known by experience.

• Normative statements describe what should be, while Descriptive statements describe what is.

• Plato's Knowledge is defined as Justified True Belief.

• Aristotle's Issue is that Plato's definition of knowledge is incomplete.

• Foundational Beliefs (Aristotle) include self-evident truths and sensory experiences.

• Descartes' Method of Doubt involves doubting everything not absolutely certain.

• Clear & Distinct Perception is the basis for truth, according to Descartes.

• Skeptical Hypotheses include the dream argument and the evil demon.

• Most Powerful Argument against clear and distinct perception is the evil demon hypothesis.

• Rationalism involves knowledge through reason, while Empiricism involves knowledge through senses.

• Veil of Ideas suggests we perceive mental representations, not the world directly.

• Wax Argument states that perception of wax is known through intellect, not senses.

• External World Proof is based on God's perfection.

• Cartesian Circle uses God to prove reason but only knows God via reason.

• Locke distinguishes between Ideas and Qualities.

• Primary Qualities are objective (shape, size), while Secondary Qualities are subjective (color, taste).

• Locke argues that primary qualities match reality, while secondary qualities do not.

• Sensory Experience (4 Facts) are vivid, involuntary, coherent, and systematic.

• Causal Theory of Perception states that external objects cause our sensory experiences.

• Best Explanation Principle states that simpler, more coherent explanations are preferred.

• Hume contrasts Impressions, which are stronger and more immediate, with Ideas.

• Conceptual Empiricism states that all ideas come from impressions.

• Two Kinds of Knowledge are relations of ideas (a priori, e.g., math) and matters of fact (a posteriori).

• Causation (4 Elements) include priority in time, contiguity, constant conjunction, and necessary connection.

• The Causation Problem states that causation is not knowable a priori or a posteriori.

• Deductive reasoning leads to certain conclusions, while Inductive reasoning leads to probable conclusions.

• The Problem of Induction questions why the future resembles the past.

• Problem of Induction means neither deduction nor induction can justify itself.

• Problem of Induction Counter-induction reveals the problem's circularity.

• Hume's Skeptical Solution states that we rely on induction due to habit, not logic.