Philosophers
This philosopher responded to the problem of evil by arguing that we cannot fully understand God’s plan, and that a planet without natural evils could not exist
Who is Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz?
These arguments claim their conclusion follows necessarily from the premises
What are deductive arguments?
First introduced by Anelm, this argument for God’s existence begins with the claim “Nothing greater than God can be conceived.”
What is the ontological argument?
This position on free will holds that free will exists and that it cannot be reconciled with determinism
What is libertarianism?
Descartes compared imagining God without perfection to imagining this geometric figure without three sides.
What is a triangle?
This medieval philosopher argued "Five Ways" for the existence of God including the First Mover and First Cause cosmological arguments
Who is Thomas Aquinas?
This describes an argument that doesn’t require all true premises but must have a logically correct structure
What is valid?
Associated with Aquinas, this version of the cosmological argument holds that every event must have been caused by a prior event.
What is the First Cause Argument?
Spinoza, Leibniz, and Pereboom defend this view, which denies free will in a deterministic universe
What is hard determinism?
William Paley’s design argument claims that if you found this foreign object in the forest, you would naturally wonder who designed it.
What is a pocket watch?
When his belief in God led to him overcoming depression, this philosopher concluded that sometimes it can be rational to believe in something without sufficient evidence
Who is William James?
“I have never liked any coffee, so I will probably not like the taste of yours” is an example of this kind of reasoning.
What is inductive reasoning?
Named after its French creator, the argument that you should gamble on the belief in God, as the potential upside is so big
What is Pascal's Wager?
Semicompatibilist John Martin Fischer claims that even if free will and determinism are uncertain, this still remains compatible with a deterministic universe
What is moral responsibility?
To show why it is immoral to believe without sufficient evidence, Clifford uses an analogy of a careless owner of this mode of transportation that leads to disaster
What is an old ship?
This philosopher claims that moral responsibility only requires guidance control, meaning the decision was genuinely up to the agent
Who is John Martin Fischer?
When evaluating inductive arguments, we must always keep in mind this principle, which acknowledges the possibility of error.
What is falibilism?
When critique the design argument, David Hume raised this challenge that questioned how an all-powerful, all-good God could permit suffering in the world
What is the problem of evil?
Named after its creator, this thought experiment shows that someone can be morally responsible even if they could not have done otherwise
What is a Frankfurt Case?
In response to Anselm’s ontological argument, Gaunilo argued that just because we can imagine this, it doesn’t mean it actually exists.
What is a perfect island?
This libertarian philosopher argued that free will requires indeterministic “self-forming actions” that shape our character and give us moral responsibility for our actions
Who is Robert Kane?
Russell claims the cosmological argument mistakenly assumes that just because individuals have a cause does not mean that the entire universe has a cause, and thus commits this logical fallacy
What is fallacy of composition?
Leibniz distinguished necessary beings from these dependent beings, like humans and animals, that could have failed to exist
What are contingent beings?
According to Galen Strawson, we could only be truly responsible if we were this, which would allow us to have chosen our own preferences, values, and reasoning abilities
What is self-caused?
Pereboom illustrated his argument with this thought experiment involving four scenarios of increasing manipulation of Professor Plum’s decision to kill Ms. White.
What is the Manipulation Argument/Four Case Argument? (doesn't really fit the category :P)