condensed: euthanasia

problem of definition the definition of euthanasia has implications about how we view life. suicideassisted suicide: own actions with helpphysician aided suicide: own actions with help from a doctorphysician aid in dying: death is hastened but not directly caused by a doctorvoluntary euthanasia: death caused directly by someone else with consentpassive euthanasia: removal of life-sustaining …

condensed: the nature of god, free will and eternity

introduction we are mortal beings and our language reflects this. god does not experience this passage of time, so he will not make mistakes or suffer consequences. things decay in time, and god cannot decay. he is timeless and so he is perfect. what can his relationship to us be? we don't necessarily have free …

condensed: problem of evil

introduction there has always been evil and suffering. it is the greatest objection to the existence of god. evil is in human nature, and pain is part of our existence. we are capable of great love and great evil. is there answer that does does not include god’s neglect? a theoretical answer doesn't fit real …

condensed: the nature/attributes of god

intro believers ask questions about their god. the problem is in anthropomorphising god because he is beyond our reality and understanding. to say we know the mind of god is to blaspheme. god's infinite power and unknowability are referenced throughout scripture but we are still curious. but there is no answers to what is meant …

condensed: RL, apophatic and cataphatic

introduction our language is limited when talking about god. we try to capture in the infinite with the finite. god is infinite and location-less, so how can we, finite and space-bound, understand or describe him? do we limit him when we try? if you do define him, you are anthropomorphising him and blaspheming. 'king' or …

condensed: RL, verification and meaning

intro god's unknowability makes it difficult to define him precisely. even saying god 'exists' has many issues. the most radical approach is to say that religious language is meaningless, the approach of the vienna circle, a group of scientists interested in logic. development of logical positivism a.j. ayer discovered the vienna circle's idea and in …

condensed: religious experience

william james william james wrote varieties of religious experience. he broadly defined them as "the feelings, acts and experiences of individual men". he did interviews to see the effects, and argued verification is not crucial because it is important and real to the person. he says they are psychological phenomena like thinking. james and william …

condensed: RL, analogy and symbol

analogy aristotle on analogy we should look at things which belong to the same genus to see whether identical attributes belong to them all.aristotle we might see that if a horse and a dog both have beating hearts, a man will too. aristotle did not leave instruction on how far to assume. at what point …

condensed: sexual ethics

introduction fletcher's example of a woman seducing a married man for espionage shows the power of human sexuality. it shows how sex is used to exploit, express love, define identity or be the foundation of family and society. christian teachings on pre and extramarital sex traditional teachings on sex focus on marriage, as the main …

condensed: kantian ethics

intro there is nothing higher than reasonimmanuel kant for kant, other theories lacked courage and trust in intellect and reason. he wanted true autonomy, not following other's rules. through reason, he thought we could rule our lives and understand the universe. moral teachings life without reason and morality has no valuekant his values of reason, …