Exam 4: Plato the Beginning of Everything

Explain what James means by a forced option.

Explain the difference between actual evils and gratuitous evils.

Masham says that absolute atheism "does no doubt the best serve they who live as if there was no God in the World; but how far so great nonsense as this, has been able to obtain, is not easy to say."

Pascal claims that you must wager that either God exists or He doesn't exist. "Let us weigh the two cases: if you gain, you gain _______; if you lose, you lose _______. Wager then unhesitatingly that He exists."

Joyce asserts that "The earthquake and the volcano serve a warning which more than compensates for the physical evil which they cause."

Nietzsche claims that most humans think it is impossible to accept that a moral system can be acceptable without ...

According to Leibniz, what "distinguishes us from the mere animals"?

Why does the madman go around shouting, "I seek God! I seek God!"?

When Parsons considers the concept of God, he lists three things that are required to be true: 1. God is perfectly good; 2. God is all-powerful; and 3. God does not prevent the existence of natural and moral evil. But according to Parsons, "these three claims seem to form an inconsistent set." Explain what Parsons means by this.

Masham claims that egoism "is the proper disease our age, and has proceeded from diverse causes; but be the remoter or original ones what they will, it could never have prevailed as it has done, had not parents very generally contributed thereto, either by negligence of their children's instruction; or instructing them very ill in respect of religion."

Why does Kierkegaard say, "But between the God and his works there is an absolute relationship; God is not a name but a concept"? Do you agree with Kierkegaard?

Explain Joyce's meaning when he says, "Man by reason of his immaterial intellect transcends the limitations of time."

Nietzsche says, "In fact, we philosophers and moral beings feel ourselves irradiated as by a new dawn by the report that the old God is dead; our hearts overflow with gratitude, astonishment, presentiment and expectation."

In one of his proofs for the existence of God, Aquinas says, "If that by which it is moved be itself moved, then this also must be moved by another, and that by another again. But this cannot go on to infinity, because then there would be no ..."

For Lammenranta, "When Descartes attempts to prove the existence and veracity of God, he starts from premises that are ________________ for him."

In the reading, Philo says, "Our ideas reach no further than our experience: We have no experience of divine attributes and operations. I need not conclude my syllogism: You can draw the inference yourself." Which of the following conclusion is implied by Philo:

What is the problem with "Descartes attempts to validate reason in terms of reason itself"?

Conway says, "Seeing then that in him there is no time, nor any mutability, hence it is that in him there can exist no new knowledge or Will, but his knowledge and Will are eternal."

In one of his proofs for the existence of God, Aquinas says, "Therefore, not all beings are merely possible, but there must exist something the existence of which is ..."

Explain in detail the meaning of the "Cartesian Circle."