Rev. Exam #1

Review Guide for PHL 320 Exam #1 ۞ BRING A PENCIL ۞ Prof. Stephens

Rowe, Chapter 1: The Idea of God

1. Explain the following views, and give examples of each:
    A. Polytheism
    B. Henotheism
    C. Deism
    D. Monotheism
    E. Fideism
    F. Pantheism
2. Contrast the view of God "up there" with the view of God "out there."
3. Explain the six principal attributes of the God of traditional theologians.
4. Which attributes of God does Rowe not address?
5. Explain the difference between relative and absolute possibility; give examples of each.
6. How does Rowe define "omnipotence"?
7. Explain the difference between logical impossibility and physical impossibility; give examples to illustrate this distinction.
8. What is Rowe's explanation of why God couldn't commit suicide or perform an evil deed?
9. Explain Rowe's solution to the conundrum: "Can God create a stone heavier than he can lift? If so, then God is not omnipotent. If not, then God is not omnipotent."
10. Explain the key question regarding moral duties and God's commands raised by Socrates in Plato's Euthyphro. Present the dilemma this question generates. Which horn of the dilemma seems more philosophically appealing, according to Rowe? What arithmetic example does Rowe use to support his judgment?
11. How does Rowe define "self-existence"?
12. What three possible explanations of a thing's existence are there, according to R.? Give examples of each.
13. What example does Rowe discuss of a thing's nature to have a certain attribute?
14. Explain what it means to say God is "separate from" and "independent of" the world.
15. Contrast God's existence with that of a mortal, temporal being, e.g. Todd.
16. Explain the two different ways God's eternal existence has been described by philosophers of religion.
17. Briefly explain what an atheist believes in the narrow sense, and in the broader sense.
18. Briefly explain what an agnostic believes.
19. Briefly explain what a (traditional) theist believes in the narrow sense, and in the broader sense.

Rowe, Chapter 2: The Cosmological Argument

1. Contrast a posteriori and a priori arguments for God's existence. Give examples of each.
2. Briefly explain who originated the Cosmo-Arg and its historical development.
3. What two parts does the Cosmo-Arg break down into?
4. Reconstruct Rowe's version of the Cosmo-Arg (Part 1).
5. Explain the Principle of Sufficient Reason (part (a) and part (b)).
6. Explain Rowe's 1st criticism of CA, then explain the response to it.
7. Explain Rowe's 2nd criticism of CA, then explain the response to it.
8. Explain the 3rd criticism (offered by Hume).
9. Explain the 4th criticism. Explain Rowe's distinction between C1 and C2, which leads him to sympathize with the proponent of CA.
10. What does Rowe say about the possibility that the PSR is known to be true intuitively?
11. What does he say about the possibility that the PSR is a basic assumption that rational people in fact make?

Rowe, Chapter 3: The Ontological Argument

1. Who famously created the Onto-Arg and when?
2. Carefully explain the difference between logically possible existence, physically possible existence, and logically impossible existence. Give examples of each.
3. What are contingent things?
4. What description of God does the Onto-Arg originator assume?
5. Explain the notion of a "great-making" property. Give two examples.
6. Present Rowe's formulation of the Onto-Arg (in nine steps).
7. Explain Gaunilo's criticism of OA on behalf of the fool. How does Rowe criticize Gaunilo's argument?
8. Explain Kant's criticism of OA.
9. Explain the 3rd criticism of the OA that Rowe discusses. What geometrical example does he use to illustrate his point?
10. Explain Rowe's discussion of magicans and magicos, and the upshot of that discussion.
11. How would one go about arguing for the possible existence of angels, elves, fairies, or unicorns?
12. Present Rowe's ultimate (3-step) reconstruction of the Onto-Arg.

Rowe, Chapter 4: The Design Argument (Old and New)

1. Who gave the best-known statement of the old Design Argument, and where (which work title), according to Rowe? (54)
2. Is the old Design Argument a posteriori or a priori, inductive or deductive? What kind of argument is it?
3. Briefly explain the example Rowe uses to illustrate analogical reasoning. What moral blindness does Rowe display? (Is testing drugs on monkeys morally permissible?)
4. Present the old Design Argument (in 3 steps).
5. What criticisms did #1 above give of the 2nd premise of the old Design Argument? (62–63)
6. What two questions does Rowe ask about the old Design Argument?
7. Who was the eighteen-century English theologian who was a major exponent of the Design Argument? What did he compare the universe to?
8. Explain the concept of a teleological system. Give examples of artifacts that are teleological systems. Give examples of physiological organs that are teleological systems.
9. What two purposes did C.D. Broad say organisms have? (58)
10. What would Charles Darwin have said about the quotation on p.58 from 17th-century philosopher Henry More?
11. What fallacy is committed by this reasoning:
Parts of the universe are teleological systems. Therefore, the universe itself (as a whole) is a teleological system.
12. Present Rowe's revised formulation of the Design Argument (48–49).
13. What has happened to the Design Argument since the development of the theory of evolution? Briefly explain Darwin's theory of natural selection.
14. Which attributes of God, according to traditional theism, does the Design Argument provide no rational grounds for? (50, plus several more discussed in class).
15. What does Rowe say about incorporeal causes on p.63?
16. What do proponents of the new Design Argument ask, and what do they claim? (64)
17. Explain the quotation from Stephen Hawking (64).
18. Explain the criticisms of the new Design Argument. Explain Rowe's example of the decks of fair cards (65).
19. What does the Cosmological Argument perhaps show, and what does it fail to enable us to know? (66)
20. What does the Ontological Argument fail to prove? (66)
21. What do the old and new Design Arguments provide us with, at best, grounds for thinking? (66)
22. What is Rowe's "final judgment" of these three arguments? Paraphrase the quotation from William James (66).
23. In what sense is do these three arguments show that the existence of God is a plausible hypothesis? What does it mean to say that belief in God is rational?
24. What does it mean to say that a belief is reasonable? (discussed in class)

Rowe, Chapter 6: Faith and Reason

1. Explain the two assumptions Rowe says he has proceeded on throughout Chapters One through Five (p. 91), that is, state Q#1 and Q#2 as I labelled them on the chalkboard.
2. If the answer to Q#1 is NO, then what is Q#A1?
3. If the answer to Q#2 is NO, then what is Q#A2? What is Plantinga's answer to Q#A2?
4. Present the (9-step) Argument that Religious Beliefs Rest on Faith Alone.
5. How does Rowe define "faith" on p. 92?
6. Explain Aquinas' (traditional) views on faith, reason, knowledge, opinion, evidence, and Scripture.
7. Explain in detail William Clifford's "The Ethics of Belief." Describe his example of the ship-owner. What does Clifford use it to show?
8. How are beliefs and actions related, according to Clifford?
9. State precisely Clifford's THESIS (as quoted by James in "The Will to Believe" and quoted by Rowe on p. 96–97).
10. Explain in detail William James' position on belief. On what specific points does James agree with Clifford? (p. 97)
11. According to James, how many determinants of our beliefs are there? What are they? (p. 97)
12. How does Rowe express James' "basic point, as it touches on Clifford's second rule"? (p. 98)
13. Carefully explain what James means by a "genuine option" between two hypotheses.
14. Explain the difference between, and illustrate with examples of, a living option and a dead option.
15. Explain the difference between, and illustrate with examples of, a momentous option and a trivial option.
16. Explain the difference between, and illustrate with examples of, a forced option and an avoidable option.
17. What are the three different ways of responding to any given hypothesis? What does Rowe mean by saying that the decision between believing a hypothesis is true and believing it false is never forced so far as truth and error are concerned? (p. 99) A Chicago Cubs example!
18. State the two parts of James' religious hypothesis. (p. 100)
19. Explain why James believes that we are better off even now if we believe in the theistic God? (p. 100)
20. Does Rowe think theism is momentous? Explain. What are the "vital goods" to be gained if God exists and we believe (i.e. choose theism)? (p. 101)
21. Does Rowe think theism is a forced option? Explain. What does Rowe say James succeeds in proving and fails to prove? (p. 101–102)
22. Explain the policies adopted by the theist, the agnostic, and the atheist. What does James think about a rule binding us to one of these policies? (p. 102–103)
23. Why does Rowe think James is mistaken in thinking that the choice among the three policies cannot be made on rational grounds?
24. Explain the harms that arise from believing without sufficient evidence, according to Clifford. (p. 104 and from class lecture) Which policy does Clifford adopt and why?
25. Briefly explain what EVIDENTIALISM is. (p. 105)
26. What problem about one belief being made rational by another rational belief does Plantinga try to solve with properly basic beliefs? (p. 105–106)
27. Explain what a properly basic belief (PBB) is. Explain what a basic belief is that is not properly basic. Give examples of each. (p. 106–107)
28. What does Rowe use the case of a PBB in the existence of Santa Claus to argue for? (p. 108–109)
29. What situation are we in, according to Rowe, as intellectually sophisticated modern adults who are aware of different religious traditions and some reasons for disbelieving in the theistic God? (p. 109–110)

Rowe, Chapter 7: The Problem of Evil

1. What three kinds of evil did Dr S. distinguish in lecture? Give examples of each kind of evil.
2. What does Rowe say is the most formidable problem with belief in the theistic God? (112)
3. Describe the Logical Problem of Evil.
4. Explain Leibniz's example of the general defending a town from attack. What idea is this example intended to explain?
5. What criticism of this example does Rowe offer? (116)
6. What criticism did Dr S. raise in lecture concerning the idea of weighing goods and evils?
7. Describe the Free Will Defense.
8. Present (3-step) modus tollens Rowe's Argument from Evidential Evil to A-theism.
9. Describe the case of the charred fawn. What does Rowe believe this example shows about evidential evil?
10. Describe the 1st response (the Skeptical Theism of Stephen Wykstra) to Evidential Evil.
11. Present Wykstra's (4-step) Skeptical Theism Argument.
12. Briefly describe the fallacy of appeal to ignorance (e.g. There are silent, hyper-fast, purple elves just outside the classroom door.)
13. Describe the loving parent analogy used to support the Skeptical Theism Argument.
14. Explain the problem with the loving parent analogy as applied to God and evil.
15. Describe Hick's Soul-Making Theodicy. Present the 3-step argument for it.
16. Explain the problem with Hick's theodicy, as discussed by Rowe.
17. Present the (3-step) modus ponens G. E. Moore Shift Counterargument for Theism.
18. State the definition of a FRIENDLY ATHEIST and the definition of an UNFRIENDLY ATHEIST.
19. State the definition of a FRIENDLY THEIST and the definition of an UNFRIENDLY THEIST.
20. State the definition of a FRIENDLY AGNOSTIC and the definition of an UNFRIENDLY AGNOSTIC.
21. Explain the distinction between a rational belief and a reasonable belief.
22. State the definition of a CIVIL ATHEIST.

Rowe, Chapter 10: Predestination, Divine Foreknowledge, and Human Freedom WILL NOT BE INCLUDED ON EXAM #1

1. Contrast John Locke's view of what it is to act freely with that of Jonathan Edwards. Which do you think is more philosophically adequate and why?
2. On Edwards' view what is the relation between human freedom and divine foreknowledge? Between human freedom and divine predestination?
3. Explain Locke's example of the two sleeping men brought into a room that is then locked and bolted from the outside (or Dr Stephens' example of our class members waking up in our classroom, Vince choosing to try to go out the door, and everyone else choosing to stay and enjoy socializing). Is each man acting freely, according to Locke? How should we describe each man differently, according to Locke?
4. Describe Rowe's thought experiment of God having a time telescope. What does Rowe think this example shows about the difference between foreknowledge and predestination?
5. Present the Argument that God's foreknowledge precludes human freedom (in 4 steps, with a 3-step subargument for premise #2).
6. Carefully explain the Three Strategies for defeating the Argument that God's foreknowledge precludes human freedom.
7. Which thinker advocated strategy number Three?
8. Which medieval thinker advocated strategy number Two? Distinguish facts simply about the past with facts not simply about the past. How does this distinction figure into the reasoning of this strategy number Two?
9. Strategy One takes two versions. Explain version-A by presenting the 3-step argument (from which ancient Greek philosopher?). Explain version-B (which two medieval philosophers advocate this position?).
10. What criticism of version-B does Rowe report?