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50 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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8 worldview questions |
1 prime reality 2 nature of external reality 3 humanity 4 death 5 epistemology 6 ethics 7 history shape/meaning/direction 8 consistent actions/commitments |
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8 worldview perspectives |
1 christian theism 2 deism - clockwork universe 3 naturalism - silence of finite space 4 nihilism - zero point 5 existentialism - beyond nihilism 6 eastern pantheistic monism 7 new age - a separate universe 8 postmodernism - the vanished horizon |
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Sire's worldview tests |
1 inner intellectual coherence 2 comprehend the data of reality 3 should explain what they claim to explain 4 must be subjectively satisfactory |
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Nash's worldview tests |
1 test of reason 2 outer experience 3 inner experience 4 practice (does it work in real life?) |
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historic worldview progression out from Christianity |
christian theism deism naturalism nihilism or existentialism postmodernism |
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definition of a worldview |
"Framework or set of fundamental beliefs through which we view the world and our role in it." |
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Attributes of a worldview (from Sire) |
-commitment/orientation of the heart -expressible as story or set of presuppositions -assumptions may be true, conscious, consistent, or not -foundation on which we live |
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christian theism attributes of God |
personal communicative infinite omnipotent eminent sovereign good (holy and loving) plurality of godhead transcendent (not product of universe) |
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christian theism physical reality |
-god created -ex nihilo -uniformity of cause and effect -open system |
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christian view of humanity |
man is made in Imago Dei: -personality -self-transcendent -intelligent -creative -moral -gregarious -created good, but fallen |
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christian epistemology |
we can know the world, and God: -he made it, and gives us ability to experience -he's revealed it, generally and specifically -he communicates with us |
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christian ethics |
based on God's character -NOT because he made it, or declared it -good to extent it aligns with G's qualities -G's character (fruits of the spirit) |
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christian history |
linear to a point - the end of history |
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christian core commitments: |
-to seek first the kingdom of god: --glorify god ----be who we are made to be: embodiment of god in human form --enjoy him forever first act is response to god: love, obedience, and praise to our redeemer and friend |
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deism prime reality |
God, but different: -impersonal -no interaction -creates, but then abandons -prayer isn't interactive -God is transcendent 'first cause' but left it to run it's course. -'The Architect' |
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deism physical reality |
-closed universe -god isn't sovereign over human affairs -everything is deterministic; closed chain of causality -no true self-determinism -no miracles, no intervention |
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deism humanity |
mechanistic. interest in ethics, creativity, etc. but ultimately can't reorder the universe |
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deism death |
may or may not exist after, depending on whether it's a hot or cold deism |
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deism epistemology |
-can only know about g through general rev -draw inferences about g, ethics, etc. from nature, with bad consequences (social darwinism, malthus, nature ethics, etc) |
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deism ethics |
-"Universe is normal" Pope -no fall of man -reason replaces revelation as arbiter of morals -evil is pride, or not being who you're meant to be |
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deism history |
-linear, not cyclical -no eschaton |
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deism practices |
whatever you want them to be (hot vs cold) |
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deism downfall |
-attacked by theists and naturalists for same reason: can't make moralistic claims/philosophy that have to be grounded by theism.
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modern deism |
limited. but perhaps in the church: "Moralistic therapeutic deism" consequences of not having a god |
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naturalism prime reality |
matter is everything universe can be explained, entirely, without G |
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nat physical reality |
-cosmos: "unity of c/e in a closed system" -science will explain these laws to us -doesn't preclude 'deity' that conforms to natural law, explainable in mechanistic, materialistic terms. |
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nat humanity |
-product of evolution -complex organisms -operate via chemical c/e reactions |
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nat death |
extinction of personality, individualism |
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naturalism epistemology |
-can know through reason, including science -universe is in 'normal' state |
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naturalism ethics |
depends on humans: no external, universal standards. -some claim 'to extend there's no impingement on others rights' -others claim 'survival' is best goal |
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naturalism survival ethics |
-natural desire/impulse to survive -some behaviors increase odds of survival -these must be 'good' behaviors -depends on premise 'survival is good' -never proves it -natural/animal instinct =/= 'good' just a preference, not normative |
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naturalism view of history |
no inherent meaning; can't ever ask (or answer) "Why?) -straight line, no goal. -ends with extinction of human consciousness -can't say where life comes from, why is there something instead of nothing, etc. -exception: Marxism |
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naturalism practices |
secular humanism Marxism logical positivism |
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naturalism criticism - ethics |
survival, freedom can't be proven to be good, especially when there's a conflict of goods. An inherent value of freedom has to be tied to an inherent value of humanity, or some other external standard. Like God. |
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naturalism criticism - free will/ethics? |
if we live in a deterministic universe, how can people be held responsible for actions? and if we do dare hold people responsible for their actions, it begs the question, 'who or what determines morality?' modern prisons can't decide whether they're punitive or therapeutic. So do they do neither. |
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naturalism criticism - practical test |
naturalists have a hard time living honestly with the implications of their deterministic, closed-universe worldview - ethics, epistemology, etc. leads to nihilism, existentialism |
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naturalism critiques |
-ethics -free will implications (responsibility/punish?) -practical test -epistemology - reason doesn't exist |
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nihilism |
"the dark reality of consistently applied naturalism" |
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nihilism ultimate reality |
matter is eternal, and all that there is |
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nihilism cosmology |
uniformity of cause and effect within a closed universe |
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nihilism - humanity, epistemology |
metaphysical consequences of closed-system determinism: "the acting man's delusion...that free will exists, is also part of the mechanism." (Nietzsche) no room for anything beyond mechanism |
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nihilism, free will, chance, and change |
'-will' is just the sum running total of unending generations of previous events. -naturalism claims 'chance' introduces potential for change. but 'chance' is just unexpected c/e. -Is there potential for change through chance in evolution? even if there was (not a given), it's still capricious. consistent naturalism leaves no room for consciousness or self-determinism. |
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nihilism and epistemology |
consequences of a closed system:
-if we're product of impersonal forces, by haphazard process or inexorable laws (mechanist/determanist), we have no way of knowing what we we know is true or illusory. -thought is product of matter -matter =/= no interest in true perception or logical conclusions. -reason is unreliable -w/out reason, can't make inferences, no grounds to speak of reality. -to say we're in a box of causal reality, we have to see it from the outside to know if it's true...science/empiricism can't prove naturalism. |
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nihilism and ethics |
either there's something (a standard) or nothing - nihilism. |
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3 problems leading from naturalism to nihilism |
-epistemology -ethics -telos: no purpose, total loss of all meaning. |
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4 critiques of nihilism |
-just by continuing to live and go on, we affirm some kind of goal or end -arguments for nihilism are grounded in reason, and are therefore self-contradicting -nihilistic art betrays itself by conveying meaning -psychological consequences of living this way are devestating |
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existentialism |
two sides of same coin: quest to recover meaning in light of the consequences of naturalism (nihilism) |
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atheistic existentialism |
response to naturalism/nihilism |
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theistic existentialism |
response to lifeless church ritual (watered-down gospel and do-gooder morality) |
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