Introduction to Philosophy “Introduction & Worldview Thinking”

Introduction to Philosophy“Introduction & Worldview Thinking” Christopher Ullman, Instructor Christian Life College

Ronald Nash

Ronald Nash • Author of more than 30 books on philosophy and theology • Life's Ultimate Questions: an Introduction to Philosophy • 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.

“Any Questions?” • What are the four great philosophical questions? • What is? (a question about being) • How can we know what is? (a question about truth) • Who are we? (a question about self) • What should we be? (a question about goodness)

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, Pascal • Look how full of argument he is! • Mark 12:14-17 • Luke 12:54-57 • Let’s explore how Jesus is a philosopher

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

Worldview Metaphors • Camera filter and lens

Worldview Metaphors • Controlled vocabulary

Worldview Metaphors • Building framework

Presuppositions: Knowledge Starting Points • You have to BELIEVE something before you can KNOW anything • Godel’s Theorem • The “Why Exercise” to re-enforce learning

Worldview: Why bother, if we have facts? • Facts don’t exist in theory-free ether • You have to believe something before you can know anything. – Augustine

Worldview: Why bother, if we have facts? Where are my clothes? • 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

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

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 accident • A sick person gets prayed for and then recovers

Worldview: Why bother, if we have experience? • Experience unsupported by some attempt at explanation lacks meaning • Experience has transmission problems

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.

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 explainedeverything. • Psalm 19

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?

Why Someone’s Worldview Changes • Crisis occurs

Why Someone’s Worldview Changes • Denied doubt festers

Why Someone’s Worldview Changes • A moment of reflection followed by illumination takes place

Augustine’s Confessions • Born: 354 A.D. • Died: 430 A.D. • Home: Hippo, Carthage (modern Algeria) • What Confessions is about • His spiritual journey to Christ

Definitions Orthodoxy: Adhering to the established and traditional faith Unanimity: The state of being in total agreement with one another, on all points Do We Need Orthodoxy or Unanimity?

Orthodoxy vs. Heresy

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.”

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!

How a Worldview Makes a Difference • Search the Koran (http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/simple.html) • [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.

Out of Focus / In Focus • Panorama view • The Big Picture, Macroscopic

Out of Focus / In Focus • Panorama view • The Whole Tapestry

Out of Focus / In Focus • Panorama view • View from the mountaintop

Out of Focus / In Focus • Panorama view • Lacks definition

Out of Focus / In Focus Zoom view • Microscopic

Out of Focus / In Focus • Zoom view • A view of the threads

Out of Focus / In Focus • Zoom view • A view from the valley of a single item on the ground

Out of Focus / In Focus • Zoom view • Detailed vision of one or of a few things

Out of Focus / In Focus • Zoom view • Lacks perspective

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

Stairs of Abstraction • To apply a truth, we must climb the stairs Universal More General, Less Specific More General, Less Specific Specific & Particular Specific & Particular “Them” or “That” WORLDVIEW “Me” or “This”

Necessary Conditions: Without these, it just won’t work • Necessary conditions • What are the necessary conditions for fire?

Necessary Conditions: Without these, it just won’t work • Necessary conditions • What are necessary conditions for a car to run?

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?

Ptolemy’s View of the Solar System • Earth at the center • Sun, moon, stars and planets revolving around Earth • Link to Ptolemaic System

Copernicus’ View of the Solar System • Sun at the center • Earth and other planets revolving around sun • Link to Copernican System

Mutually Exclusive Allegiances • Example: • Membership in the Bahai faith, and membership in any other religious group

Syncretism: A Mixture of Dissimilar Elements • Oil and water • Christianity and prostitution

Syncretism: A Mixture of Dissimilar Elements • Night and day

Syncretism: A Mixture of Dissimilar Elements e= mc2 • Exercise to re-enforce learning

Which Map Should You Use? • Where do you need to go? • Has the location shifted? • Who has gotten there before?

Introduction to Philosophy “Introduction & Worldview Thinking”