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Alvin Plantinga's Free Will Defense
Alvin Plantinga's free will defense is a logical argument developed by American analytic philosopher Alvin Plantinga, the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, and published in its final version in his 1977 book God, Freedom, and Evil. Plantinga's argument is a defense against the logical problem of evil as formulated by philosopher J. L. Mackie beginning in 1955. Mackie's formulation of the logical problem of evil argued that three attributes of God, omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence, in orthodox Christian theism are logically incompatible with the existence of evil. In 1982, Mackie conceded that Plantinga's defense successfully refuted his argument in The Miracle of Theism, though he did not claim that the problem of evil had been put to rest.
  • 5.2K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Grandfather Paradox
The grandfather paradox is a paradox of time travel in which inconsistencies emerge through changing the past. The name comes from the paradox's description: a person travels to the past and kills their own grandfather before the conception of their father or mother, which prevents the time traveller's existence. Despite its title, the grandfather paradox does not exclusively regard the contradiction of killing one's own grandfather to prevent one's birth. Rather, the paradox regards any action that alters the past, since there is a contradiction whenever the past becomes different from the way it was.
  • 2.6K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence
The concepts of fluid intelligence (gf) and crystallized intelligence (gc) were introduced in 1963 by the psychologist Raymond Cattell. According to Cattell's psychometrically-based theory, general intelligence (g) is subdivided into gf and gc. Fluid intelligence is the ability to solve novel reasoning problems and is correlated with a number of important skills such as comprehension, problem solving, and learning. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, involves the ability to deduce secondary relational abstractions by applying previously learned primary relational abstractions.
  • 1.3K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Short Chronology
The short chronology is one of the chronologies of the Near Eastern Bronze and Early Iron Age, which fixes the reign of Hammurabi to 1728–1686 BC and the sack of Babylon to 1531 BC. The absolute 2nd millennium BC dates resulting from these reference points have very little academic support, and have essentially been disproved by recent dendrochronology research. The middle chronology (reign of Hammurabi 1792–1750 BC) is more commonly accepted in academic literature. For much of the period in question, middle chronology dates can be calculated by adding 64 years to the corresponding short chronology date (e.g. 1728 BC in short chronology corresponds to 1792 in middle chronology). After the so-called "dark age" between the fall of Babylon and the rise of the Kassite dynasty in Babylonia, absolute dating becomes less uncertain. While exact dates are still not agreed upon, the 64-year middle/short chronology gap ceases from the beginning of the Third Babylon Dynasty onward.
  • 1.1K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Subject
A subject is a being who has a unique consciousness and/or unique personal experiences, or an entity that has a relationship with another entity that exists outside itself (called an "object"). A subject is an observer and an object is a thing observed. This concept is especially important in Continental philosophy, where 'the subject' is a central term in debates over the nature of the self. The nature of the subject is also central in debates over the nature of subjective experience within the Anglo-American tradition of analytical philosophy. The sharp distinction between subject and object corresponds to the distinction, in the philosophy of René Descartes, between thought and extension. Descartes believed that thought (subjectivity) was the essence of the mind, and that extension (the occupation of space) was the essence of matter.
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  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Drikung Kagyu
Drikung Kagyu or Drigung Kagyu (Wylie: 'bri-gung bka'-brgyud) is one of the eight "minor" lineages of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. "Major" here refers to those Kagyu lineages founded by the immediate disciples of Gampopa (1079-1153) while "minor" refers to all the lineages founded by disciples of Phagmo Drupa (1110-1170), the main disciple of Gampopa.
  • 684
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Kangiten
Kangi-ten (Japanese: 歓喜天, "God of Bliss") is a god (deva or ten) in Shingon and Tendai schools of Japanese Buddhism. He is generally considered the Japanese Buddhist form of the Hindu god of wisdom, Ganesha and is sometimes also identified with the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. He is also known as Kanki-ten, Shō-ten (聖天, "sacred god" or "noble god"), Daishō-ten ("great noble god"), Daishō Kangi-ten (大聖歓喜天), Tenson (天尊, "venerable god"), Kangi Jizai-ten (歓喜自在天), Shōden-sama, Vinayaka-ten, Binayaka-ten (毘那夜迦天), Ganapatei (誐那缽底) and Zōbi-ten (象鼻天). Kangiten has many aspects and names, associated with Vajrayana (Esoteric Buddhist, Tantric, mantrayana) schools, Shingon being one of them. Although Kangiten is depicted with an elephant's head like Ganesha as a single male deity, his most popular aspect is the Dual(-bodied) Kangiten or the Embracing Kangiten depicted as an elephant-headed male-female human couple standing in an embrace.
  • 8.1K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses have received criticism from mainstream Christianity, members of the medical community, former members, and commentators regarding their beliefs and practices. The movement has been accused of doctrinal inconsistency and reversals, failed predictions, mistranslation of the Bible, harsh treatment of former members and autocratic and coercive leadership. Criticism has also focused on their rejection of blood transfusions, particularly in life-threatening medical situations, and claims that they have failed to report cases of sexual abuse to the authorities. Many of the claims are denied by Jehovah's Witnesses and some have also been disputed by courts and religious scholars.
  • 5.6K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Man-Eating Plant
A man-eating plant is a legendary carnivorous plant large enough to kill and consume a human or other large animal. Various such myths and fictional tales exist around the world.
  • 4.1K
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
World
The World is the Earth and all life on it, including human civilization. In a philosophical context, the "world" is the whole of the physical Universe, or an ontological world (the "world" of an individual). In a theological context, the world is the material or the profane sphere, as opposed to the celestial, spiritual, transcendent or sacred spheres. "End of the world" scenarios refer to the end of human history, often in religious contexts. Human history is commonly understood as the history of humanity spanning the major geopolitical developments of about five millennia, from the first civilizations to the present. In terms such as world religion, world language, world government, and world war, the term world suggests an international or intercontinental scope without necessarily implying participation of every part of the world. The world population is the sum of all human populations at any time; similarly, the world economy is the sum of the economies of all societies or countries, especially in the context of globalization. Terms such as "world championship", "gross world product", and "world flags" imply the sum or combination of all sovereign states.
  • 1.3K
  • 17 Nov 2022
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