Brief Study Guide for First Exam

Texts Covered: Waller (Chapters 1 & 2); Plato, Russell, Aquinas, Leibniz, Gould, Dawkins, Clifford and James.

Basic Material:

1. Arguments (premises, conclusion, deductive, inductive, the fallacies)

a. Role of Arguments in philosophy

2. The scope and general aim of philosophy

a. Apology: character of Socrates

b. Apology: Socrates’ arguments against his charges

c. Apology: Why Socrates practices philosophy, the aim of philosophy for Socrates

d. Apology: An unexamined life is not worth living

e. Russell: The character (or definition) of philosophy for Russell

f. Russell: The value of philosophy

3. The concept of God

a. Religious vs. Philosophical Concepts of God

b. Can we construct a coherent concept of God that can also be consistent with our religious beliefs?

4. Can we prove God’s Existence using Reason?

a. Cosmological Argument (and criticisms)

b. Argument from Design (and criticisms)

c. Ontological Argument (and criticisms)

d. Aquinas’ 5 arguments (includes the first two arguments above—cosmological and design, and three others)

5. Are there other ways to “prove” God?

a. Intuitive Argument

b. Pascal’s Wager

6. Theodicy or the Problem of Evil

a. Logical Inconsistency in Abrahamic Religions

b. Possible responses

c. Leibniz’s solution

7. Science and Religion (Reason vs. Faith)

a. Occam’s Razor

b. Gould vs. Dawkins

8. Reason vs. Faith

a. Clifford

b. James