entire phil
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This presentation is available for you under the following (eminentlyreasonable!) conditions. I gladly grant to anyone who wants it a freelicence to use this material for non-profit Christian teaching or for
education. I require that I, Mike Fuller, am acknowledged on eachoccasion of use as the author of this material,and that it is not altered in any way.
The images used in the presentation are (to the best of myknowledge) either copyright free, or (particularly the photographs)
my own copyright, and may not be used for any other purpose.
There is no charge made for this material, but any gifts youmay choose to give are gladly received. These will be used tofinance my continued exercise of ministry, particularly the
encouragement of pastors in developing world countries
Please send any such gifts to me at:
Mike Fuller, 87 Middleton Road, Banbury, Oxon. OX16 3QS, UK
or donate through PayPal at www.mikefuller.org.uk
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TheEntire History
of
WesternPhilosophy
inFifty Minutes
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if (the bestphilosophy)doesnt seempeculiar you
havent
understood itEdward Craig
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The Entire History of Western Philosophy in 50 Minutes
Philosophy: the love of Wisdom
especially questions about ultimate reality
why things are the way they are
making sense of life
thinking about thinking
Bertrand Russell
the no-mans landbetween science and
theology, exposed to attack
from both sides
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The Entire History of Western Philosophy in 50 Minutes
as soon as you start to comment onphilosophy
you have startedto philosophise!
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The Entire History of Western Philosophy in 50 Minutes
Much of the story of philosophy is indialogue with Christian faith.
Can you prove that God exists?
Why is there evil in the world?Can miracles happen?Is there life after death?
Is experience useful evidence?
What is good?Can we describe ultimate reality
with ordinary words?
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The existenceof God
The questionof miracle
The question of
life after death
Threeimportant
themes
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Era or school Philosopher
Key point
Key point
Key point
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Presocratic Thalesc. 620 540 BCE
Thinking about the
world without firstthinking about gods
Water the 1st
Principle fromwhich everythingcame
God in all things
Philosophical thinking before Socrates
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Presocratic Pythagorus570 480 BCE
First systematic
step-by-stepreasoning
Ultimate reality in
number
Philosophical thinking before Socrates
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Academics Socratesc. 470 - 399 BCE
Wrote nothing -
recorded by pupilPlato
Concerned withethics: what is good
knowledge = virtueignorance the cause of evil
dialectic argumentproposal, answer, counter answer
Because Plato started an Academy
The unexaminedlife is not worth
living
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Academics Plato
Aristocles aka Fatsoc. 427 - 347 BCE
Human being isreally soul that fellfrom the stars
Theory of ideasremembered - on earth,there is only the imperfect
Ideal forms e.g.beauty
Ideal city-state:
The Republic
Because Plato started an Academy
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Platos allegory of the cave
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Academics Aristotle384 - 322 BCE
member of Platosacademy
systematic.scientific, diverseClassification of knowledge
teleology: purpose
God as Primemover
revered by Church
scholars
Because Plato started an Academy
Nature does notact without a goal
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Into the Christian era Cynics: ascetic,minimise emotion
Stoics: virtuebased on good, beindifferent tosuffering
Neo-platonistsbody bad, spiritual good
Augustine 354 430Believe in order tounderstand
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Scholastics Anselm1033 - 1109
the first ontological
argument God something than
which nothinggreater can bethought
an argument simplyfrom thinking, not
from observation
Thinking based in Christian monasteries
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The Ontological Argument
from Greek for to be, so
concerned with being Gods definition entails his
existence
What is the better gift: virtual roses .. or the real thing?
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God is that than which nothinggreater can be thought
the concept of God exists in the
understanding God is a possible being
if God exists only in the mind and is only apossible being, then if he existed in realityhe would have been greater
if so, God is a being than which a greatercan be thought which is impossible!
Anselm(1033-1109)
The Ontological Argument
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Scholastics Thomas Aquinas1225 - 1274 Favoured by RCs
Influenced byAristotle
Five WaysorFive argumentsfor the existence
of God
a cosmologicalargument (4 of the 5)
a teleologicalar ument (the 5th)
Thinking based in Christian monasteries
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Thomas Aquinass Five Ways
1. Everything is changing
butsomething must have caused it.
2. Every effect must have a cause
3. Things come into existence, andcease to exist. There must be a cause.
4. Excellence must come from perfection
5. The harmony of things suggests design.
This all must be God!
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The Cosmological Argument
cosmos - the world or universe
based on what can be seen
concept of contingency -
dependent on something thatmay or may not happen
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The Cosmological Argument
The Unmoved Mover
Thomas AquinasFirst Way
everything that is in motion (changed) ismoved by something else
infinite regress is impossible
emphasis on dependency
it is necessary to arrive at a firstmover, moved by no other, and thiseveryone understands to be God.
1
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The Cosmological Argument
The Uncaused Causer
Thomas AquinasSecond Way
everything that happens has a cause infinite regress is impossible
emphasis on agency
There is no case known in which a thing isfound to be the efficient cause of itself itis necessary to admit a first efficient cause,
to which everyone gives the name of God
2
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The Cosmological Argument
Possibility and Necessity
Thomas AquinasThird Way
things come into being and later cease toexist
some contingent beings exist
if any contingent beings exist, then anecessary being must exist(the cause of the universe must be external to it and mustalways have existed)
3
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The Cosmological Argument
Excellence
Thomas AquinasFourth Way
in this world there is a scale of more goodand less good
this cannot be an infinite scale
there must therefore exist perfection atone end of the scale - which is whateveryone knows as God 4
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The Teleological Argument
telos - end or purpose
focus on order, regularity,benefit and purpose
uses analogy recalls Plato: all things ordered
by the mind
based on what can be seen
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The Argument from Design
Thomas AquinasFifth Way
everything works to some purpose observed beneficial results suggest there is
a pattern of direction behind this
modern example - animal migration this must be God!
The Teleological Argument
Thomas Aquinas1225-1274
5
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The Argument from Design
whatever lacks knowledge cannot movetowards an end, unless it be directedtherefore some intelligent being exists by
whom all natural things
are directed to their end;and this being we call God
Summa Theologica
The Teleological Argument
Thomas Aquinas1225-1274
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The Question of Miracle
Thomas Aquinas1225-1274
1. God does what naturecould never do
2. God does what naturecould do, but in adifferent sequence orconnection
3. God does what nature cando, but from his power
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Scholastics William ofOccam d. 1347 Occams Razor:
Entities are not tobe multipliedbeyond necessity
All being equal,
accept the simplestanswer
Thinking based in Christian monasteries
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The Age of Science Thomas Hobbes1588 - 1679
materialist: God ismatter
natural state ofhuman beings = war
society prevents a
falling back to thisstate (social contract)
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Rationalists Descartes1596-1650
the father ofmodern philosophy
a philosophicalframework for thenatural sciences
a mathematician deduction(from the
reality of the mind), notperception (from senses)
Knowledge comes from logical deduction
Cogito ergo sum Ithink, therefore I am
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Rationalists Spinoza1632 - 1677
the Universe is One
mind and bodyjustdifferent ways ofconceiving this oneReality
everything is anecessary part ofthat Reality
therefore there isno free will
Knowledge comes from logical deduction
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Empiricists John Locke1632 - 1704
everything we knowis derived from
experience
the mind at birth is atabula rasa(a blank slate)
primary(objective - reallyexist) & secondary(subjective ideas in the mind)
qualities of objects
Knowledge is based on sense experience
The mind is furnishedwith ideas by
experience alone
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Empiricists David Hume1711 - 1776
anything not given inexperience is to be
discarded therefore there is
no God, self,causation, inductiveknowledge
I am nothing but abundle ofperceptions
miracles violations
of laws of nature
Knowledge is based on sense experience
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David Hume1711 - 1776
Hume described miracles as violations of the
laws of nature he said that claims of miracles came from
ignorant and barbarous people
with poor quality of testimony
who might gain from their accounts
many religions cite miracle as support for
their beliefs - but they could not all be right
Arguments against miracles
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A response to Hume William Paley1743 - 1805
evidence increation of design
the Clockmakeranalogy
an argument from
design(teleological argument)
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The Argument fromDesign
The Teleological Argument
William Paley(1743-1805)
In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched myfoot against a stone I might possibly answerthat it had lain there for ever But
suppose I found a watch upon the ground I
should hardly think of the answer which I hadgiven before when we come to inspect thewatch we perceive that its several parts are
framed and put together for a purpose Natural Theolo
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The Argument from Design
The Teleological Argument
William Paley(1743-1805)
analogy of watchfound on heath
could not sayalways there!
human eye design
must be a designer
Purpose Regularity
regularity, order,rule in universe
motion of planets,gravity, in solarsystem
designing principle
at work
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Two things fill the mind with ever new
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Idealists Immanuel Kant1711 - 1776
categories forincoming sense-
data
categoricalimperative a
universal moral law a moral argument
for the existenceof God
Rationalism + empiricism
Two things fill the mind with ever newand increasing admiration and awe thestary heavens above and the moral law
within
Th M l f h E f G d
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The Moral Argument for the Existence of God
we recognise an obligation to achieve the higheststandard of goodness
and that this goodness should be rewarded byhappiness
good and happy - the summum bonum, thehighest good - ought to happen
so it has to be possible
BUTwhile we can achieve good, we cant alwaysensure happiness as well
THEREFORE there must be a God who can do this
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Idealists Hegel1770 - 1831
dialectic thesis,antithesis,
synthesis
a progressiontowards absolute
truth
Rationalism + empiricism
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Materialists Karl Marx1818 - 1883
atheistic dialecticalmaterialism
socialism thenecessary outcomeof economic
conflict religion keeps the
oppressed quiet
Everything is made of matter
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MaterialistsLudwigFeuerbach1804-1872
people are scared toface up to the factthat there is nothingafter death
so they make up
the father-figurethey would like to bereal
Everything is made of matter
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To the present day
Existentialists: thehuman predicament(Kierkegaard,Nietzsche, Sartre)
Linguisticphilosophy:(Wittgenstein)religiousstatements notopen to truth or
falsity
God isdead!
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To the present day Paul Tillich1883-1965
Philosophyframes thequestions to
which theologybrings theanswers
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To the present day
Freud:projected order
Coplestone:
self-causing universeRussell:
just there
Dawkins:The God Delusion
Wiles:Auschwitz > God
not involved
Holland:perception
Swinburne:good testimony
Hartshorne:memory in themind of God
Hick:replica
Vardy:reprint
D s Phil s ph ff P f f th Exist n f G d?
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Does Philosophy offer Proof of the Existence of God?
No - but some more recentphilosophers have argued that there isa demonstrable weight of probability
that makes belief in God anintellectually defensible claim
How much can the discipline of philosophy
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p f p p yhelp us develop better analytical skills?
How much can we know about God bythinking, rather than by revelation?
How can philosophical thinking prepare the
human heart to understand the humanpredicament, and so be open to the GoodNews of Jesus?
How can addressing philosophical issuescreate opportunities for dialoguewith todays youth?
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