Happiness
What is intrinsic value?
Something that you enjoy for its own sake.
What is the study of existence or being?
Ontology
What is the question that Plato and Glaucon debate in their dialogue?
Why be good if you don't have to be?
Which Cosmological argument points to the fact that we attribute value based on whatever is at the top of a given scale of values?
Aquinas' Cosmological Argument by Degrees
What three qualities does Theologian, Michael Himes, attribute to God?
Unconditional love, mystery, being
According to Aquinas, how can we know God while on Earth?
We can know God imperfectly
What is the basic idea behind Anselm's Ontological Argument for God's Existence?
Good things are better when they exist then when they do not exist.
What is Glaucon's perspective in his dialogue with Plato?
Any person would commit horrible acts if given unlimited power. We needs laws to control ourselves.
What is Aquinas' Cosmological Argument from Contingency?
There must be a necessary being who created those who depend on others for their existence.
What is the Greek name for unconditional love that is divine in nature?
Agape
What would Aquinas see as an unreliable basis for happiness?
Wealth, reputation, pleasure
What is teleology?
The study of purpose.
What is the force that shapes material into form?
Efficient Cause
What is Pascal's Wager?
Believing in God is a good bet: you have nothing to lose and potentially everything to gain.
What kind of reasoning uses individual observations to add up to a general truth?
Inductive Reasoning
What is an example of instrumental value?
A person volunteers not because they enjoy it but because they want to improve their resume.
What is one criticism of the teleological argument?
Nature seems flawed, which implies a flawed (instead of intelligent) designer.
What is the purpose for which something exists?
Final Cause
What is agnosticism?
Not knowing if God exists.
Why does Pascal believe that agnosticism is an unsustainable position?
What is the purpose of life according to Aquinas?
To be happy by knowing God (imperfectly now and perfectly after death).
Which argument states that a watch implies a watchmaker just as a complex creation implies a creator (God)?
William Paley's Watchmaker Analogy.
What is the efficient cause?
It defines final cause by way of formal cause.
What is an infinite regress?
A cause and effect chain that reaches into the past indefinitely.
What is deductive reasoning?
I begin with a general idea from which I extract logical truths.