Past Questions from old spec

Past Questions from old spec, adapted, for questions from the new spec please see link below.


Miracles


1. Discuss the view that the concept of a miracle is inconsistent with a belief in a benevolent God. [2002]
2. Assess Hume's reasons for rejecting miracles [2004]
3. By definition, a miracle can never happen. Discuss [2005]


Religious Language


1. Critically examine the Via Negativa as an approach to understanding the nature of God. [2002]
2. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the use of analogy as a means of expressing human understanding of God. [2003]
3. Assess the view that the different forms of religious experience are nothing more than fantasy [2006]
4. How far is the claim that moral language is meaningful, even if religious language is not [2004]


Religious Experience


1. Discuss the suggestion that it is pointless to analyse religious experience. [2003]


Nature of God


1. If our ethical behaviour is determined, there can be no possible answers to the problem of evil [2002]
2. God creates us and knows in advance all the choices we will make; therefore we cannot be held responsible when we do wrong [2003]


Life after Death


1. Eternal life in heaven does not explain or compensate for the unfairness of this world; only reincarnation can do that [2003]
2. The only point to behaving morally is to be rewarded after death, discuss [2005]


For a predictions grid, up-to-date questions and sample answers please see this website: http://sites.google.com/site/farrowsthings/exam-papers/exemplar-essays/y13-philosophy


Also this pdf continues lots of practice questions for OCR A2 Phil of Religion paper: http://www.school-portal.co.uk/GroupDownloadFile.asp?GroupId=733938&ResourceId=3109741 

Essay Question On Miracles

Here is an attempt on the question, 'By definition, a miracle can never happen' Discuss (35)


PLEASE DO NO STEAL OR COPY THIS, IT IS ILLEGAL. THIS IS A PURELY READ-ONLY FILE.
%22By Definition, A Miracle Can Never Happen, Discuss%22 by Komilla Chadha

Contingency Definition of a miracle

In this video I explain RF Holland's and Paul Tillich's view on the contingency definition of a miracle.

Religious Experience as a means for proving God's existence

In this video I explore whether religious experience is valid proof for God's existence and conclude that it is.



Religious experience - a personal encounter with the divine

Self-authenticiating - In relation to religious experience it means that the individual created the experience in their mind and believes strongly that God is contacting them.


Spiritually short-sighted - This means that some people may not be able to describe the experiences well because they do not have the ability to understand the experience and thus can be used to explain why people encounter different religious experiences.


The problem of recognition states that it is difficult to experience something you have not recognised and distinguish between an experience of God and other entities like the devil. Furthermore, it is difficult to see features such as infinity, omnipotence and omniscience.

Flew and Life after Death

In this video I explain what Flew has to say about life after death. 

Modern Explanations of Miracles

In my earlier post we looked at some of these modern accounts of miracles in relation to David Hume but I want to look at modern explanations of miracles as a sole topic. 


As you would guess scientists would be against the existence of miracles as we have seen earlier this is in part to do with methodlogical naturalism. It makes sense then to start with the Chemist Peter Atkin.


Peter Atkin argues against miracles following oin the steps of David Hume's practical reasons against miracles. Atkins says that the only reason people endorse miracles is because they are seeking publicity, deluded or hallucinating. Swinburne, points out however that not all people who experience miracles are ill educated, deluded or seeking punlicity.


Richard Dawkins, too argues that miracles are just psychological events. He seems to take more the contingency definition of a miracle - arguing that they are mere coincidence which people take with special significance.  Dawkins explains that miracles such as Lourdes are just the placebo effect taking course. The placebo effect is essentially people people thinking that they will be healed and so are psychologically. He doubts any physical healing happens like someone gets up from a wheelchair and begins to walk. Dawkins concludes that for these reasons miracles are imporbable and God is not a neccessary explaination.


Polkinghorne, is a physicist and theologian, says that God is active through are world and points out that makes sense to say that God works through Natural Laws. His explanation is that God works through humans and affects physical processes because humans affect physical processes. 


Hume's work is based on Sir Isaac Newton's work which dictates that science is based on fixed laws of nature e.g. everything has an equal and opposite force. However, Einstein came along and updated Newton's work suggesting that it is not always correct and laws of nature are not always fixed. A good example of this is the recent interest in Quantum physics which fails to explain why tiny particles move the way they do. This implies that miracle events which 'violate the laws of nature' are actually scientific and science should accept them. However, this suggests that God does not exist as miracles can be explained through science just like Quantum physics.

Miracles Quiz I

Miracles Quiz I

1. What is St Thomas Aquinas’ definition of miracles?
2. Is Hume’s case against miracles inductive or deductive?
3. Swinburne argues that testimonies are not the only evidence against miracles what are the other two?
4. What is Alastair McKinnon’s position on miracles?
5. Under what grounds would Flew accept that a miracle has occurred?
6. What is the fundamental problem Wiles has with miracles?
7. Who are the two scholars who follow in similar footsteps to St Augustine and argue that we cannot judge that God is arbitrary and partisan but rather we may not understand his reasoning?
8. Why does Irenaeus reject the occurrence of miracles?
9. What is the contingency definition of a miracle?
10. What are the three types of miracles Aquinas states there are?

1. ‘Those things...which are done by divine power apart from the oder generally followed in things’.
2. Inductive - he bases it on the vast number of occasions when a miracle has not occurred.
3. Our apparent memories and physical traces left after the event e.g. dry clothes when Jesus walked on water.
4. That it is impossible for them to happen as a violation of a law of nature is not possible - it just means our understanding of the law was wrong and needs to be reassessed.
5. It primary evidence exists so you were there yourself when a miracle has occurred.
6. It leads to the belief in an arbitrary and partisan God. 
7. Neil Cantwell and Brian Hebblethwaite
8. Well it all begins with his soul-making theodicy which states that because we are made in God’s likeness and image we have free-will and intelligence. However, we are not made exactly because then we would be perfect. Natural evil then is to help us to grow and become perfect and moral evil is just the product of free will. Miracles do not occur as suffering is an important creation’s of God and it makes no sense to suggest he would intervene sometimes to stop this from happening. More on Irenaen Theodicy click here.
9. “A coincidence which can be taken religiously as a sign and can be called a miracle”
10. (i) Events which God does and nature cannot do e.g. stopping the sun in Joshua (ii) Event which God does does which nature could do but just not in that order e.g. the healing of exorcisms in Mark (iii) Events which God does without the use of natural laws e.g. forgiving of sins in Mark.

Aristotle and the Soul

 In this video I look at what Aristotle believed about the soul and life after death.

Plato and the soul

Plato's view on the soul, the slave boy example, analogy of the cave, the myth of err, cycle of opposites, charioteer example and perfect circle.









Plato and the Soul


For Plato, the soul is made up of three parts; reason, emotion and appetite. The reason is the most important element which controls the appetite and emotion. 

In terms of importance, reason is first because it provides knowledge then emotion because it determines much of our behaviour and lastly is appetite because that simply sets out our physical needs.


Plato and Slave Boy as Evidence that the world of the form exists


Plato observes that a slave boy even without education or prior experience can solve a maths problem with an intuitive idea of mathematics. This demonstrates that the soul has all the knowledge from the world of the Forms and it is simply about remembering it.


Plato and the Myth of Err


- This is a fictional story to demonstrate that philosophy is an important aspect to the development of our lives.
- Err, who this story is about, was a solider who died on the battlefield.
- But on the 12th day Err came back to life and told people what he had experienced.
- He told them once he had died he went on a journey in which he encountered judges who rewarded and punished the souls of those who had died.
-Souls were then reborn into a new life on earth which they themselves chose.
- In conclusion, only the philosophical, who understand the importance of choosing a new life of peace and justice benefitted from the cycle of life.


Western tradition of thought essentially are all foot notes on Plato.


Test yourself...


1. Does Plato believe the soul survived death? What is this category of thought called?
2. What does Plato say we are doing when are what we would call 'learning'?
3. When we encounter something why we are able to recognise it?
4. What is the true home of the soul?
5. What is meant when Plato describes the soul as simple?


____________________________________________




Answers
1. Yes, dualism.
2. Remembering information from the world of the forms
3. Because before birth we have experienced it in the world of the Forms
4. World of the forms
5. Unchanging and indivisible


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Descartes and 'I think therefore I am'

In this video I explore Descartes view on the soul and life after death. 

Are miracles logically impossible? [Hume, McKinnon, Flew, Methodological Naturalism]

In this video I explore three rejections of miracles - Alastair McKinnon, Anthony Flew and Methodological Naturalism.

Religious Experience Key Terms

Different forms of religious experience

Visions

Three types of visions:

1. Intellectual - These are like clear visions they are not seen externally but rather in the mind’s eye much to complex e.g. St Teresa ‘I saw Christ by my side - or to put it better, I was conscious of Him, for neither with the eyes of the body or the soul did I see anything.’
2. Corporeal - These are visions which have been experienced by a group of people at the same place e.g. the Toronto Blessing where since 1994 healings, incidents of personal transformation and greater awareness of God’s love have been reported. But it is unclear whether these are genuine experiences or just the influence of some kind of mass hypnosis.
3. Imaginative - Where a clear image is depicted e.g. in Matthew an angel appears several times to St Joseph in his sleep.

Voices

 Many different accounts of voices exist in the Bible. For example:

Mark 1:1-19

When Jesus goes to become baptised by John the baptist a voice comes from heaven. God is described a dove who reveals that Jesus is the Son of God. 

Abraham and Isaac

God tells Abraham to kill his son Isaac but when Abraham goes to do it God says to Abraham do not kill Isaac this was just a test of your faith.

Problems with voices

• Can justify almost anything
• Distinction between mental illness and God’s voice
• Can leave people distressed like Abraham - why would an all-loving God do that? 
• Can be problems with interpretation - why would an omnipotent God do that?
• Why does an omniscient God need to test faith?

‘Numinous’ experience

Numinous = the feeling of the presence of a greater being which is with you but somehow detached. Rudolph Otto derived this term and observed that individuals were drawn into the experience by a mixture of fear and fascination. There is a fear because they are experiencing something so unknown to them and fascination as to what they are experiencing. This he calls Mysterium Tremendum.

AWE +WONDER

Mystical experience

This is a direct experience of God where oneness is felt with the divine.

Conversion experience - Experiences which result in dramatic changes in a short period of time. Could it be psychological as Edwin Stabuck suggests.

Corporate religious experience

These are used to describe religious experiences that happen to a number of people once at the same location.

Body Soul Distinction

Body Soul Distinction

Dualism = The idea that there are two aspects to being human the physical i.e. the body and the mental i.e. the soul

Substance dualism = The idea that there are two elements to us which are wholly different

Materialism = The idea that human being solely consists of physical matter

Monism = Idea that human beings are only made up by one substance a bit like materialism

Soul = The incorporeal essence of a person, living thing or object.

Myth

Notes on Myth - Videos found below

What is myth?

Myth is a story designed to resolve philosophical and religious problems. It is not factual and it is not to be confused with legends and fairytales. 

Examples,

Jesus feed 5000

Genesis Story 

What type of language does myth employ?

1. Symbolic
2. Metaphors
3. Poetry
4. Narrative framework
5. Equivocal
6. Non-cognitive 

Rudolf Bultmann 

• Bultmann describes myth as the use of imagery from the physical world to discuss and communicate information about the metaphysical.
• He says we need to ‘demythologize’ myth meaning that we must take out the ‘mythical’ elements in order to arrive that the true meaning of Christianity and particularly Jesus’ teachings. 
• His liberal approach is popular among some scholars because can be used to counter argue Form Criticism. However, other scholars reject his approach saying the supernatural elements aren’t just later additions they are what happens and gives meaning to the stories. Furthermore, Christianity rests on the assumption that the resurrection occurred and if the resurrection is more than a symbolic story used to show God’s power then where does religion stand?
• Bultmann comes from an anti-realist stance arguing that taking a myth literally can be disproved by science, it is the message which is important. There are not out to make objective facts but rather convey religious ideas
• For Bultmann the rising of Jesus doesn't matter, what matters is that we gather that human beings owe their existence to God.

David Jenkins

• Bishop of Durham who agreed with Bultmann and supported an anti-realist stance.
• He was removed from the Church institution for asserting that the resurrection was ‘more than just a conjuring trick with bones’ implying that in actual fact the resurrection is a myth with a deeper meaning.
• For him nothing is physical everything is metaphysical
• However, one of the reasons why this resulted in him being banned was because it implies that Jesus is not the Son of God he is merely a Hasjid which means an ordinary man.

Rogerson

• For Rogerson myth should be a slave to our understanding not our master.
• It is a mere aid, the meaning lies in the metaphor not words.

Armstrong

• She was originally a nun.
• Again like Bultmann she states that a myth is a factual event - ‘Mythology is not an early attempt at history and does not claim its fact are objective fact’
• Acts as a guide to help us develop our lives at a deeper level of meaning.
• She says that humans have two parts the logos and myth. The logos is our logical, scientific and pragmatic self and myth our spiritual. When myth came about in about the stone age when humans were hunter gatherers. Logos allowed them to hunt and myth to deal with the emotions and spiritual side of hunting an animal.
• For a myth to be properly understood it needs rituals hence why it is a guide or otherwise it is like reading the lyrics to opera without the music.
• An example she gives of an occurrence in a myth. She says in all cultures myths include flight and ascent and this expresses a universal desire of transcendence and liberation from the human condition it is not to be taken literally. Does this means Jesus ascending to heaven is not to be taken literally?

Strengths	Weaknesses
1. Effective means for resolving philosophical and theological problems.	1. It is anachronistic, belongs to a pre-scientific age which we cannot empathize with.
2. Does not result in anthropomorphic descriptions of God.	2. No factual evidence or explanation seems illogical to take it seriously.
3. Does not claim to be fact.	3. Difficult to distinguish between truth and fact.
4. Preserves oral tradition -  making things easy and interesting to remember.	4. Trivializes religion
5. Fun for children.	5. Very often it is confused with legends and fairytales.
6. Provides commentary for discussing the metaphysical world alongside the physical
7. Can convey a meaning which can be conveyed in no other manner.
8. Cathartic mechanism for coping with death as Armstrong says it has therapeutic elements and must be used with ritual e.g. Requim Mass.
9. According to Armstrong without myth you lose a key part of yourself - it is not a holistic approach to life.
10. The alternative to understanding the Bible in a mythological fashion is a literal one and that is far more problematic.
11. Responds to claims made by the logical positivists by arguing that you cannot assess religious claims with your principles as they are purely mythological.

Video on Myth + Evaluation

Wiles' on Miracles

 In this video I explore Maurice Wiles' case against miracles and some of the strengths and weaknesses of his view.

Hume on Miracles and responses

In this video I explore both Hume's practical and thretical case against miracles and the responses proposed by Swinburne, St Augustine, Anthony Flew, Polkinghorne, Einstein, Newton.

Biblical Miracles

Christianity and Miracles 

Miracles in the Old Testament 

• Acts of God

For example the flood in Genesis, where God told Noah to build an ark.

Miracles in the New Testament

• Acts of Jesus and can be split into 3 categories

1. Healing - Mark - Jesus heals blind man
2. Exorcism - Matthew -Jesus heals a boy who is possessed by a demon when the father says he believes
3. Natural - Mark - Jesus Calms the storm

Four Purposes of Miracles according to Christian belief

1. Demonstrate love and compassion and faith by answering prayers.
2. Demonstrates God’s power
3. God is continually involved and active in his creation
4. Signs pointing towards the divine

Three interpretations of miracles

1. Literal
2. Conservative
3. Liberal 

Form critics such as Gunkel [German theological scholar] interpret miracles by examining what form was the original text used in. 

Bultmann is a extreme example of a liberal interpreter, he says we need to demythologize miracles to fully understand them. By this he meant remove the myth and supernatural elements to understand fully what the message of God is. Bultmann and other similar scholars who interpret miracles like this leave the question that is the resurrection then a purely symbolic event? The bishop of Durham Dr David Jenkins agrees saying it is merely a ‘conjuring trick with bones’. 

Criticisms

Form Criticism

Inconsistent Triad

Maurice Wiles - Arbitrary God 

Hume’s inductive argument