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The The

Entire HistoryEntire History of of

Western Western PhilosophyPhilosophy in in

Fifty Fifty MinutesMinutes

“… if (the best philosophy)

doesn’t seem peculiar you

haven’t understood it”

Edward CraigEdward Craig

The The Entire HistoryEntire History of of Western PhilosophyWestern Philosophy in in 50 Minutes50 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 Bertrand RussellRussell

“ … the no-man’s land between science and theology, exposed to

attack from both sides”


… as soon as you start to comment on philosophy …

… you have started to

philosophise!


Much of the story of philosophy is in dialogue 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?

The The existenceexistence of of GodGod

The question The question of of miraclemiracle

The question of The question of lifelife after after death death

Three Three importanimportant themest themes

1000 BCE 500 BCE 0 500 CE 1000 CE 1500 CE 1000 BCE 500 BCE 0 500 CE 1000 CE 1500 CE 2000 CE 2000 CE

Era or “school”Era or “school” PhilosopherPhilosopher

Key point

Key point

Key point


PresocraticPresocratic Thales Thales c. 620 – 540 c. 620 – 540 BCEBCE

Thinking about the world without first thinking about gods

Water the 1st Principle from which everything came

God in all things

Philosophical thinking before SocratesPhilosophical thinking before Socrates


PresocraticPresocratic PythagoruPythagorus s 570 – 570 – 480 BCE480 BCE

First systematic step-by-step reasoning

Ultimate reality in number

Philosophical thinking before SocratesPhilosophical thinking before Socrates


AcademicsAcademics Socrates Socrates c. 470 - 399 BCEc. 470 - 399 BCE

Wrote nothing -recorded by pupil Plato

Concerned with ethics: what is good

knowledge = virtue ignorance the cause of ignorance the cause of evilevil

dialectic argument proposal, proposal, answer, counter answeranswer, counter answer

Because Plato started an AcademyBecause Plato started an Academy

““The unexamined The unexamined life is not worth life is not worth

living”living”


AcademicsAcademics PlatoPlato

Aristocles aka FatsoAristocles aka Fatso c. 427 - 347 BCEc. 427 - 347 BCE Human being is really soul that fell from the stars

Theory of ideas remembered - on earth, there is only the imperfect

Ideal forms e.g. beauty

Ideal city-state: “The Republic”


Plato’s allegory of the cavePlato’s allegory of the cave


AcademicsAcademics Aristotle Aristotle 384 - 322 BCE384 - 322 BCE

member of Plato’s “academy”

systematic. scientific, diverse Classification of knowledgeClassification of knowledge

teleology: purpose

God as “Prime mover”

revered by Church scholars


““Nature does not Nature does not act without a act without a

goal”goal”


Into the Christian era Into the Christian era Cynics: ascetic, minimise emotion

Stoics: virtue based on good, be indifferent to suffering

Neo-platonists body bad, spiritual goodbody bad, spiritual good

Augustine 354 – 430 “Believe in order to understand”


ScholasticsScholastics Anselm Anselm 1033 - 11091033 - 1109

the first ontological argument

God “something than which nothing greater can be thought”

an argument simply from thinking, not from observation

Thinking based in Christian monasteriesThinking based in Christian monasteries

The Ontological ArgumentThe Ontological Argument from Greek for “to be”, so

“concerned with being”

God’s definition entails his existence

What is the better gift: What is the better gift: “virtual” “virtual” roses ..roses ..

or the or the real thingreal thing??

God is “that than which nothing greater 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 a possible being, then if he existed in reality he would have been greater

if so, God is a being than which a greater can be thought … which is impossible!

Anselm Anselm (1033-1109) (1033-1109)

The Ontological The Ontological ArgumentArgument


ScholasticsScholastics Thomas Thomas Aquinas Aquinas 1225 - 12741225 - 1274

Favoured by RCs Influenced by

Aristotle “Five Ways” or

“Five arguments for the existence of God”

a cosmological argument (4 of the 5)

a teleological argument (the 5th)


Thomas Aquinas’s “Five Ways”Thomas Aquinas’s “Five Ways”

1. Everything is changing – but something must have caused it.

2. Every effect must have a cause

3. Things come into existence, and cease to exist. There must be a cause.

4. Excellence must come from perfection

5. The harmony of things suggests design. This all must be This all must be

God!God!

The Cosmological ArgumentThe Cosmological Argument

cosmos - the world or universe

based on what can be seen

concept of contingency - dependent on something that may or may not happen


The The Unmoved MoverUnmoved Mover

Thomas Aquinas’ “First Way”

everything that is in motion (changed) is moved by something else

infinite regress is impossible

emphasis on dependency

“… it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, moved by no other, and this everyone understands to be God”.

11


The The Uncaused Uncaused CauserCauser

Thomas Aquinas’ “Second Way”

everything that happens has a cause

infinite regress is impossible

emphasis on agency

“There is no case known … in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself … it is necessary to admit a first efficient cause, to which everyone gives the name of God”

22


Possibility and Possibility and NecessityNecessity Thomas Aquinas’ “Third Way”

things come into being and later cease to exist

some contingent beings exist if any contingent beings exist, then a

necessary being must exist (the cause of the universe must be external to it and must always have existed)

33


ExcellenceExcellence

Thomas Aquinas’ “Fourth Way”

in this world there is a scale of more good and less good

this cannot be an infinite scale

there must therefore exist “perfection” at one end of the scale - which is what everyone knows as God

44

The Teleological ArgumentThe 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

The The Argument from Argument from DesignDesign

Thomas Aquinas’ “Fifth 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!


Thomas Thomas Aquinas 1225-Aquinas 1225-

12741274

55

The The Argument from DesignArgument from Design

“… whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it be directed …

therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end;

and this being we call God”Summa Theologica



12741274

The Question of MiracleThe Question of Miracle


12741274

1. God does what nature could never do

2. God does what nature could do, but in a different sequence or connection

3. God does what nature can do, but from his power


ScholasticsScholastics William of William of Occam Occam d. 1347d. 1347

“Occam’s Razor”: “Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity”

All being equal, accept the simplest answer



The Age of ScienceThe Age of Science Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes 1588 - 16791588 - 1679

materialist: God is matter

natural state of human beings = war

society prevents a falling back to this state (social contract)


RationalistsRationalists Descartes Descartes 1596-16501596-1650

“the father of modern philosophy”

a philosophical framework for the natural sciences

a mathematician deduction (from the

reality of the mind), not perception (from senses)

Knowledge comes from logical deductionKnowledge comes from logical deduction

Cogito ergo sum Cogito ergo sum “I think, therefore I “I think, therefore I

am”am”


RationalistsRationalists Spinoza Spinoza 1632 - 16771632 - 1677

the Universe is One

mind and body just different ways of conceiving this one Reality

everything is a necessary part of that Reality

therefore there is no free will

Knowledge comes from logical deductionKnowledge comes from logical deduction


EmpiricistsEmpiricists John Locke John Locke 1632 - 17041632 - 1704

everything we know is derived from experience

the mind at birth is a “tabula rasa” (a blank slate)

primary (objective -

really exist) & secondary (subjective – ideas in the mind)

qualities of objects

Knowledge is based on sense experienceKnowledge is based on sense experience

The mind is The mind is furnished with ideas furnished with ideas by experience aloneby experience alone


EmpiricistsEmpiricists David Hume David Hume 1711 - 17761711 - 1776

anything not given in experience is to be discarded

therefore there is no God, self, causation, inductive knowledge

“I am nothing but a bundle of perceptions”

“miracles” violations of laws of nature

Knowledge is based on sense experienceKnowledge is based on sense experience

David Hume David Hume 1711 - 17761711 - 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 miraclesArguments against miracles


A response to HumeA response to Hume William Paley William Paley 1743 - 18051743 - 1805

evidence in creation of design

the “Clockmaker” analogy

an argument from design (teleological argument)



William Paley William Paley (1743-1805)(1743-1805)

“In crossing a heath, suppose I pitched my foot against a stone … I might possibly

answer that … it had lain there for ever … But suppose I found a watch upon the ground … I should hardly think of the

answer which I had given before …when we come to inspect the watch we perceive … that its several parts are framed and put

together for a purpose …”Natural Theology



William Paley William Paley (1743-1805)(1743-1805)

analogy of watch found on heath

could not say “always there”!

human eye “design”

must be a designer

PurposePurpose RegularitRegularityy

regularity, order, rule in universe

motion of planets, gravity, in solar system

designing principle at work


IdealistsIdealists Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant 1711 - 17761711 - 1776

“categories” for incoming sense-data

“categorical imperative” – a universal moral law

a moral argument for the existence of God

Rationalism + empiricism Rationalism + empiricism

““Two things fill the mind with ever Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration new and increasing admiration and awe – the stary heavens and awe – the stary heavens

above and the moral law within”above and the moral law within”

The Moral Argument for the Existence of The Moral Argument for the Existence of GodGod we recognise an obligation to achieve the

highest standard of goodness …

… and that this goodness should be rewarded by happiness

good and happy - the “summum bonum”, the highest good - ought to happen …

… so it has to be possible

BUT while we can achieve good, we can’t always ensure happiness as well

THEREFORE there must be a God who can do this


IdealistsIdealists Hegel Hegel 1770 - 18311770 - 1831

“dialectic” – thesis, antithesis, synthesis

a progression towards absolute truth

Rationalism + empiricism Rationalism + empiricism


MaterialistsMaterialists Karl Marx Karl Marx 1818 - 18831818 - 1883

atheistic dialectical materialism

socialism the necessary outcome of economic conflict

religion keeps the oppressed quiet

Everything is made of matter Everything is made of matter


MaterialistsMaterialistsLudwig Ludwig Feuerbach Feuerbach 1804-18721804-1872

people are scared to face up to the fact that there is nothing after death …

… so they make up the father-figure they would like to be real

Everything is made of matter Everything is made of matter


To the present dayTo the present day

Existentialists: the human predicament (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre)

Linguistic philosophy: (Wittgenstein) religious statements not open to truth or falsity

God is dead!


To the present dayTo the present day Paul TillichPaul Tillich

1883-19651883-1965

Philosophy frames the

questions to which theology

brings the answers


To the present dayTo the present day

FreudFreud: : “projected” order“projected” order

CoplestoneCoplestone: : self-causing self-causing

universeuniverse

RussellRussell: : “just there”“just there”

DawkinsDawkins: : The God DelusionThe God Delusion

WilesWiles: : Auschwitz > Auschwitz >

God not involvedGod not involved

HollandHolland: : perception perception

SwinburneSwinburne: : good good

testimonytestimony

HartshorneHartshorne: : memory in memory in the mind of Godthe mind of God

HickHick: : replicareplica

VardyVardy: : reprintreprint

Does Philosophy offer Proof of the Existence of Does Philosophy offer Proof of the Existence of God?God?

No - but some more recent philosophers have argued that there

is a demonstrable weight of probability that makes belief in God

an intellectually defensible claim

How much can the discipline of philosophy help us develop better analytical skills?

How much can we know about God by thinking, rather than by revelation?

How can philosophical thinking prepare the human heart to understand the human predicament, and so be open to the Good News of Jesus?

How can addressing philosophical issues create opportunities for dialogue with today’s youth?

this presentation is available for you under the following (eminently reasonable!) conditions. i...

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