2020-10-07

cpsc-1480

• Midterm!

phil-1101

• Guiding questions
  • What does "omnipotent" mean?
    • Why might one think that it's impossible for something to be omnipotent?
      • 1. Super-heavy stone --> stone so heavy even God cannot move it
      • 2. If God exists he is able to produce a super-heavy stone
      • 3. If God is omnipotent he could move the heavy stone, thus a super-heavy stone is impossible
      • 4. If God exists, he is not able to make a super-heavy stone
      • 2 and 4 are conflicting implications --> theism must be false
    • What is St Thomas Aquinas' response to this objection?
      • Omnipotence needs a different definition
      • Omnipotent being --> able to bring about any possible outcome
      • Omnipotent being --> cannot bring about an impossible outcome (like a square circle)
  • Tensions
    • Why might one think omnipotence incompatible with omniscience?
      • If God were omniscient, he must already know how He is going to intervene to change history using his omnipotence
      • Because God knows, he cannot change his mind about intervention
      • Therefore, he is not omnipotent
    • Why might one think that omnipotence incompatible with omnibenevolence?
    • How might a theist respond to these puzzles?
  • What is the problem of evil?
    • If God was omniscient, omnipotent, etc. He would've create the best possible Universe
      • A Universe with no suffering is surely better than one with suffering
      • Therefore God did not create the best Universe --> theism is false
    • What definition of God does the problem assume?
      • That God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good
    • Can you reconstruct this problem as a deductively valid argument with "God doesn't exist" as its conclusion?
      • 1. If God exists and is omnipotent, he could prevent suffering
      • 2. If God exists and is omniscient, he knows of all suffering before it occurs
      • 3. If God exists and is perfectly good, he would want to prevent all suffering
      • 4. If God exists, then he is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good
      • 5. If God exists, he would prevent suffering (or make it less severe)
      • 6. God does not exist
  • What are some inadequate responses to this argument?
    • Responses
      • Suffering isn't real
      • Evil is merely a privation (absence) of good
      • God's goodness is not human goodness, it is divine goodness
        • Cannot be understood in moral terms we use to evaluate human actions
    • Why are they inadequate?
      • Bait-and-switch
      • Mislead people by using words in a nonstandard way
  • What is a theodicy?
    • A response to the problem of evil
    • Arguments that God doesn't have to stop all suffering
    • Sometimes it is okay to allow or cause suffering
  • What are some theodicies given in response to the above argument?
    • Examples of theodicies
      • Some who have done wrong deserve to suffer
      • Suffering is good because it is character building
      • Free will
        • God gave us free will; he wants us to be free
        • Since we are free, we can act immorally/stupidly which can lead to suffering
        • God lets us suffer because free will is more important
    • Do any of them provide a compelling objection to the argument?
      • Why or why not?
  • Can you think of other possible theodicies?
• Omnipotent --> all-powerful
  • No limit to power
  • No limit to what an omnipotent being can do

cpsc-1050

• Low level programming languages
• Computer
  • Programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data
  • Instructions control unit executes
    • Can store data in memory
    • Can retrieve data from memory
    • Process data in some way in the arithmetic logic unit
  • Data and instructions to manipulate are logically the same
• Machine language
• Pep9