Mind & Matter
This view holds that everything that exists, including the mind, is ultimately made of physical matter.
What is materialism?
The view that free will is an illusion
What is determinism?
This Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist argued that humans can endure suffering if they find purpose.
Who is Viktor Frankl?
His theory of evolution/natural selection is used to critique the argument for an intelligent designer.
Who is Charles Darwin?
The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of reality
What is metaphysics?
Reality = the mind and its contents
What is idealism?
This metaphor describes a perfectly ordered universe governed by strict natural laws, like a machine set in motion by a divine watchmaker.
What is the "clockwork universe"?
Holds that life has no inherent meaning, purpose, or value
What is nihilism?
He developed five "proofs" for the existence of God
Who is St. Thomas Aquinas?
What classic thought experiment asks whether an object that has had all its parts replaced remains the same object?
He argued for dualism, the view that mind and body are two fundamentally different substances.
Who is René Descartes?
This theory argues that free will can exist even in a determined universe; I can't control my desires, but I can control my actions.
What is compatibilism?
He argued that we must imagine Sisyphus happy, because meaning is made through defiant perseverance.
Who is Albert Camus?
Aquinas' argument for the existence of God, which hinges on the structure and functioning of the universe.
What is cosmological?
In Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie Schwartz is dying from this disease.
What is ALS?
In Leviathan, this English philosopher (and materialist) argued that all phenomena can be explained in terms of matter and motion.
This philosopher claimed that every event follows necessarily from a cause, making true free will impossible
Who is Baruch Spinoza?
Often accused of being a nihilist, he famously declared "God is dead"
Who is Friedrich Nietzsche?
Paley's argument for the existence of God, which compares the universe to a watch created with a purpose by an intelligent watchmaker.
What is teleological/design?
The philosophical belief that unless some ‘practical difference’ would follow from one or the other side’s being correct, the dispute (between materialism and idealism) is useless.
What is pragmatism?
The view that there is a supreme mind connecting all minds, and that this mind is God
What is divine idealism?
A compatibilist, he argued that "Man can do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills."
Who is Arthur Schopenhauer?
Who is Soren Kierkegaard?
Anselm's argument for the existence of God, which asserts the necessity of God's existence (because we can conceive of no idea greater than God).
What is ontological?
This philosophical approach argues that the most fundamental reality is our conscious awareness of the world in space and time
What is phenomenology?