Term
| How does Augustine understand the concept of "grace" as it relates to human beings? |
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Definition
| the forgiveness of God for sins committed and to be committed, mercy |
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Term
| How does Augustine understand the concept of "original sin" as it relates to human beings? |
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Definition
| Adam's original sin caused humans to have sin instilled inside them, so the decision to sin is not caused by the person, but by the sin that dwells inside them. |
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Term
| Explain the significance of the "pear tree" episode for Augustine. |
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Definition
| He was committing crime for the sake of it. He realized the wrongness of his selfish ungodly desires. |
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Term
| How does Augustine define "evil"? |
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Definition
- it has no existence except as privation of good
- ontological desire |
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Term
| Explain the episode where Augustine "heard a voice." Why is this a turning point for him? |
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Definition
- it was a child coming from a nearby house telling him to pick up the Bible and read it.
- the first chapter he read told him to give all he had to the poor and devote himself to God
- the second passage was about taking pleasure in Jesus instead of bodily pleasures
- he was converted |
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Term
| What is the first premise of Aquinas' proof of God's existence? |
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Definition
| Some motion exists. Moving things are observed and experienced as actually existing in the world |
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Term
| What's a "PEC" and how does it generate a causal chain? |
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Definition
| Some thing (X) that is in motion (M) has a prior efficient cause (C) other than itself that is in a state of motion (M). In other words, the sequentially prior cause (C) of some thing (X) being moved must itself be in a state of motion (M) in order to move (M) a thing that is not moving, i.e., a thing at rest (XR). |
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Term
| Why is self-motion impossible? |
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Definition
- That which is not in motion, i.e., a thing at rest, has the potential (P) or capacity to be moved or set in motion.
- That which causes a resting thing to be set in motion must itself be actually (A or not-P) moving.
- D) Self-motion is impossible because that means a thing would have to be both in a state of (P) and (not-P or A) at the same time. For the pencil to move itself means that it would have to be both in a state of actually moving as cause AND in a state of rest (P) as that which is moved AT THE SAME TIME |
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Term
| Explain Aquinas' disjunctive syllogism as he deals with the causal chain. |
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Definition
| There must be a first mover or first cause that is not itself moved or caused. This is necessary in order to avoid an infinite regress of caused causes that would never ultimately or definitively explain the motion that certainly exists here before us. The entire series of caused causes is left unexplained without affirming something outside the series, a first cause, that can justify and account for the motion experienced all around us and within us. This first cause or unmoved mover would have to be of a different order of being or existence than the causes within the great chain of causes stretching through time and at play before us. |
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Term
| What kind of God has Aquinas proved? |
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Definition
| an uncaused cause that began all life and motion |
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Term
| Why does Descartes try to doubt whatever can be doubted? |
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Definition
| When we sleep, we see things that are false but believe them to be true because of their presence and realness in our minds. Descartes believes that we should doubt everything because we can never truly know what is real and what isn't because our mind perceives everything we see as real and doesn't consciously distinguish being awake from being asleep. |
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Term
| What are the stages of his method of doubt? |
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Definition
- senses
- dreams
- imperfection |
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Term
| What is his great discovery of absolute certainty? |
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Definition
| the very act of doubting everything is a conscious act, therefore it can't be doubted |
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Term
| What is the Cogito? What are the three categories of thoughts that the Cogito has? |
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Definition
- "I think"
- existence
- imagination
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Term
| How does Descartes prove that God exists in Meditation III? |
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Definition
what has more reality (more perfect) cannot come from something that has less reality (less perfect)
- God is omni (supreme)
- Omni created "I" |
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Term
| According to Descartes, what must we do to avoid all error and evil? |
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Definition
| withhold judgment on any occasion where the truth of the matter is not clear |
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Term
| List and describe the two main faculties of human nature? |
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Definition
- suspending judgment when you lack knowledge
- capacity to judge is limitless
- capacity to know one's self is very limited |
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Term
| Explain Descartes' Argument from Doubt that attempts to prove that mind and body are two separate and distinct entities. |
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Definition
- cogito is the starting point, so we cannot doubt that the mind exists
- we can doubt our senses, therefore allowing us to doubt our body's existence |
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Term
| Explain Descartes' Argument from Divisibility that attempts to prove that mind and body are two separate and distinct entities. |
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Definition
- the mind cannot be divided, it is a whole entity
- the body is made up of parts that can function separately, therefore they can be divided |
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