1. In the Raphael painting School of Athens, is Aristotle pointing up? LH p.10
2. What was Aristotle's word for happiness, success, or flourishing? LH p.11
3. Did Aristotle think we could learn to live a good life, or that the state should attempt to teach us how? OR, Did he think it appropriate for individuals to focus on the pursuit of their own self-interest? Irwin p.26-7
4. What Scottish philosopher countered William Paley's Design Argument posthumously, arguing in part that it rested on a weak analogy between human artifacts and natural phenomena? P p.12
5. What question does the First Cause Argument for the existence of God invite? P p.16
6. What kind of evil does the Free Will Defense fail to account for? P p.25
DQs:
1. What do you think Aristotle's body language in School of Athens means?
2. Why didn't Aristotle think children could be fully happy?
3. What's your idea of "the good life"? Do you consider other people's well-being to be any concern of yours?
4. Do you think natural selection, the "blind" and unpremeditated evolutionary process whereby organisms thrive when they develop adaptations suitable to the conditions of their environment, can be considered a form of Design (without a Designer)? Is there an important difference between intelligent design and natural complexity?
5. Do you recall a time in childhood when you asked, a parent, a Sunday School teacher, or some other adult the question "Who or what made God?" Did you receive a satisfactory response (from your present point of view)?
6. If you believe in God, how do you attempt to reconcile or understand the full extent of human suffering? (Think of particular instances such as Nigel's "agony of a young child dying of an incurable disease," or an innocent gunshot or terror victim, or someone killed in a storm and their survivors.) Do you see it as part of a divine plan we just have to trust, or a deep mystery we shouldn't think too much about? Or do you believe in a God who is less than omnipotent and is just doing the best He/She/It can to bring about a harmonious and just Creation?
If you don't believe in God, is that in whole or in part because of the Problem of Evil? Or something else?
FQ: what is the chronological order of the great philosophers we have discussed/ learned about thus far?
ReplyDelete(Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.)
DQ: Can one know all-good and happiness and fulfillment with the presence of evil? can one feel happiness without ever knowing what is it like to be sad?