Philosophy Exam 1 (3)

Front 1

Natural Phenomenon

Back 1

things occuring in space and time

Front 2

Supernatural Phenomenon

Back 2

things occuring outside space and time

Front 3

metaphysical naturalism

Back 3

view that there is no supernatural phenomenon

Front 4

methodological naturalism

Back 4

view that since should limit itself to explanations that appeal to natural phenomena

Front 5

Ontological Argument
(as described by Sober)

Back 5

Anselm's deductive argument with a priori premises
a.) God is by definition the greatest being possible
b.) a being who fails to exist in the actual world (while existing in other possible worlds) is less perfect than a being who exists in all possible worlds
Hence, God exists necessarily

Front 6

Ontological Argument
(as described by teacher)

Back 6

a.) God is something than which nothing greater can be conceived
b.) If someone understands the concept of God (i.e. concept of something that which nothing greater can be concieved) then "God" exists in the understanding of that person
c.) It is greater to exist in reality than in the understanding alone
d.) The fool understands the concept of God
e.) Therefore, God exists in the understanding of the fool
f.) Suppose that for the sake of argument that God exists only in the understanding (i.e. not in reality)
g.) Then we could conceive of something exactly like what exists in the fool's understanding except that it also exists in reality
h.) The entity conceived in G would be greater than the entity that exists in the fool's understanding
i.) But in that case what the fool conceived was not after all something than which nothing greater can be conceived
j.) So there's a contradiction between E and I
k.) So, assumption made by F must be mistaken since it led to a contradiction
l.) So God exists in reality (F was the assumption that God does not exist in reality; since F is mistaken, God does exist in reality.)

Front 7

"Lost Island"

Back 7

Critique of Ontological by Guanilo:
If Anselm's argument works, then I can prove the existence of the Lost Island
=Anselm: God's definition is omni-everything being so he must exist
=Guanilo: Lost Island's definition is beautiful and fecund, so island must exist

Front 8

a priori

Back 8

can be determined to be true without relying on experience; a proposition one can know by reason alone
e.g. bachelors are unmarried

Front 9

a posteriori

Back 9

proposition that can be known or justified only by sense experience
e.g. bachelors are more unhappy/ happy than married men

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analytic sentence

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a proposition is analytic if and only if it is true by virtue of the meanings of the words it contains (i.e. if its possible to deduce its truth from definitions

Front 11

synthetic sentence

Back 11

a proposition is synthetic if it is not true of virtue of meanings

Front 12

Testability Theory of Meaningfulness

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"Logical Positivism"
a.) a proposition is meaningful iff it is possible to know whether it is true or false
b.) all knowable propositions are either knowable a priori or knowable a posteriori
c.) a proposition is knowable a priori iff it is an analytic judgement
d.) a proposition is knowable a posteriori iff it is testable
So for the question of whether God exists?
1.) God exists is not analytic
2.) God exists is not testable
Therefore, "God exists" is meaningless

Front 13

direct testability

Back 13

if F then S
e.g. Is there a football in the room?

Front 14

indirect testability

Back 14

if [(E and A1) and A2 and A3]...
e.g. Do electrons exist?