PHL145H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Portal 2, Circular Reasoning, Ontological Argument
Document Summary
According to nagel, what makes something absurd: it is so preposterous no one would believe it, the only reasonable response is to laugh, the reality of the situation does not match its pretensions. Why isn"t the life of a mouse absurd? them: mice are immersed in whatever is before, mice cannot reflect upon their lives, mice never do anything silly. Today"s class: how could god"s existence help to justify our value judgments, can we be justified in believing that god exists, first pass at anselm"s ontological proof. Recall that chains of justification can end in different ways: an infinite regress- goes on forever, circular reasoning- to do as your parents tell you , a starting point that does not require further example justification. We reach a stopping point when we feel no need to demand further reasons for valuing something. In other words, when the value of that thing does not depend upon anything else.
