PHIL 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: False Dilemma, Theism

• School: University of San Diego
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 110
• Professor: Colanter

Document Summary

1) it is more important to be free or autonomous than to have a grand meaning or purpose to life. 2) religion provides a grand meaning or purpose to life, but it does not allow humans to be free or autonomous. I) autonomy: (auto = self; nomos =law) self-governing. But purpose can be bad, indifferent, or good. Autonomy may be more valuable to us than some good purposes, but it does not seem to be superior to all good purposes [and] freedom cannot be understood apart from [purpose]. She meant that if she had to choose whether to have free will or to live in a world that had a governing providential hand, she would choose the former. 1) it makes autonomy into an unjustified absolute. Her 2nd thesis: religion always holds purpose but as superior to human autonomy. I think that this is a misunderstanding of what the best types of religion try to do.