Philosophy

• Agnostic 


  Someone who does not know whether there is a god or gods
• Apophatic theology


  The view that God cannot be accurately described in a positive language, only by saying what God is not
• Atheist

  Someone who does not believe in the existence of a god or gods
• Class consciousness


  A term used by Marx to mean the working class becoming aware that they are being oppressed
• Creationist

  Someone who believes that God created the world in six days, as described in Genesis
• Design ( or technological) argument

  The arguement that the world looks designed and so has a designer - God
• Empiricism

  The theory that knowledge is gained through our five senses
• Evolution by natural selection 


  The theory that all life evolved (developed) from a common ancestor through gradual changes over millions of years
• Faith

  Belief or trust in something that cannot be proven
• Fallacy of compassion

  An arguement that wrongly claims that what is true of something's parts must also be true of the whole thing (causes)
• false consciousness 


  A term used by Marx to describe a way of thinking that stops the working class from seeing how they are being oppressed
• First cause Argument

  The argument that everything in the universe needs a cause and so the universe also needs a cause, which is God
• First certainty

  'I think, therefore I am': Descartes' realisation that the fact he thinks shows that his mind must exist
• Free will


  The ability to choose between right and wrong
• Genesis


  The first book of the Bible, which contains two accounts of how God created the world
• Gospels


  Gospel are The first four books of the New Testament in the Bible which describes the life and teachings of Jesus
• humanist 


  Is An atheist who believes that science and our shared human reason and compassion should guide how we live the one life that we have
• Infinite regress 


  Infinite regress is An endless sequence of causes with no beginning
• logical fallacy


  A statement which is logically flawed
• miracle

  Is An event that cannot be explained naturally so it is seen as an act of god(s)
• Myth

  A story that is not historically accurate, but contains spiritual truth
• Nones


  Is A term used by sociologists to describe the diverse group of people with no religion, including atheists, agnostics and those who are spiritual but not religious
• Omnibenevolent

  All-loving
• Omnipotent


  All-powerful
• Omniscient

  All-knowing
• ‘Opium of the people’

  A phrase used by Marx comparing religion to opium, an addictive, painkilling and vision-creating drug
• Oppress

  Use power to keep someone in a bad situation
• Problem of evil


  The argument that evil and suffering shows that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent god does not exist
• Psychologist

  Someone who studies human behaviour
• Rationalism


  The theory that knowledge is gained through reason
• Realm of Appearances


  Plato’s name for the work in which we live in
• Realm of forms

  Plato's name for a perfect realm where our souls previously lived
• Revolution 


  Overthrowing those in power in order to cause change
• Ruling class 


  According to Marx, the minority of rich and powerful people, such as factory workers
• Theistic evolution


  The belief that God started the process of evolution an uses it to bring about life
• Trademark argument 


  Descartes' argument that humans are born with ideas of God imprinted on their minds
• wish-fulfilment hypothesis 


  Freud's theory that religion is invented by humans in order to satisfy our desire for a father, for fairness and for immortality
• Working class


  According to Marx, the mass of poor people who work for (and are oppressed by) the ruling class