6.8 Chapter Glossary

Chapter Glossary

Agnosticism The choice to not think about whether or not one believes in God.
Atheism The denial of the existence of a god or gods or any type of divine reality.
Contingent Being A being whose existence logically depends upon the existence of something other than itself; a being that could logically not exist as well as exist.  This applies to everything in the physical universe.
Cosmological Argument An argument for the existence of God based upon observed properties in the natural world like causality and contingency.
Epicurean Paradox An early expression of the Problem of Evil.
Forced Option For James, a choice that is unavoidable.
Free Will Defense An argument that attempts to explain the existence of evil as necessary for human freedom.
Genuine option For James, a choice that is forced, living and momentous.
Greater Good Defense An argument that attempts to explain the existence of evil as necessary for leading to a greater good for all.
Kalam Argument A cosmological argument for the existence of God stressing that the universe must have a first cause.
Living Option For James, a choice that is still available to you.
Momentous Option For James, a choice that has huge consequences.
Monotheism The belief in the existence of only one God that created yet transcends the universe.
Moral Evil The evil caused by human beings.
Natural Evil The evil caused by forces of nature.
Natural Theology The effort to use reason alone, without appeal to scripture, to make claims about the divine.
Necessary Being A being whose existence logically depends upon nothing other than itself for explanation; a being that cannot “not” exist.
Non-evidentialism The philosophy that acknowledges that proofs of God’s existence come short but stresses the inevitability of having to choose for or against God nonetheless.
Omnibenevolence The claim that God is all good.
Omnipotence The claim that God is all powerful.
Omnipresence The claim that God is everywhere.
Omniscience The claim that God is all knowing.
Ontological Argument An argument for the existence of God based not upon observation but using only deductive reasoning from principles.
Ontos Greek for pure being or existence.
Predicate An attribute or characteristic of something.
Principle of Sufficient Reason The claim that everything that exists must have an explanation for why it exists.
Result of Sin Defense An early attempt to explain evil and suffering as a consequence of human sinfulness.
Spiritual Purification Defense. An argument that attempts to explain the existence of evil as necessary for the pursuit of virtue and character.
Teleological Argument An argument for the existence of God based upon apparent design or purpose in the universe.
Theism The belief in the existence of a god or gods.
Theophany An argument that attempts to explain the existence of evil in the world, especially if God is claimed to both exist and be all powerful and be good.

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PPSC PHI 1011: The Philosopher's Quest by Daniel G. Shaw, Ph.D. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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