Summary Complete Notes for OCR A Level Religious Studies - Philosophy of Religion
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Course
Philosophy of Religion (H573)
Institution
OCR
This comprehensive document provides an in-depth, complete, and well-written set of notes for the OCR A Level RS - Philosophy of Religion module. Designed to assist students in their preparation for examinations and enhance their understanding of the subject, these notes cover all key topics, conce...
Philosophy of Religion
Ancient philosophical influences
Plato
UNDERSTANDING OF REALITY
Held common Ancient Greek belief of pre-existent matter
Influenced by Heraclitus: Observed that the physical world is in a constant state of flux –
‘no man ever steps in the same river twice’
Plato concluded that true, eternal knowledge cannot be gained empirically. A priori
reason alone must be relied upon.
Lacks empirical evidence
o Plato defends this as being a good thing: evidence cannot be trusted
o ‘Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence’
o Plato is wrong to reject evidence. It succeeds in allowing us to derive knowledge
Buddhists support Plato’s assessment that the physical realm is in a constant state of
change and truth lies beyond it
Right to point out that our senses often deceive us
Encourages us to question in order to learn rather than accepting things at face value
THEORY OF THE FORMS
True knowledge is found in a non-physical realm: the ‘world of forms’
‘Particulars’ = objects of everyday experience. Imperfect representations/shadows of the
form they partake in
EG when we see a beautiful painting we are looking at the form of beauty but our minds
are trapped in a state of ignorance so we perceive an imperfect thing
Knowledge of the world of forms is recalled through a priori reason because a posteriori
knowledge only reveals a vague shadow of the world of Forms
HIERARCHY OF THE FORMS:
1. Form of the good: allows us to see the world of forms and is responsible for all
existence of life and forms
o Understanding the form of the good makes it impossible for you to do wrong
philosophers with that understanding should rule societies – ‘philosopher kings’
2. Higher forms eg justice and beauty: these are aspects of goodness
3. Lower forms are things we experience: eg form of ‘treeness’
4. Material objects that we experience images of
Aristotle
o The forms are ‘nonsense, and even if they do exist, they are wholly irrelevant’
, o Third Man Argument: infinite regression – why not have a Form of a Form, or a
Form of a Form of a Form?
Plato responds: particulars partake in a form because they are imperfect
copies of it but the Forms themselves cannot be grouped with particulars
– they are what they really are
o Unnecessarily complicated explanation when we already have a simpler theory
that works
o There cannot be one unified form of ‘goodness’ eg the good in military strategy
is how to efficiently kill people whereas the good in medicine is how to keep
people alive
o Something does not have to be eternal to be pure
Negative forms: are there forms of eg death, disease, evil? The physical representations
of these might be ‘perfect’ in their negativity
o Saint Augustine: negative things do not exist. They are simply privations of
goodness
Plato’s argument from recollection
o We have a concept of perfect justice/beauty/mathematics but we have never
experienced such things. Therefore, our knowledge of perfect concepts must be
innate World of Forms and existence of the soul which gained knowledge
before our birth in this physical body
o Justice and beauty could be said to be subjective
However, mathematics is not subjective
o David Hume: we can create the idea of perfection in our minds without
experiencing it
o Even if Plato was correct, the existence of a soul and world of forms is only one
potential explanation. Evolution is another.
Richard Dawkins: it makes no sense to talk of a world beyond this one for which there is
no evidence
o Ideas and concepts are passed on genetically as ‘memes’ which would account
for our recognition of certain concepts
Karl Popper: true reality can change
o Plato invented the theory to make up for a lack of certainty in the world. He
wished it existed, but it doesn’t
Immanuel Kant: also believed in two realities – phenomenal world and noumenal
world. However, he argued the noumenal world can never be known as our observation
changes its nature through our perception of it
Jordan, Lockyer and Tate: it is impossible to gain knowledge of the World of Forms
without placing it in a physical concept
A.J. Ayer: the idea that because we have a name for ‘goodness’ that there must be
something that corresponds to this in reality is ‘primitive superstition’
Iris Murdoch: there is a tangible benefit to the form of good. ‘The idea of good
crystallises out of our moral activity. The concept of good emphasises a unity of
aspiration and belief’.
Plato too readily dismisses the physical world. We can learn a lot from studying it even if
the knowledge is not completely certain
The Theory of Forms is not clear eg does every species of plants have its own Form or is
there just a Form of Plants
, o This is irrelevant, and Plato was uninterested in the Forms of physical things and
more interested in eg concepts
His belief that there is more to life than the physical world is valuable and has had large
influence
Explains why we all recognise the same essential elements in something
Offers an explanation for the imperfections in the universe
ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
1. Prisoners trapped in a cave who cannot move due to being chained
2. Their vision is restricted to one direction: they see a wall on which shadows appear
of real objects moving behind the prisoners (they cannot see these)
3. The shadows are all the prisoners have ever known, so they develop a language to
talk about them as if they are real
4. A prisoner escapes. He is temporarily blinded by the sun and sees the real world.
5. He returns to the cave to explain the truth to the other prisoners, but they cannot
understand him.
Analogy of the cave is convincing and is supported by quantum physics, which
challenges how well we know the universe
Would an escaped prisoner really want to return to the cave? Plato underestimates the
pull of emotions, desires etc
A gloomy cave as a representation of the world is far too negative
Aristotle
UNDERSTANDING OF REALITY
Held common Ancient Greek belief of pre-existent matter
Empirical evidence can be trusted: we can understand the causal mechanism
responsible for change
Everything in the universe fits into one of three substance categories:
1. Substance category one: Subject to decay and affected by the four causes
2. Substance category two: Not subject to decay, affected by the four causes
3. Substance category three: Not subject to the four causes, exists eternally ie
mathematics and the prime mover
Aristotle relies too heavily on sense experience
Aristotle founded the model of empirical observation which created the modern
scientific epistemological method but his theories on the formal/final cause and the
prime mover are completely rejected by modern science
David Hume: Fallacy of affirmation of the consequent – we are viewing events from
inside the cause and effect chain, so we perceive cause and effect. In reality, it may be
nothing more than habitual links between correlated events.
Immanuel Kant: categories of mind
FOUR CAUSES
Things move from potentiality to actuality
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