Arguments based on Observation OCR A* revision notes
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Course
G571 - AS Philosophy of Religion
Institution
OCR
Revision notes for year 1 OCR philosophy on the arguments on observation which are in depth explaining all of the AO1 and AO2 points with in an depth clear evaluation table with key philosophers for each AO2 question
A01 Points
● Posteriori - reasoning that uses observation or experience to reach conclusions.
● Cosmological = observations about the way the universe works and from these try
to explain why the universe exists (aquinas first, second and third way) motion,
causation and contingency
First way - ‘unmoved mover’ everything has to move from potentiality to actuality
by something else, mover itself is moved by something else etc.. can't go on to
infinity as there would be no first mover so nothing would have moved in the first
place. Must be a first mover (unmoved mover = God)
Second way - ‘uncaused causer’ everything we observe an effect) is caused by
something else (makers of objects or situations) things that are causes must
themselves be caused otherwise this effect would be taken away. Can't go back to
infinity because would mean there was no first cause of everything so later effects
and causes wouldn't have happened. Must be an efficient cause that is not itself
cause ‘uncaused cause (God)
Third way - ‘contingency and necessity’ everything in the universe is contingent -
relies on something else for its existence and for it to continue to exist. If we trace
back, get to a point where nothing existed but then nothing would have begun in the
first place. Must be a being that has of itself own necessity (existence can be
explained only by itself which causes other beings - God)
● Teleological = looks at the purpose of something and from that he reasons that
God must exist. (aquinas fifth way, paley's argument)
Aquinas fifth way - final cause “objects achieve their end by design and not by
chance” things that lack knowledge act for a purpose/end (everything serves a
purpose) . Anything that lacks knowledge needs something with knowledge to guide
it - there's an intelligent being that directs all natural things to their end (God) -
biology and evolutionary theory would deny this. “Purpose” implies a mental
, state and mind to have the purpose and if objects do not have minds then the
purpose is not in the thing but in the mind that has the purpose for the thing.
analogy of arrow and archer - archer guides arrow to where it wants it to go just
like God guides natural bodies to where they’re meant to go (purpose just like target)
is it valid to compare the relationship between humans and God to arrow and
archer?
William Paley - analogy of watch maker (‘natural theology’)- complex objects work
with regularity (seasons/planets/gravity) result of the work of a designer who’s put
this regularity and order into place deliberately and with purpose. Eg - complexity of
eye constructed perfectly to see with its flexibility and agility - all this points to a
designer (god). The watch - intricate, cogs, levers,springs - couldn't have come about
by chance (watchmaker)
1. Inference would remain valid even if we’d never seen a watch before.
2. Even if the watch didn’t function properly (the world seems to function
imperfectly) enough design still to deduce the watchmaker.
3. Inference would still be correct even if there were parts of the watch’s function
we couldn't work out. But we don't know whether he's still active or alive/did it
alone or with help. Only know that there was a watchmaker (God)
Hume's criticisms (wrote before paleys ‘natural theology’)
Watch is a machine and machines have machine-makers. What about a cabbage?
Leaves fit together perfectly and serve a purpose of being food but we wouldn't draw
an inference that there's a cabbage-maker. By choosing a machine as an analogy,
they've already determined the result they want.
Examining hume
● Just because we have no experience of something, doesn't mean that our current
understanding cannot explain it
● A vegetable only grows because the laws of biology work - where do these laws
come from?
Darwin’s theory of evolution
● Became agnostic because of his encounters with other religions. ‘Survival of the
fittest’ - species develop randomly and those best suited to the environment and
battle for life survive (natural selection). Survival is a matter of pure chance. Also
questions design - creatures that survive might look like they've been made to fit in
but they survive because they fit in. eg mammoths, dodo dies because they couldn't
adapt quick enough to changing environment. - if this represents design it's a very
wasteful process.
John stuart Mill
● Amount of evil in the world - objection to design. “Not even the most distorted
theory of good can the government of nature be made to resemble the work of
a being at once good and omnipotent”
Flawed universe = flawed creator . real evil and natural evil deaths from illness,
plague, volcanoes etc… (part of the structure of the world) faulty sort of design and
morally flawed designer. E.g, wouldn't be called a good shipbuilder if your ships
leaked.
Anthony kenny - paley's type of argument “leads to a God which is no more the
source of good than the source of evil”
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