Exam 4
Study Guide
Vocabulary:
- Foundationalism
- Coherentism
- Externalism
- propositional Revelation
- personal Revelation
- progressive revelation
- properly basic belief
- Voluntarims
- Pragmatism
- hypothesis
- option
- ultimate concern
Names to Know:
- St. Thomas
- Blaise Pascal
- William Clifford
- William James
- David Hume
- Paul Tillich
Things to be Familiar With:
- Explain the difference between "classical" and "neo" Foundationalism
- What are the two different types of "personal" personal?
- According to St. Thomas, what is the relationship between faith and reason?
- St. Thomas argues that God reveals both transcendent and natural propositions. What is his argument
to justify why God would bother to reveal what we can come to know through the ordinary light of reason?
- According to St. Thomas, how can we, as rational beings, judge the difference between genuine and false
revelation?
- Explain Pascal's "wager".
- Pascal argues that we ought to choose to believe that God exists. Practically speaking, how are we supposed
to accomplish this?
- Explain Clifford's concern with the concept of faith.
- Why does Clifford believe there are moral obligations tied to believing? (Why does he think it makes a difference
what we believe?)
- What is the difference between a "live" and "dead" hypothesis according to James.
- Explain James' decision theory.
- Why does James believe it is sometimes rationally justifiable to accept non-rational beliefs? (What two conditions
must be met in "passional" decisions?)
- Explain the difference between the common sense understanding of a miracle and the philosophical/theological
understanding of this term.
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