GCD phl 101 wk 2 pp 2

1. Introduction to philosophy
• Philosophy: philo + sophia = “love of wisdom”
• What is wisdom? “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!” Ps 111:10
• Why study philosophy as a Christian?
• “Come let us reason together, says the Lord” Isaiah 1:18
• “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul,
mind, and strength” Mark 12:30
• “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being
prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a
reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and
respect” 1 Peter 3:15

2. Introduction to philosophy
• Branches in philosophy:
• Metaphysics: the study of reality
• Ontology: the study of being
• Cosmology: the study of the origin of the universe
• Epistemology: the study of knowledge
• Value theory: how and why people value things
• Ethics: moral values
• Social and political values
• Aesthetics: values in art and beauty
• Logic: the principles of right thinking

3. Logic
• “Putting your thoughts in order”
• “The study of right reason, or valid inferences, and the
attending fallacies, formal and informal”
• Fallacy: a mistake, either formally in the way we set up
our thinking and argument; or informally in the meaning of
the terms we use which are unclear or misleading
• Why study logic? 1 Peter 3:15
• Types of logic:
• Inductive: evidence from particulars, reasoning to general
principles; from effects to find the cause; only probable conclusions
• Deductive: start with cause and reason to effects; yields necessary
conclusions (if the premises are true and inferences are valid)

4. Arguments
• Providing reasons for the basis of a conclusion
• Syllogism: a type of argument made of 3 propositions:
• Premise #1: All A is inside B
• Premise #2: All B is inside C
• Conclusion: All A is inside C C B A
• Statements or propositions are either true or false
• Arguments are either valid or invalid
• Validity: how well the argument is put together – its form

5. Arguments
• If the premises are true, and the conclusion is true, the
argument can be formally invalid:
• “All good angels are part of God’s heavenly kingdom”
• “Gabriel is part of God’s heavenly kingdom”
• “Therefore, Gabriel is a good angel”
• However, this argument is invalid, because angels are
only part of the kingdom. Could Gabriel be a good man?
God’s heavenly kingdom
Good angels
Gabriel

6. Arguments
• If the premises are not true, then the conclusion may not
be true, even though it is validly drawn from them:
• “All Muslims are holy rollers” F
• “All holy rollers are chain smokers” F
• “Therefore, all Muslims are holy rollers” F (though the conclusion is
validly drawn from the premises)

7. 4 Laws of Logic
• Law of Identity: A = A, A is A
• “A cat is a cat” “Jesus = the Son of God”
• Law of the excluded middle: either A or non-A
• “Jesus is the Son of God” or “Jesus is not the Son of God”
• Law of non-contradiction: A is not non-A “no two
contradictory statements can both be true at the same
time and in the same sense”
• “Jesus is the Son of God” and “Jesus is not the Son of God”
• Without this law there is no such thing as true and false
• Law of rational inference: valid inferences from what is
known to what is unknown
• “Jesus is the Son of God”

8. Informal Fallacies
1. Equivocation: when a word or expression changes its
meaning in the course of an argument:
“Everyone says I have good taste, so I would love to nibble some
candy”
“What is the chief end of man? His head, of course.”
The sign said, “Fine for parking here.” Since it said, “Fine,” I parked
there.
2. Appeal to pity: when a conclusion is not to be
sentimental but only makes an emotional appeal:
“You may think that he cheated on the test, but look at the poor little
thing! How would he feel if you made him do it again?”
“If we outlaw abortion, countless women will die during back alley
abortions.”

9. Informal Fallacies
3. Ad hominem: attacks the person making a claim rather
than attacking the claim itself:
“You pro-choice people are selfless, godless, and immoral –
probably Communists too!”
“Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax gatherers
and sinners!” (Matt. 11:9)
• “Why should we believe Solomon when he tells us to be satisfied
with ‘wife of your youth’? He wasn’t” (Prov. 5:18)
• Why should we believe this expert witness’ testimony about
creation science, since he believes that some UFO experiences
are a Satanic manifestation?

10. The Consequences of Ideas, chap 1
• 3 big questions of early Western philosophy:
• Monarchy: ultimate reality
• Unity and diversity: “ one and the many”
• Quest for cosmos over chaos: why do we have order over
disorder?
• 3 great mysteries of science:
• Life
• Motion
• Being

11. The First Philosophers
• Thales of Miletus (modern Turkey) corporeal monism –
“all is water”
• Anaximander: incorporeal monism: “all is the infinite”
• Anaximenes: corporeal monism – “all is air”
• Pythagoras: corporeal monism – “all is number”
• Heraclitus: “everything is always and everywhere in flux” =
all is in a state of becoming
• Parmenides: “no change is possible” = “whatever is, is”
• Zeno: 4 paradoxes in support of Parmenides
• Empedocles: corporeal pluralism = all reality is small
particles
• Anaxagoras: corporeal pluralism – reality is matter & mind

12. The Consequences of Ideas, chap 2
• Sophists:
• Gorgias: introduced radical skepticism - no truth exists
• Protagoras: “man is the measure of all things”
• Thrasymachus: “justice is for the weak minded who lack the will to
exert themselves”
• Socrates:
• Feared the death of virtue would mean the death of civilization
• Method: “Socratic dialogue”
• Universals are gleaned from the particulars

13. Plato
• Plato’s metaphysics: Theory of Ideas
• World of Ideas:
• Realm of true knowledge
• True Forms of reality
• World of material objects: (physical world)
• Realm of opinion and ignorance
• Shadows of reality in the Forms
• Analogy of the Cave: illustration of the two worlds
• Plato’s epistemology: Theory of Recollection

14. The Consequences of Ideas, chap 3:
• Aristotle – 384BC– 322BC
• 342BC – tutor to Alexander the Great
• 334BC – returned to Athens, founded his school, the
Lyceum
• Studied and wrote about a wealth of subjects: physical
sciences, philosophy, ethics, politics, economics, rhetoric
and theology . . .
• Wrote text on formal logic: fundamental rules
• Rejected Plato’s epistemology and metaphysics

15. Aristotle’s Ideas:
• The Categories: ideas that can be predicated about a
subject/a thing
• Substance = form + matter
• Substance: the essential nature of a thing = “chairness”, “manness”
• Form: “determines the particular materiality” = ‘form of oak tree,” or
“form of a chair”
• Change: Potentiality and actuality
• Acorn = has potentiality to become an oak tree. It’s potentiality is
realized when it becomes an oak tree
• There is pure potentiality; but there must be pure actuality – a being
of pure Being, with no potential to be any other thing = Aristotle’s
god

16. Aristotle’s Ideas:
• Four Causes:
• Formal cause: determines what a thing is - the sculptor’s plan or
idea
• Material cause: that out of which a thing is made - a block of marble
• Efficient cause: that by which a thing is made - the sculptor
• Final cause: that for which a thing is made - decoration for a house
• Unmoved Mover:
• Ultimate cause of motion
• “Must be rooted in pure being or actuality”
• Can’t be the first cause or first in a series of causes
• For Aristotle: this was his view of god, but not personal
• For Christians: God of the Bible is the unmoved Mover, the Self-
existent God, pure Actuality with no potentiality, pure Being