Phil 134 Study Guide PDF

Phil 134 Study Guide 1. Pascal offers what sort of argument for belief in God? Pragmatic or Epistemic? How does it work? 2. What is the ‘many gods’ objection to Pascal’s wager? 3. What is one way that Pascal could respond to the ‘many gods’ objection to his argument? 4. True or false: Pascal mainta...

Phil 134 Study Guide 1. Pascal offers what sort of argument for belief in God? Pragmatic or Epistemic? How does it work? 2. What is the ‘many gods’ objection to Pascal’s wager? 3. What is one way that Pascal could respond to the ‘many gods’ objection to his argument? 4. True or false: Pascal maintains that if you wager for God and lose, you will be no worse off than if you had wagered against God. 5. Pascal insists that “you must bet” either on the existence of God or the non-existence of God. Why does he say this? 6. Clifford contrasts two shipowners. Each believes that his ship is seaworthy despite evidence to the contrary and lets it sail. In the first case, the ship sinks. In the second, it arrives safely. The first shipowner is blameworthy because his action kills many people. Why is the second blameworthy according to Clifford? 7. What is Clifford’s fundamental principle governing rational belief? 8. According to James, it is rational to believe a proposition in the absence of evidence when the option is forced, live, and momentous and when the question cannot be resolved on intellectual grounds. What do each of these four conditions mean? (Think of examples.) 9. James holds that our intellectual lives are governed by two commandments: “Believe truth!” and “Shun error!” Why are these are two distinct commandments? 10. What are some of the main criticisms Kelly James Clark directs against Classical Foundationalism? 11. According to Kelly James Clark, when is peer disagreement with respect to p relevant to whether belief in p is rational? 12. True or False: According to Al Ghazali’s cosmological argument, the universe is ‘subject to origination’—that is, it began to exist. 13. Here is an argument for the conclusion that the universe began to exist: (a) Whatever begins to exist has a cause. (Premise) (b) If the universe did not begin to exist, then there is an infinite temporal regress of physical events. (Premise) (c) An actual infinite cannot exist. (Premise) (d) An infinite temporal regress of physical events is an actual infinite. (Premise) (e) An infinite temporal regress of physical events cannot exist. (c, d) (f) The universe began to exist. (b, e) (g) The universe has a cause. (a, f) Hilbert’s Hotel is a thought experiment that can be used to support which premise of this argument? 14. What is Samuel Clarke’s PSR principle? 15. What sort of being doesn’t exist according to Clarke’s PSR principle? 16. What are David Hume’s main objections to Clarke’s cosmological argument? 1 Phil 134 Study Guide 17. Why does Paley think that one infer the existence of a designer when one finds a watch in the wilderness? 18. Is the teleological argument (as developed by Cicero, Aquinas, Paley, and Collins) an a priori argument or an a posteriori argument? 19. What are some of Philo’s/Hume’s principle objections to teleological arguments? 20. According to Collins, does the fact that we exist (and that we wouldn’t be here to be surprised if we didn’t exist) show that our existence is not surprising given atheism? 21. Suppose that fine-tuning is good evidence in favor of theism. Is that compatible with the falsity of theism? 22. What is the basic form of Collins’ fine-tuning argument? 23. True or false? According to Plantinga, we should understand the proposition 'there are no limits to what an omnipotent being can do' as implying that God could make a married bachelor. 24. What is the problem of evil? What is it supposed to show? 25. What is the difference between the “logical” problem of evil and the “evidential” argument from evil? 26. When it comes to responses to the problem of evil, what is the difference between a theodicy and a defense? 27. What is the free will defense against the problem of evil? How does it work? 28. What does the skeptical theist say in response to the problem of evil? 29. What are two different responses to skeptical theism (that we have discussed)? 30. What kind of argument is Anselm’s ontological argument, a priori or a posteriori? 31. How does Anselm’s argument work? 32. How does Plantinga’s modal ontological argument work? How can one restate the conclusion of Plantinga’s argument in the form of a disjunction? 33. According to C. S. Lewis, we are forced to believe… what? 34. Why does C. S. Lewis think that our ordinary thought and talk about morality is evidence in favor of theism? 35. What is the Euthyphro dilemma? 36. Why does Wielenberg think that there can be objective moral truths even if theism is false? 37. Does Hume think that the idea of a miracle is incoherent? 38. Why is Hume opposed to believing that miracles occur? 2 Phil 134 Study Guide 39. What is the main challenge Mavrodes presents for Hume’s argument against miracles? 40. What does Dembski argue for with respect to design inferences? 41. What is Dennett’s main challenge for proponents of intelligent design? 42. Pike argues that divine foreknowledge is incompatible with human freedom. Why? How does his argument work? 43. Does Pike try to show that God’s foreknowledge causally constrains our choices? 44. What is the Molinist (middle knowledge) response to Pike’s argument? 45. What is Hasker’s main objection to the Molinist view? 46. State the classic puzzle of omnipotence. 47. Both Mavrodes and Frankfurt argue that the puzzle can be easily resolved—how? 3