5-8-19 W   Skepticism and Renaissance Science

5-6-19 M   Mysticism cont

5-1-19 W   Plotinus and Ibn Tufail - Mysticism

4-29-19 M   Faith and Reason

4-24-19 W   Medieval Science

4-22-19 M   Aquinas - Aristotelian Abstraction

4-17-19 W   Augustine - Sources of Knowledge

4-15-19 M   Ockham - Nominalism and Philosophy of Language cont

4-10-19 W   Nominalism and Philosophy of Language

4-8-19 M   Scotus - Individuation

4-3-19 W   Moderate Realism, and Individuation

4-1-19 M   Abelard cont, and Lambert

3-27-19 W   Salisbury and Abelard

3-25-19 M   Strong and Moderate Realism, and Philosophy of Language

3-20-19 W   The Renaissance Debate about Free Will and Determinism

3-18-19 M   Scotus - Necessity and Contingency in Creation

3-6-19 W   Necessity and Contingency in Creation, and the Relation of Will and Intellect

3-4-19 M   Anselm - Free Will and Predestination

2-27-19 W   Boethius - Free Will and Predestination

2-25-19 M   Augustine – Free Will and the Problem of Evil

2-20-19 W   Aquinas - The Difference between Animal, Human, and Angelic Souls

2-13-19 W   Necessity and Contingency of Creation cont

2-11-19 M   Necessity and Contingency of Creation

2-6-19 W   God and Time

2-4-19 M   Problem of the Trinity

arguments for God's existence

I have always found this argument to be initially difficult to grasp however once understood it seems to be one of the most ambitious arguments from natural theology and potentially one of the most powerful. This is because this argument is the only argument for God that is attempting to be a deductive proof by definition, while other arguments seek to be based on induction. It is interesting how Anselm is saying that if the being you are imagining doesn't exist then that is by definition not God and he seeks to demonstrate some connection between out ability to conceive of something and the existence of a thing. I prefer the modal ontological argument by Alvin Plantinga because I can see how the idea that existence is a quality to be problematic. The contemporary version of this argument seeks to get away from this problem. I find it interesting to see how Anselm tries to address the potential counter to his argument of being able to conceive of God not existing.

1-30-19 W   Arguments for God's Existence

I was very intrigued in the way Anselm argues for the existence of the Supreme or God in Mongolion. The approach he takes in arguing against non-believers is very unique and worth paying close attention to. He axiomatically explains personal preferences and that individuals have the propensity to prefer things insofar as those things have are Good or have some sort of Goodness in them, as the maxim to go by. If this is to be true, then there exists countably infinite things in which one can find good or goodness in. To account for this, there is an ascribed "weight" to the things in which an individual finds to be good which defines their preferences. Therefore all things are relative based on the value of their goodness when preferred over other things. Among the preferences of an individual there may be specific ones which are regarded vacuously, as they are Good for the sake of themselves, by the individual - these things are what can be classified as truly good. Thus, among them there is relativism and the overall prevailing thing is regarded as the Supreme good, as it is not only good for the sake of itself but is Good. This, by Anselm's decree, is God.

1-28-19 M   God's Nature