What do philosophers mean when they describe God as a Necessary Being, or a being which necessarily exists? What is the difference between de dicto necessity and de re necessity? Why did Aquinas have a problem with the Ontological Argument, when in his 3rd Way he described God as having necessary existence? Here we take a thorough look at the idea of necessity and the different ways in which it is used.

This is the first in the new series of Philosophical Fragments - where we take an important idea and break it down into more manageable pieces to make sure that we understand it.

This episode looks closely at the difference between Inductive and Deductive arguments, and links together the ideas of A Priori/A Posteriori knowledge, analytic & synthetic statements and how to construct, and disprove, different proofs. Useful as an intro to the Ontological Argument or as part of Religious Language.

Find the powerpoint and study notes here: https://alevelreblog.wordpress.com/alevelre-fragments/ or search for the AlevelREblog.

Hope you find it useful!

Sara :)

I am a body... I have a body.... is our language being a bit misleading? Doesn’t this imply there’s something else? Is there an essential ‘me’ pushing the buttons and pulling the levers in my brain? Or am I my brain? From hard materialism, to substance dualism; qualia to zombies, come with me as we try to make sense of the relationship between Body, Mind and Soul and ask Am I more than just my physical body?

Are some people predestined for an eternity in Heaven? or Hell? what does this mean for our moral responsibility? Could God have made humans who always, freely choose the good? welcome to the final part of my mini series on human freedom, God, and moral responsibility. This podcast is designed to support teaching & learning of A level Religious Studies, but any curious minds are welcome to sit back, grab a cuppa, and enjoy!

Teaching resources on freedom - in particular the FWD can be found on the ALevelREblog

Music from bensounds.com

In order to be morally responsible for our actions, we need to be free to make our own decisions. However, there are a number of possible reasons why we might not actually be as free as we think we are. In this episode, we look at the various different philosophical ideas to do with Free Will and Determinism – from William James’ Iron Block Universe, to the electrical brain stimulation experiments of Benjamin Libet and ask, ‘just how free are we?’ So grab and cuppa, and enjoy!

Music from bensounds.com

In this episode, we look at the question of God's omniscience according to William of Ockham, Boethius, and Aquinas. We consider the problems it poses for human freedom, and possible resolutions from Swinburne and Process thought.   This is designed specifically for students of ALevel Religious Studies, and accompanying teaching resources are available to download for free on my AlevelREblog https://alevelreblog.wordpress.com/20... 

You can also follow ALevelRE on Facebook and Twitter.

Enjoy! Sara :)

In this episode I talk about omniscience as one of God's perfections, or attributes. We think about what omniscience means, look at the various concepts of omniscience - divine foreknowledge, eternal 'nowness' and what the implications are for human freedom. We look at various contributions to the idea of God's omniscience including William of Ockham, Boethius, Aquinas, Kenny, Swinburne plus a few others! So, be prepared for some mind bendy philosophy and enjoy!

Come with me as we meander around the ALevelRE course, looking at what an Anti Realist perspective on religious belief might mean. So grab a cuppa, sit back, and enjoy!

Sara :)

In the 4th episode in the mini series on Religious Language, we look at the way in which Wittgenstein's Language Games may be used to respond to the challenges posed by Verification & Falsification. We also delve into Anti Realism too... Designed specifically to support students and teachers of A Level RE, but any curious minds are welcome too! 

 Don't forget you can access all of the teaching materials, including the Retrieval and Reflection Qs, as well as the powerpoint slides at ALevelREblog.wordpress.com 

 And you can follow ALevelRE on facebook and twitter too!

Following the previous 2 talks about Verification & Falsification, in this podcast I talk about non-cognitive approaches to religious language - including Aquinas' language of analogy, Tillich's views on Symbols and Bultmann & Hick's desire to demythologise the Bible. This talk is specifically intended for students of A Level Philosophy of Religion, but any curious minds are welcome to listen! Full teaching resources to accompany this episode can be found at www.alevelreblog.wordpress.com and you can follow ALevelRE on facebook and twitter too.