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Philosophy Topics Year 2, Michael Dummett, Calvin, Kai Nielsen, Karl…
Philosophy Topics Year 2
The Nature and Attributes of God
Omnipotence
God seems to be limited by his own nature: a perfectly good God could not create evil
Aquinas
God can do anything logically possible
It would be nonsense for God to make a square circle as idea is nonsensical
Descartes
Is this ability absolute?
the ability to do anything
Omniscience
God knows every true proposition as true
Does God know the future?
Does God know what something is like?
Does God know how to ride a bicycle?
God knows everything
Benevolence
Are humans incapable of goodness without God?
Evil is the great problem
God is perfectly good
Is God a moral agent?
What is goodness for God?
Can God be perfectly just and perfectly merciful?
The Nature of God: God, Eternity and Free Will
Timeless or in time?
Swinburne
God is in time
Only way to make sense of Scripture
Maintains true free will
Plantinga
God is in time
A world with free will is better than one without
Anselm
Timeless God
God is in different dimension
We retain free will
Not to be thought of in human sense of time
Boethius
God is outside time
Distinction between simple and conditional necessity
We have free will
Everything present to God?
Calvin
We are predestined: no true free will
Religious Language: Apophatic and Cataphatic Way
VIA POSITIVA (Cataphtic Way)
We can make limited positive statements about God
St Thomas Aquinas
W. R. Inge
VIA NEGATIVA (Apophatic Way)
We can only say what God is not
Pseudo-Dioysuis
John Scotus Eriugena
Moses Maimonides
Cognitive
Can we ask whether language about God is true or false?
Non-Cognitive
Is it inappropriate to ask whether language about God is true or false?
All language about God limited as only human
Religious Language: Analogy and Symbol
Symbol -
Paul Tillich
Distinction between a sign and a symbol
Symbol participates in that to which it points
Affirmed and negated by that to which it points
J. H. Randall Jr.
Non-cognitive interpretation
Analogy -
Thomas Aquinas
Language about God not univocal or analogical
Analogy of Attribution
Analogy of Proportion
Unknown nature of God
Religious Language: 20th-century Perspectives - Verification and Meaning
Logical Postivism
Over-simplifies varieties of language use
Foundationalist in leaving its own presuppositions unchallenged
Metaphysics meaningless
Is it creating an alternative metaphysic?
Religious assertions meaningless
Ayer
Theism, atheism, agnosticism all meaningless
Strong Form
Must be conclusively verifiable
Rejected by Ayer and others as impossible
Weak Form
Must be able to state what would make it probable
Accepted by Ayer as reasonable
Religious Language: 20th-century Perspectives - Wittgenstein and Language Games
Philosophy is a contemplative activity
Philosophy leaves everything as it is
Non-cognitive analysis
Don Cupitt
Taking Leave of God
Expressivism
Interpretation denied by Wittgenstein and Phillips
'God' simply term for spirituality
There are only the games
Cognitive analysis and beyond
Gareth Moore
D. Z. Phillips
Search for God religious quest not reducible to ordinary explanation
Is this Fideism?
Seek meaning in use
Religious Language: 20th-century Perspectives - The Falsification Debate
Antony Flew
Do religious people let beliefs be falsified?
John Hick
Eschatological verification
Beliefs are verifiable but not falsifiable in principle
Principle of demarcation between science and non-science
Not about meaning
Basil Mitchell
Parable of Partisan
Irrational to deny beliefs could be wrong. They are genuine assertions
R. M. Hare
Parable of Lunatic
Bliks
Unverifiable unfalsifiable beliefs that are life-changing
Michael Dummett
Calvin
Kai Nielsen
Karl Popper