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| x Execution of Saddam Hussein |
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The execution of Saddam Hussein took place on December 30, 2006. He was sentenced to death by hanging, after being found guilty and convicted of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal for the murder of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites in the town...
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| x Capital punishment |
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The use of capital punishment, frequently known as the death penalty, is highly controversial. Although laws vary as to what crimes may warrant capital punishment, the most common are murder and drug charges. In practice, it is reserved almost...
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| x Cultural relativism |
Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual human's beliefs and activities should be understood in terms of his or her own culture. This principle was established as axiomatic in anthropological research by Franz Boas in the first few...
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| x Vivisection |
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Vivisection (from Latin vivus ("alive") + sectio ("cutting")) is defined as surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The term is sometimes...
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| x Brown Dog affair |
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The Brown Dog affair was a political controversy about vivisection that raged in Edwardian England from 1903 until 1910. It involved the infiltration of University of London medical lectures by Swedish women activists, pitched battles between...
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| x Explanatory gap |
The basic idea of the explanatory gap is that human experience (such as qualia) cannot be fully explained by mechanical processes; that something extra, perhaps even of a different metaphysical type, must be added to "fill the gap". The explanatory...
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| x Inverted spectrum |
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Inverted spectrum is the apparent possibility of two people sharing their colour vocabulary and discriminations, although the colours one sees — their qualia — are systematically different from the colours the other person sees.
The argument dates...
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| x Mary's room |
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Mary's room (also known as Mary the super-scientist) is a philosophical thought experiment proposed by Frank Jackson in his article "Epiphenomenal Qualia" (1982) and extended in "What Mary Didn't Know" (1986). The argument it is intended to motivate...
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| x Qualia |
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"Qualia" (pronounced /ˈkwɑːliə/), singular "quale" (pronounced /ˈkwɑːleɪ/, roughly KWAH-leh), from the Latin for "what sort" or "what kind," is a term used in philosophy to describe the subjective quality of conscious experience. Examples of qualia...
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| x Evolution |
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In biology, evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though changes produced in any one generation are normally small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time,...
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| x Irreducible complexity |
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Irreducible complexity (IC) is an argument by proponents of intelligent design that certain biological systems are too complex to have evolved from simpler, or "less complete" predecessors, through natural selection acting upon a series of...
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| x Watchmaker analogy |
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The watchmaker analogy, or watchmaker argument, is a teleological argument for the existence of God. By way of an analogy, the argument states that design implies a designer. The analogy has played a prominent role in natural theology and the ...
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| x Specified complexity |
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Specified complexity is an argument proposed by William Dembski and used by him and others to promote intelligent design. According to Dembski, the concept is intended to formalize a property that singles out patterns that are both specified and...
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| x The Experience Machine |
The Experience Machine is a short section of Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Harvard University philosopher Robert Nozick. The text is one of the best known attempts at a refutation of ethical hedonism, based on considering a choice between everyday...
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| x Chinese room |
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The Chinese room argument comprises a thought experiment and associated arguments by John Searle (1980), which attempts to show that a symbol-processing machine like a computer can never be properly described as having a "mind" or "understanding",...
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| x A priori | ||
| x A posteriori | ||
| x Argument from nonbelief |
The argument from nonbelief (also known as the argument from divine hiddenness) is a philosophical argument against the existence of God. The premise of the argument is that if God existed (and wanted humanity to know it), he would have brought...
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| x Argument from poor design |
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The dysteleological argument or argument from poor design is an argument against the existence of God, specifically against the existence of a creator God (in the sense of a God that directly created all species of life). It is based on the...
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| x Problem of evil |
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In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the question of whether evil exists and, if so, why. The question particularly arises in religions that propose the existence of a deity who is omnibenevolent while simultaneously...
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| x Argument from inconsistent revelations |
The argument from inconsistent revelations, also known as the avoiding the wrong hell problem, is an argument against the existence of God. It asserts that it is unlikely that God exists because many theologians and faithful adherents have produced...
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| x Ontological argument |
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An ontological argument for the existence of God attempts the method of a priori proof, which uses intuition and reason alone. In the context of the Abrahamic religions, ontological arguments were first proposed by the Medieval philosophers Avicenna...
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| x Absolute Infinite |
The Absolute Infinite is mathematician Georg Cantor's concept of an "infinity" that transcended the transfinite numbers. Cantor equated the Absolute Infinite with God. He held that the Absolute Infinite had various mathematical properties, including...
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| x Argument from Reason |
The Argument from Reason is an argument for the existence of God largely developed by C.S. Lewis who once delivered this compendious formulation of the argument:
The argument against materialism holds:
The argument for the existence of God holds:
As...
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| x Argument from a proper basis |
The Argument from a proper basis is an ontological argument for the existence of God related to fideism. Alvin Plantinga argued that belief in God is a properly basic belief, and so no basis for belief in God is necessary.
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| x Argument from beauty |
The argument from beauty is an argument for the existence of God as against materialism.
Its logical structure is essentially as follows:
Points 2, 3 and 4 are relatively un-controversial, so discussion focuses on the premise (1).
The principal...
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| x Argument from consciousness |
The argument from consciousness is an argument for the existence of God based on consciousness.
The argument may be stated in inductive or deductive form
Given theism and naturalism as live options fixed by our background beliefs, theism provides a...
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| x Argument from degree |
The argument from degrees or the degrees of perfection argument is an argument for the existence of God first proposed by mediaeval Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas as one of the five ways to prove God in his Summa Theologica. It is based on...
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| x Argument from miracles |
The argument from miracles is an argument for the existence of God relying on eyewitness testimony of the occurrence of miracles (usually taken to be physically impossible/extremely improbable events) to establish the active intervention of a...
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| x Christological argument |
The Christological argument for the existence of God is based on certain claims about Jesus. The argument, which exists in several forms, holds that if these claims are valid, one should accept God exists. There are three main threads:
The essential...
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| x Argument from Desire |
The argument from desire is an argument for the existence of God. It is most known in recent times through the writings of C. S. Lewis, for whom it played pivotal role in his own conversion to theism and thence to Christianity.
As a syllogism it can...
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| x Kalam cosmological argument |
The Kalām cosmological argument is a variation of the cosmological argument taking its form from the Kalām tradition of Islamic discursive theology. It attempts to prove the existence of God by appealing to the principle of universal cause. It is...
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| x Argument from morality |
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The argument from morality is one of many arguments for the existence of God. This argument comes in different forms, all aiming to demonstrate God’s existence from some observations about morality in the world.
All forms of the moral argument begin...
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| x Necessary Existent |
The Necessary Existent is part of some versions of the Ontological argument for the existence of God, an argument used particularly in Islamic and Christian religious traditions. Like the ontological argument itself, it is in the form of an a priori...
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| x Primum movens |
Primum movens (Latin), in English usually referred to as the First Cause, is a term used in the philosophical and theological cosmological argument for the existence of God, and in thinking about cosmogony, the source of the cosmos or "all-being",...
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| x Argument from religious experience |
The Argument from religious experience is an argument for the existence of God, as against materialism.
Its logical structure is essentially as follows:
Points 2, 3 and 4 are relatively un-controversial, and the argument is formally valid, so...
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| x Trademark argument |
The trademark argument is an a priori argument for the existence of God developed by French philosopher and mathematician, René Descartes. The argument, though similar to the ontological argument, differs in some respects, since it seeks to prove...
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| x Transcendental argument for the existence of God |
The Transcendental Argument for the Existence of God (TAG) is the argument that attempts to prove God's existence by arguing that logic, morals, and science ultimately (though unwittingly) presuppose the Christian worldview, and that God's absolute...
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| x Witness argument |
The witness argument is an argument that is meant to help prove the existence of God, based on the assumption that many people have claimed to have personal experience with God.
In the Old Testament bible there are many accounts of interactions with...
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| x Russell's teapot |
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Russell's teapot, sometimes called the Celestial Teapot, was an analogy first coined by the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), intended to refute the idea that the burden of proof lies upon the sceptic to disprove unfalsifiable claims of...
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| x Theological noncognitivism |
Theological noncognitivism is the argument that religious language, and specifically words like "God" (capitalized), are not cognitively meaningful. Some thinkers propose it as a way to prove the nonexistence of anything named "God". It is sometimes...
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| x Argument from free will |
The argument from free will (AFFW) contends that omniscience and free will are incompatible, and that any conception of God that incorporates both properties is therefore inherently contradictory.
Moses Maimonides formulated an argument, in the...
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| x Incompatible-properties argument |
The Incompatible-properties argument is the idea that no description of God is consistent with reality. For example, if one takes the definition of God to be described fully from the Bible, then the claims of what properties God has described...
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| x Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit |
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The Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit is an argument for the improbability of the existence of God. It was introduced by Richard Dawkins in chapter 4 "Why there almost certainly is no God" of his 2006 book The God Delusion. Dawkins offers it as a counter...
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| x Spaceship Earth |
Spaceship Earth is a world view term usually expressing concern over the use of limited resources available on Earth and the behavior of everyone on it to act as a harmonious crew working toward the greater good.
It may have been derived from a...
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| x Bucket argument |
Isaac Newton's rotating bucket argument (also known as "Newton's bucket") was designed to demonstrate that true rotational motion cannot be defined as the relative rotation of the body with respect to the immediately surrounding bodies. It is one of...
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| x Rotating spheres |
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Isaac Newton's rotating spheres argument attempts to demonstrate that true rotational motion can be defined by observing the tension in the string joining two identical spheres. The basis of the argument is that all observers make two observations:...
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| x China brain |
In the philosophy of mind, the China brain thought experiment (also known as the Chinese Nation or Chinese Gym) considers what would happen if each member of the Chinese nation was asked to simulate the action of one neuron in the brain, using...
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| x Twin Earth thought experiment |
The Twin Earth thought experiment was presented by philosopher Hilary Putnam in his 1973 paper "Meaning and Reference" and subsequent 1975 paper "The Meaning of 'Meaning'", as an early argument for what has subsequently come to be known as semantic...
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| x Buridan's ass |
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Buridan's ass is a paradox in philosophy. It refers to a hypothetical situation wherein an ass, placed exactly in the middle between two stacks of hay of equal size and quality, will starve to death since it cannot make any rational decision to...
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| x Changing places |
The changing places thought experiment was conceived of by Max Velmans, Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and was discussed in his 2000 work, Understanding Consciousness. The experiment was designed to demonstrate...
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| x R. v. Dudley and Stephens |
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R v Dudley and Stephens [1884] 14 QBD 273 DC is a leading English criminal case that established a precedent, throughout the common law world, that necessity is no defence against a charge of murder. It concerned survival cannibalism following a...
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| x Plank of Carneades |
In ethics, the plank of Carneades is a thought experiment first proposed by Carneades of Cyrene; it explores the concept of self-defense in relation to murder.
In the thought experiment, there are two shipwrecked sailors, A and B. They both see a...
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| x Utility monster |
The utility monster is a thought experiment in the study of ethics. It was created by philosopher Robert Nozick in 1974 as a criticism of utilitarianism.
In the thought experiment, the idea of a monster is proposed who can turn resources into his...
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| x Abortion debate |
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The abortion debate refers to discussion and controversy surrounding the moral and legal status of abortion. The two main groups involved in the abortion debate are the pro-choice movement, and the pro-life movement. Each movement has, with varying...
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| x Mere addition paradox |
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The mere addition paradox is a problem in ethics, identified by Derek Parfit, and appearing in his book, Reasons and Persons (1986). The paradox identifies apparent inconsistency between three seemingly true beliefs about population ethics.
The...
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| x Argument from queerness |
"The Argument from Queerness" is a term used in the philosophical study of ethics first developed by J. L. Mackie in his book Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong ISBN 0-14-013558-8 (1977)
Mackie argues against the view that there can be objective...
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| x Third Man Argument |
The third man argument (commonly referred to as TMA), first offered by Plato in his dialogue Parmenides, is a philosophical criticism of Plato's own theory of Forms. The argument posits that if a man is a man because he partakes in the form of man,...
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| x Lazy argument |
The lazy argument (ἀργὸς λόγος) is an attempt at undermining doctrines of fate.
The argument relies on a deterministic system (such as of the Stoics). It runs as such: why should we bother making decisions if the outcome is already fixed? For...
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| x Myth of Er |
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The Myth of Er is an eschatological legend that concludes Plato's dialogue known as The Republic (10.614-10.621). The story includes an account of the cosmos and the afterlife that for many centuries greatly influenced religious, philosophical and...
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