Introduction to Philosophy “Introduction & Worldview Thinking”
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Introduction to Philosophy“Introduction & Worldview
Thinking”
Christopher Ullman, Instructor
Christian Life College
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Ronald Nash
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Ronald Nash Author of more than 30 books on philosophy and theology
o Life's Ultimate Questions: an Introduction to Philosophyo Faith and Reason: the Search for a Rational Faith
Professor Philosophy and Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida
Lectured at more than fifty colleges and universities in the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union
Served two terms as an Advisor to the US Civil Rights Commission and serves a s a Fellow of the Christianity Today Institute
Peter Kreeft
Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and at the King's College (Empire State Building), in New York City. He is a regular contributor to several Christian publications, is in wide demand as a speaker at conferences, and is the author of over 67 books including:Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Christianity for Modern Pagans, Fundamentals of the Faith, and The Philosophy of Jesus. 4
“Any Questions?”
What are the four great philosophical questions?
1. What is? (a question about being)
2. How can we know what is? (a question about truth)
3. Who are we? (a question about self)
4. What should we be? (a question about goodness)
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Is Jesus a Philosopher?
No, not an academic one. Yes, but isn’t everyone? Yes, in a middle sense, like Confucius, Buddha,
Muhammad, Solomon, Marcus Aurelius, PascalLook how full of argument he is!
Mark 12:14-17Luke 12:54-57
Let’s explore how Jesus is a philosopher6
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Worldview: What it means
A set of presuppositions we hold about the basic make-up of our world
The sum total of a person’s answers to the most important questions in life
A set of spectacles through which we view the events of life
A lexicon for experience
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Worldview Metaphors Camera filter and lens
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Worldview Metaphors Controlled
vocabulary
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Worldview Metaphors Building framework
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Presuppositions: Knowledge Starting Points
You have to BELIEVE something before you can KNOW anything
Godel’s Theorem The “Why Exercise” to re-enforce learning
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Worldview: Why bother, if we have facts?
Facts don’t exist in theory-free etherYou have to believe
something before you can know anything. – Augustine
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Worldview: Why bother, if we have facts?
A person in the possession of a “fact” already has a worldview that makes that fact relevant to him If you don’t have that
worldview, the fact won’t be relevant to you
Where are my clothes?
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Worldview: Why bother, if we have facts? Examples
Bernard Nathanson and ultrasound
A bloodhound’s sense of smell Without a paradigm, “facts”
cannot be brought into focus or into harmony Isolated bits of data need an
organizing program to be usable
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Worldview: Why bother, if we have experience? “A man with an experience is never
at the mercy of a man with an argument”What do you mean by experience?What did you experience that event as?Examples
You narrowly avoid a traffic accidentA sick person gets prayed for and then
recovers
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Worldview: Why bother, if we have experience? Experience unsupported by
some attempt at explanation lacks meaning
Experience has transmission problems
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Worldviews: Biblical Bases Hebrews 6:1 – 3
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death,[1] and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.
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Worldviews: Biblical Bases Acts 18:24-28 Acts 19:1-4 Mark 4:34
He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Psalm 19
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Some Worldview Questions What is really real? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is human nature? What happens to a person after death? How do you determine right and wrong? Why is it possible to know anything at all? What is the meaning of history?
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Why Someone’s Worldview Changes Crisis occurs
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Why Someone’s Worldview Changes Denied doubt festers
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Why Someone’s Worldview Changes A moment of reflection
followed by illumination takes place
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Augustine’s Confessions
Born: 354 A.D. Died: 430 A.D. Home: Hippo,
Carthage (modern Algeria)
What Confessions is aboutHis spiritual journey to
Christ
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Do We Need Orthodoxy or Unanimity?
Definitions Orthodoxy: Adhering to the
established and traditional faith
Unanimity: The state of being in total agreement with one another, on all points
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Orthodoxy vs. Heresy
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How a Worldview Makes a Difference
9/11/2001: A handful of men fly jets into American buildings. Why?“All supporters of Israel are legitimate
targets.”“We are at war with America.”“Only an Islamic fundamentalist
government is acceptable.”“We will be in Paradise after this noble act.”
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How a Worldview Makes a Difference
Search the Koran (http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/simple.html)
[9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!
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How a Worldview Makes a Difference
Search the Koran (http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/simple.html)
1. [5.51] O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.
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Out of Focus / In Focus Panorama view
The Big Picture, Macroscopic
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Out of Focus / In Focus Panorama view
The Big Picture, Macroscopic
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Out of Focus / In Focus Panorama view
The Whole Tapestry
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Out of Focus / In Focus Panorama view
View from the mountaintop
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Out of Focus / In Focus Panorama view
Lacks definition
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Out of Focus / In FocusZoom view
Microscopic
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Out of Focus / In Focus Zoom view
A view of the threads
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Out of Focus / In Focus Zoom view
A view from the valley of a single item on the ground
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Out of Focus / In Focus Zoom view
Detailed vision of one or of a few things
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Out of Focus / In Focus Zoom view
Lacks perspective
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Out of Focus / In Focus Panorama view
The Big Picture, Macroscopic The Whole Tapestry View from the mountaintop Lacks definition
Zoom view Microscopic A view of the threads A view from the valley of a single item
on the ground Detailed vision of one or of a few
things Lacks perspective
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Stairs of Abstraction• To apply a truth, we must climb the stairs
Specific & Particular
More General, Less Specific
Universal
WORLDVIEW“Them” or “That”
“Me” or “This”
More General, Less Specific
Specific & Particular
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Necessary Conditions: Without these, it just won’t work Necessary conditions
What are the necessary conditions for fire?
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Necessary Conditions: Without these, it just won’t work
Necessary conditions What are necessary
conditions for a car to run?
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Necessary Conditions: Without these, it just won’t work
Necessary conditions What are the necessary
conditions for election to the Presidency of the United States?
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Ptolemy’s View of the Solar System Earth at the center Sun, moon, stars and
planets revolving around Earth
Link to Ptolemaic System
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Copernicus’ View of the Solar System Sun at the center Earth and other planets
revolving around sun Link to Copernican
System
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Mutually Exclusive Allegiances Example:
Membership in the Bahai faith, and membership in any other religious group
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Syncretism: A Mixture of Dissimilar Elements
Oil and water Christianity and
prostitution
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Syncretism: A Mixture of Dissimilar Elements
Night and day
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Syncretism: A Mixture of Dissimilar Elements
Exercise to re-enforce learning
e= mc2
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Which Map Should You Use? Where do you need to go? Has the location shifted? Who has gotten there
before?
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Contradiction or Paradox?
“Rover is a dog. --- Rover is not a dog.”
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Contradiction or Paradox? “Our genes determine what we are.
Our decisions determine what we are.”
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Contradiction or Paradox?
“Let’s go to the store. -- Let’s not go to the store.”
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Contradiction or Paradox?
“Jesus is a human. --- Jesus is God.”
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Validation Objective Subjective
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Validation Objective SubjectiveThe truth
is out there
The truth is in here
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Smuggling in Beliefs from other Systems
Why is it done? Insufficient support - Can’t stand on its own two feet
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Smuggling in Beliefs from other Systems
An example – is like a philosophical pick-pocket
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Smuggling in Beliefs from other Systems
Exercise to re-enforce learning
e= mc2
Otra vez
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Gender Feminism “Womyn is deified” “Empowerment is the mantra” “Unborn children are the blood sacrifices in the ritual of
abortion” “Men are the scapegoats for our sins.”
Leviticus 16:10 – “But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.”
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Worldview Questions Your task is to put down in words your answers to the
following questions. A. What is prime reality – what is really real? B. Why is there something rather than nothing? C. What is a human being? How do you explain human
nature? D. What happens to a person at death? E. How do you determine what is right and wrong? F. Why is it possible to know anything at all? G. What is the meaning of history?
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