PPT-The Euthyphro dilemma Michael Lacewing

enquiriesalevelphilosophycouk The question Is morality whatever God wills it to be or is morality something independent of God Can God make right be wrong or good be bad The first option. Socrates and Plato. 469-399 BCE. 427-327 BCE. Socrates. Bricklayer by trade, served in the army. Labeled “the wisest man in Athens” by oracle at Delphi. Set out to prove the oracle wrong. Questioned the sophists who held that success was ability to gain hold of wealth, fame and power. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Am I a brain in a vat?. Knowledge is not belief (even true belief). Are my reasons for my beliefs sufficient for knowledge?. Maybe all my experiences are fed to me by a supercomputer. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Justice. Justice (the virtue) . is the disposition to act justly and desire . justice (the state of affairs). Justice the virtue is defined in terms of just acts, unlike other virtues. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Utilitarianism. A. ct . utilitarianism:. . an action is right if it . maximises. happiness, and wrong if it does not. . I. f . telling a lie creates more happiness than telling the truth (or keeping silent), then telling a lie is morally right. Argument. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. Anselm’s argument. God is a being ‘greater . than which cannot be conceived. ’. If you could think of something that is greater than God, surely this something would . Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . The origin of knowledge. Does all our knowledge come from experience, as empiricists claim?. Descartes thinks not. He uses deductive reasoning: if the premises and true, the conclusion must be true. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Deontology. Morality is a matter of duty.. Whether something is right or wrong doesn’t depend on its consequences. Actions are right or wrong in themselves.. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Idealism. Idealism: everything that exists is a mind or dependent on a . mind. Berkeley: . to . be is to be perceived (or to perceive): . esse est percipi . enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . What do we perceive?. Direct realism: we perceive physical objects, which exist independent of our experience. Physical objects existed before minds. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing . Analytic and synthetic propositions. An analytic proposition is true or false in virtue of the meanings of the . words. Squares have four sides. Michael Lacewing. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. (c) Michael Lacewing. The question. Why does anything exist?. Unless God exists, this question is unanswerable.. (c) Michael Lacewing. Temporal and sustaining causes. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Substance and properties. A substance is an entity, a thing, that does not depend on another entity for its continued existence. . It has ‘ontological independence’. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Eudaimonia and morality. ‘What is the good for human beings?’ . What is it that we are aiming at?. What would provide a successful, fulfilling, good life?. enquiries@alevelphilosophy.co.uk. © Michael Lacewing. Simulated killing. The dramatisation, i.e. enactment, . of killing within a fictional context, e.g. in video games, films and . plays. Playing the killer.