Philosophy Midterm

Front 1

Empiricism

Back 1

Sensation is the ultimate basis of knowledge

Front 2

Rationalism

Back 2

Reasoning is more reliable than that gathered by sensation

Front 3

Impressions

Back 3

What it is like to have an experience

Front 4

Simple Idea

Back 4

Copy of an impression

Front 5

Complex Idea

Back 5

A combination of simple ideas

Front 6

General empiricist tenet

Back 6

All content of the mind has its sources in the senses

Front 7

Hume's empiricist tenet-

Back 7

Every complex idea resolves into simple ideas which are copies of impressions

Front 8

The uniformity thesis

Back 8

The future will resemble the past

Front 9

The natural light

Back 9

That which cannot be doubted, example- his existence, arithmetic

Front 10

A priori

Back 10

Knowledge independent of experience

Front 11

A posteriori

Back 11

Knowledge that depends on experience

Front 12

Reductio

Back 12

Demonstrating that a statement is true by showing an absurdity results from its denial

Front 13

Equinumerosity

Back 13

.

Front 14

Prima Facie

Back 14

First glance obligation- child in mirror lake

Front 15

All things considered moral obligations

Back 15

The willingness to comply is irrelevant to there being an obligation. Also irrelevant is whether the agent thinks that complying with the obligation is good for him.

Front 16

Russellian benefits

Back 16

Contented old age, material acquisitions, etc

Front 17

Defective will

Back 17

.

Front 18

Good will

Back 18

.

Front 19

What is the epistemic turn?

Back 19

Metaphysics must be put on hold until we know the limits of our intellectual capacities

Front 20

What is Humes empiricist challenge?

Back 20

In order for a philosophical term to be meaningful, it must be associated with a particular idea, which itself is reducible to impressions

Front 21

What is Humes a priori criticism of the Newtonian concept of cause?

Back 21

Cause and effect are distinct, billiards example- impossible to say exactly where the second ball will move based on the movement of the cue ball

Front 22

What is Humes a posterori criticism of the Newtonian concept of cause?

Back 22

There are no impressions for causation

Front 23

What is Descarte's methodological doubt?

Back 23

Treat false any belief which is subject to the slightest doubt

Front 24

Main philosophical goals of Descartes?

Back 24

To attain certain knowledge, provide a solid epistemic foundation for science, to get rid of superstition mixed with christian belief

Front 25

What is Descarte's epistemic principle/tenet?

Back 25

Everything I clearly understand is true in a way that corresponds exactly to my understanding of it

Front 26

What is Descarte's principle of separability?

Back 26

A is distinct from B only if A can exist independently of B and B independently of A

Front 27

What is the problem of interaction?

Back 27

How do the mind and the body interact?

Front 28

What is the difference between a ground of knowledge and a source of knowledge?

Back 28

Ground- Used as a premise in an argument for a belief.

Source- If the belief is known in virtue of the sources being true

Front 29

What is Stump's proposed morally sufficient reason for God to permit evil in the world?

Back 29

The exercise of free will is of such value that it outweighs the presence of evil

Front 30

What are Hume's laws of association of ideas, and what are they meant to be regulating?

Back 30

Law of resemblance, Law of contiguity of space and time, law of cause and effect

Front 31

What is Hume's problem of induction?

Back 31

The uniformity thesis is unjustified, as it cannot be demonstrated with either inductive or deductive reasoning

Front 32

What is Descarte's first argument against the credibility of the senses?

Back 32

The senses sometimes deceive me, it is illogical to trust those who deceive, therefore the senses cannot be trusted completely

Front 33

What is Descarte's dreaming argument?

Back 33

I have been deceived into thinking I am experiencing something when I am actually dreaming, there is no way to tell whether or not I am dreaming, therefore I can't be certain that I am ever experiencing something

Front 34

What is Descarte's evil demon argument?

Back 34

It is possible that there is an evil demon that deceives me, if true I am mistaken about all I believe, therefore given methodological doubt, I shall hold assent from all beliefs

Front 35

What is Descarte's first piece of certain knowledge, and why is it significant?

Back 35

I am thinking, therefore I exist

Front 36

What are the main features, or characteristics of the Cartesian mind?

Back 36

The mind is always thinking (understanding, willing, doubting, imagining, sensing)

Front 37

What is the argument from the piece of wax, and what does it intend to show regarding knowledge?

Back 37

It cannot be known through the senses that the melted wax is the same as before it was approached by the fire, as all of its qualities have changed. It can only be known through intellect that it is the same substance. The mind is a better knower than the body

Front 38

What is Descarte's main argument for thinking that his ideas do indeed resemble external objects?

Back 38

There must be at least as much reality in the effect as in the cause, therefore all ideas I have must be produced by something which has at least as much reality as the idea

Front 39

What is Descartes's argument for the real distinction between the body and the soul?

Back 39

A is distinct from B if A can exist without B and B without A. The body can exist without the mind, and the mind may exist without the body. Therefore, distinct.

Front 40

What is the problem of the cartesian circle?

Back 40

Descartes must trust his clear and distinct perceptions to prove that there is a god who is not a deceiver, but Descartes must prove that there is a god who is not a deceiver in order to trust his clear and distinct perceptions

Front 41

What is the problem of criterion?

Back 41

It seems that we can not know any proposition unless we already know the criterion for knowing, and we cannot know the criterion for knowing unless we already know some propositions

Front 42

What are Van Cleve's two ways of reading "I am certain of the truth of clear and distinct perceptions?

Back 42

1) For all P, if I clearly and distinctly perceive that P, than I am certain that P

2) I am certain for all P, if I clearly and distinctly perceive P, than P

Front 43

What is basic knowledge?

Back 43

The kind of knowledge whose source is not used as a ground

Front 44

What is the problem of easy knowledge?

Back 44

It seems that those which accept basic knowledge allow knowers to acquire knowledge too easily.

Front 45

What is one of Cohen's anti-skeptical arguments which illustrates the problem of easy knowledge?

Back 45

It seems that I have hands, therefore I have hands, if I have hands then I am not a brain in a vat, therefore I am not a brain in a vat.

Front 46

What is the innocuous claim that should not be confused with the first premise of the argument?

Back 46

Every being is either a dependent being or not..

1) explained by another

2) explained by nothing

3) explained by itself

Front 47

What is the principle of sufficient reason?

Back 47

There must be an explanation for

1) the existence of any being

2) any positive fact

Front 48

What is Mavrode's main moral argument?

Back 48

There are moral obligations, moral obligations are absurd in a russellian world, moral obligations are reasonable in a theistic world, therefore moral obligations give us reasons for believing the world is theistic rather than russellian

Front 49

What is his argument for premise two?

Back 49

Fulfilling moral obligations can result in a loss of russellian benefits, these are the only type of benefits in a russellian world, therefore moral obligations can result in the loss of ones ultimate goal, it is irrational to do something contrary to ones ultimate good, therefore in a russellian world it is irrational to have moral obligations

Front 50

What is his argument for premise three?

Back 50

Practical reason is directed towards the good life (happiness), moral action is directed towards virtue rather than reward, so morality is only rational if virtue is connected to happiness, virtue can only be attached to happiness if god is there to make the connection, morality is only rational if god exists.

Front 51

What is the problem of evil?

Back 51

Why would there be evil in the world if there is an omnipotent, perfectly good god?

Front 52

According to Stump, what is Platinga's basic response to the problem of evil?

Back 52

Theodicy- Determining gods reasoning for allowing evil

Defense- Demonstrating that the existence of evil is consistent with the existence of god

Front 53

What are the two main reasons Stump thinks that Platinga's response by itself is unsatisfactory?

Back 53

1) It leaves the presence of evil mysterious

2) It leads to a dialectical stalemate

Front 54

What are Stump's three potential ways of fixing a defective will?

Back 54

1) God miraculously changes a defective will to a good will

2) The agent wills himself out of a defective will

3) The Christian solution- the agent wills that god changes the agent's will from defective to good

Front 55

Why does Stump think that only the Christian response to fix a defective will is satisfactory?

Back 55

1) It would be contradictory to free will for god to change one's will

2) A defective will will not will what it ought to will

Front 56

Noetic structure

Back 56

The system of one's beliefs with their relations to one another

Front 57

Basic belief

Back 57

A belief which is not based on other beliefs

Front 58

Non-basic belief

Back 58

A belief which is based on other beliefs

Front 59

Properly basic belief

Back 59

Basic beliefs which are rationally justified

Front 60

De facto objections

Back 60

Objections to the truth of christianity

Front 61

De jure

Back 61

Objections to the rationality or intellectual acceptability of christianity

Front 62

Platinga's contention

Back 62

Belief in god is rationally justified even in the absence of god arguments