Religion Philosophy

Follow the instructions highlighted at the end of each of the following sections!

Worldview Questions

1. What constitutes good thinking? What aspects of truth can we simply assume are true and which ones do we need to argue for? What is a good argument? (These questions relate to the study of logic.)

2. Are you a good thinker? Why or why not? What things do you assume in life are true, what others do you need to argue for? Do you use logic? Do you support or oppose the use of logic in thinking? Why? What examples of good thinking do you know about?

Likewise, include your answers to the Ten Across Assessment in the journal post as well.

Key Questions from Chapter One

1. What does it mean to be a philosopher and what is the benefit of thinking about philosophical questions? How has postmodernism challenged the legitimacy of doing philosophy? Anticipate and explain how a Christian might object to doing philosophy.

2. In what way does philosophy stand at the core of all the other subjects you might study in college?

3. What are the three fundamental branches of philosophy? Name and identify some of the overall questions that philosophy asks.

4. In what way might asking questions lead to personal freedom? Are all questions permissible? Is there ever a time when you should not ask a question?

5. What do you think about the two Greek mottoes: “know yourself” and “the unexamined life is not worth living”? To what extent do they reflect important or legitimate pursuits? How would you suggest Christian faith steers such pursuits?

6. What is the Socratic method? Do you ever use it when you are trying to find the truth? Should you?

Chapter 2 Key Questions

1. Do you agree more with Tertullian and Kierkegaard about philosophy or C. S. Lewis and other apologists? Why?

2. Before you go further into this book, what quick answers would you give to the basic philosophical questions? Do you think your ideas will change as you work through this book?

3. What do you think about the idea that some beliefs are “properly basic”? Would you include belief in God?

4. How does radical orthodoxy strike you? Should we largely bracket our essential Christian beliefs from critical examination and ignore questions about them that others have asked?

Chapter 3 Key Questions

1. What is the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning?

2. What is the difference between a valid syllogism and a true one?

3. Evaluate the chapter’s claim that biblical material is not propositional in nature for the most part. Argue either for or against this claim.

4. What were the key contributions of Aristotle to philosophy?

5. Get a copy of an editorial page or locate a website where someone takes a position on an issue. Evaluate the arguments used. What logical fallacies can you find?

6. Identify the informal fallacy in each of the following statements:

· “I see the guy who shot her was white. That’s the way white people are—very violent and dangerous.”

· “I just know she’s innocent. I can feel it.”

· “Angels don’t exist. I’ve never seen one.”

· “That boy has cried wolf twice now, and there was no wolf. So there will be no wolf this time either.”

· “Quantum physics is a bunch of bunk, because that’s what my mom (who is no good at science) told me.”

· “You believe that all religions are equally valid because if you believed otherwise we would fire you.”

· “The president’s foreign policy is obviously bad. After all, he cheated on his wife.”

· “Either you believe in absolutes, or you don’t believe in any right or wrong.”

· “The economy started to tank after he became president; he must have caused it.”

· “Premarital sex is wrong because it is wrong to do sexually immoral things.”

· “If we let immigrants continue to speak their own languages, before long no one will speak English here anymore.”

· “Paul couldn’t have written 2 Timothy, because most scholars do not think he did.”

· “I know you killed him, because I saw you leaving the building after the murder.”

· “This rock is millions of years old because it has this fossil in it. This fossil is millions of years old because it was found in this rock.”

· “I’m not out to get you, Frank. You think everyone’s out to get you because you’re a paranoid schizophrenic.”

· “If a person has ever had a homosexual relationship, we should keep that person away from our children, because the vast majority of child molesters are repeat offenders.”

· “He’s a Muslim because he’s a Palestinian, and Palestinians are mostly Muslim.”

· “God is the greatest Being we can conceive. But he wouldn’t be the greatest if he didn’t exist in reality as well as thought. Therefore, God exists.”

· “God would never want us to make an exception to the rule not to lie because God would never want us to do wrong.”

Submit this entire document into the appropriate dropbox for grading purposes.