A2 philosophy@presdales

there is little point in arranging revision classes and then not turning up!   ML’s session on the arguments for God is now re-scheduled for WEDNESDAY 4 – 5:30.  last chance!

ML

NB remember to arrange individual sessions with Mrs O’Malleyto deal with any particular concerns.

revision notes:

[ontological arguments]        [cosmological arguments]         [teleological arguments]          [moral arguments]

here’s the notes from today’s lesson

‘the concept of miracles is more of a hinderance to faith than a help.’ discuss

critically assess the claim that ‘an everlasting God cannot be omnipotent’

‘belief in God is just wishful thinking.’ discuss

critically assess the claim that ‘we have no knowledge of anything beyond the empirical world, so there is no point discussing it.’

In A2 Philosophy you will still be exploring the nature of truth, reality and God but with some differences. The focus of the A2 course will still be raising questions such as: What is God? Does God exist? Is there evidence for God’s existence? What is God like? How would the nature of God effect humanity? And can we discuss something that we have such a limited understanding of?

The main notable difference between the AS and A2 course is that AS focused on natural theology (indirect evidence for God) whilst the A2 course explores the validity of revealed theology (direct evidence for God’s existence). The course will also examine which one of these approaches is firstly, more reliable and secondly, more consistent with the nature of God.

Philosophy is a subject based on reflection, evaluation and exploration. It is not also easy and there are rarely universal conclusions. The fun of the subject is asking interesting questions not always having the right answers. I hope you take the time to really get to grips with the subject both in terms of the examination course and exploring philosophy beyond the syllabus that is interesting to you.

“The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.” Russell

See you in Lessons!

Miss Eke

for jo

wiles-and-miracles

sorry.  just to warn you i think this is an office 2007 document so if you can’t open it just go to microsoft website (or google) office 2007 compatibility driver and download it.  sorry to make it complicated!  enjoy.  ZA

scripture-revelation Here is the final powerpoint on revelation through scripture.  Your textbook has a useful diagram at the start of the section on this topic which helps to show how special and general revelation are types of revelation then the nature of this revelation can then be described as propostional or non propositional.  ZA

Below are both powerpoints I used in the lesson, the latter is probably more useful:

what-is-a-miracle 

humee28099s-critique-of-miracles 

Next week – why it could be said to be bad that God performs miracles?

Enjoy!  Miss Abrahams

1. read the summary of the verification / falsification debate. Highlight key points. Make sure you understand this, especially the challenge to the meaningfulness of religious language; ie you can’t prove it (verify it / falsify it), therefore it’s meaningless
2. write out the verification/falsification challenge to the meaningfulness of religious language in your own words. “Religious Language is meaningless because…” Suggest three reasons why people might think this.
3. consider how (a) analogy (Aquinas); (b) symbolism (Tillich); and (c) myth (Bultmann) might claim to overcome the challenge to the meaningfulness of religious language. Write a short paragraph on each of these views to sum up how each approach attempts to overcome the challenge to meaningfulness. (You will need to use the blog, your notes or a text book for this. All 3 paragraphs should fit on one side of A4 – the point is to get the general thrust of the argument, don’t get bogged down in the detail)
4. read the sheet on non-cognitive views of religious language. (NB Braithwaite is included here as the language itself is not asserting anything, but it has a use; although Braithwaite himself thought that the meaning might be seen in verifiable results in lifestyle; you might consider whether or not you think that Braithwaite is noncognitive or not.)
5. Does it help to solve the challenge if religious language is considered to be non-cognitive – make a list of three arguments FOR and three arguments AGAINST this view

This should all be FINISHED by Monday’s lesson, so we can go through it as quickly as possible

As promised here are all the powerpoints in case you lose the sheets.

life-after-death-revision

body-and-soul-revision1 

yr13-re-1 

Please complete the attached essay titles during easter for first friday back please – 24th April!

philosophy-of-religion-a2-exam

If any problems please email abrahamsz@presdales.herts.sch.uk

Happy easter! ZA