§-Topic

Metaphysics

6 dot points, in syllabus order. Each dot point has a focused answer, with exam-style questions and worked answers where available.

Is the existence of suffering and evil compatible with an all-powerful, all-knowing and wholly good God?

Distinguish the logical and evidential problems of evil and evaluate theodicies offered in response

The problem of evil argues that the suffering in the world is hard to reconcile with a God who is omnipotent, omniscient and wholly good. It comes in logical and evidential forms, met by theodicies such as the free will and soul-making defences.

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What is the relationship between the mind and the physical body?

Compare dualist and physicalist theories of mind and evaluate the hard problem of consciousness

The mind-body problem asks how mental states relate to physical states. Substance dualism, behaviourism, identity theory and functionalism give rival answers, while the hard problem of consciousness challenges every physicalist account.

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What is the nature of causation, and can causal regularity be reconciled with the freedom we attribute to agents?

Explain Humean and necessitarian accounts of causation and evaluate compatibilism about free will and determinism

Causation is central to metaphysics: is it real necessity in nature or only regular succession, as Hume argued? The answer bears on free will, since compatibilists claim freedom is consistent with causal determinism.

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What makes a person at one time the same person as someone at a later time?

Compare bodily, psychological and further-fact theories of personal identity and evaluate them against puzzle cases

Personal identity asks what makes you the same person across time. The main answers are bodily continuity, psychological continuity through memory, and the no-self view. Thought experiments such as teleportation and brain swaps test each theory.

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Can the existence of God be established by rational argument, and how strong are the classic proofs?

Explain and evaluate the cosmological, teleological and ontological arguments for the existence of God

Philosophers have offered three families of argument for God's existence: cosmological arguments from causation, teleological arguments from design, and ontological arguments from the concept of God. Each has classic statements and powerful objections.

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Are we free if every event is caused by prior events?

Evaluate the debate between determinism, libertarianism and compatibilism about free will

If every event is determined by prior causes, free will seems threatened, which bears on moral responsibility. Hard determinism, libertarianism and compatibilism offer rival answers, each with notable strengths and objections.

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