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Name____________________________________
Page 1
Who are you?
Reference
Assertion
THE001
Everything must have started somewhere, or must have come from something,
and that beginning source of everything is a Supreme Being.
THE002
Everything that happens is observed and guided by a mind or power beyond the
natural world.
THE003
The world was created for a purpose and is fulfilling that purpose.
THE004
I am not just an animal; instead, I am related to a higher being outside the
material world.
ATH005 The world may not have a starting point, and if it does, that point is not God.
ATH006 What we can see, touch, and investigate scientifically is all there is; belief in
God is just prescientific superstition.
ATH007 The world is completely comprehensible; everything that happens can be
explained by circumstances and prior causes.
ATH008 Human abilities are more developed than animals’ abilities, but are not different
in kind.
CON001 Nothing could justify the creation of a world in which innocent people suffer
the way they do.
CON002 Even if suffering built character (which is doubtful), the character is not worth
the cost in pain and anguish.
CON003 The universe does not exist for our sakes; it is beneficial in some ways and
harmful in others, but the universe does not care at all.
CON004 Some people are emotionally dependent on the idea of God, and they will
believe and say illogical things to keep that idea.
REC005
Suffering is a terrible thing, but in the long run it makes us better human beings.
REC006
God expects a lot from us; we should not think that he treats us like fragile
children.
REC007
A life of challenges and accomplishments is better than an easy life of pleasure.
REC008
God is not a complete mystery; we can understand why he allows people to
suffer.
TER001
I am so intertwined with my body, and my very idea of myself is so dependent
on my consciousness of my body, that I could not possibly exist without my
body.
TER002
It is impossible to imagine (clearly, in detail) existing and interacting with the
world without a body.
TER003
All the images and ideas of heaven or an afterlife are simply images of earthly
life with the defects removed; no one has described any so-called disembodied
existence.
TER004
All the alleged evidence of “life beyond the grave” can be explained by purely
natural means (such as optical illusions, unconscious memories, etc).
SUR005
I use my body just as I use my car, but I am not the same thing as my body.
SUR006
Spirits of the dead sometimes speak to people, send us messages, or move
objects, start fires, break glasses, and so on.
SUR007
Belief in life after death is not just wishful thinking, but is a rational conclusion
based on a sober assessment of objective, factual evidence.
SUR008
Life after death will be unlike anything we can possibly imagine.
BEL001
Faith is courageous and admirable.
Agree Disagree
Name____________________________________
BEL002
BEL003
BEL004
QUE005
QUE006
QUE007
QUE008
TRA001
TRA002
TRA003
TRA004
NAT005
NAT006
NAT007
NAT008
LIB001
LIB002
LIB003
LIB004
PAT005
PAT006
PAT007
PAT008
EGA001
EGA002
EGA003
EGA004
Reality is more complex and deeper than the human mind can ever comprehend,
and yet we can have opinions about things we do not understand.
I can separate the areas where I have faith from the areas where I look for
evidence.
I feel that some things are true, and that is good enough for me.
The world is lawful and organized, and we can understand it.
Choosing beliefs for no reason is just prejudice and wishful thinking
masquerading as philosophy.
A person who believes one thing on the basis of faith will soon believe other
things on the basis of faith.
Hoping that something is true does not make it true, and my choices cannot
make God exist.
The world is too vast, complex, and mysterious for us to understand completely.
There are many reasons for us to believe in a divine Creator, who is eternal, allpowerful, and good.
Human beings have a kinship with the Creator; essentially we are not animals
but embodied spirits.
There are many ways to reach an understanding of reality, the mind, and truth;
science shows us only one limited aspect of truth.
The spectacular progress of science during the past four hundred years shows
that science is the best way to understand the world.
To anyone who is willing to think, the existence of evil proves that there is no
God.
Human beings are intelligent animals, biological systems that are born and that
cease to function.
Believing things on the basis of faith is a dangerous practice, harmful to the
individual believer and to society.
Liberty means having the ability to act without interference from others.
A life of servitude, a life without liberty, is not worth living.
Almost all social goods, like security, prosperity, and equality of opportunity,
are less important than liberty.
Government can take away a person’s liberty, such as a criminal, only in order
to secure other people’s liberty.
We will never agree on how much freedom people should have, because we
cannot know when a person has abused his or her liberty by harming someone
else.
Most people do not want much liberty; they would rather let experts,
supervisors, and bureaucrats make important decisions about their lives.
The highest social value is moral stability, and government must restrict liberty
to encourage moral behavior.
Government makes people’s lives better in many ways they aren’t even aware
of.
People are equal in the most important respects, and should be treated equally.
If people had equal property, all the major problems in society—crime, poverty,
class conflict, insecurity—would disappear.
Real equality of opportunity requires much greater equality of condition than
we have now.
The question isn’t “Is Equality popular?” but “Is equality just and right?”
Page 2
Name____________________________________
ELI005
ELI006
ELI007
ELI008
CAP001
CAP002
CAP003
CAP004
SOC005
SOC006
SOC007
SOC008
IND001
IND002
IND003
IND004
REL005
REL006
REL007
REL008
HED001
HED002
HED003
HED004
PLU005
Some people have the ability and the drive to achieve excellence in some field
and others do not.
We should be realistic enough to tell people when they are talented and when
they are not.
If the government encouraged people to do the jobs they can do well, everyone
would benefit tremendously.
People who are blessed with talent or intelligence will always be outnumbered
by people who are average, and therefore elitism will always be an unpopular
point of view.
Justice means getting what one deserves.
A person who contributes more to society deserves more rewards than a person
who contributes less to society.
The only fair way to determine how much a person has contributed to society is
to let the people as a whole decide, through the free market.
Justice is not the same as compassion, but if people believe society is just, they
will behave compassionately.
In capitalism decisions are made on the basis of monetary self-interest, not
justice.
In capitalism, the emotion of greed gradually overwhelms all other emotions,
until the basic institutions of society are corrupted.
It is essential to capitalism that it disguise its true nature, and so it works hard to
make people believe it is morally neutral, or even just.
People in capitalism want to be better than their neighbors, without any regard
for justice.
People are biologically similar, but in the most important matters—such as
maturity, initiative, creativity, and drive—people are very different.
At the most basic level, people are self-centered and competitive.
Given our human nature, we all value liberty and independence, and resent
restrictions on our actions.
The only stable society, and therefore the best society, is one that allows us
freedom to work and create, and rewards those who contribute to society.
People are basically similar (the differences are relatively superficial compared
with the similarities), and our social arrangements should recognize that fact.
People are normally rational, cooperative, and friendly; only danger, threats,
and desperate need make us behave otherwise.
Everyone will benefit most in a society that promotes compromise, working
together, respect, tolerance, and consideration of the common good.
Unrestrained individualism and competition lead to conflict, resentment,
injustice, and violence.
The ultimate reason for living (and, finally, the only reason) is to achieve
happiness, which is the same as pleasure.
“Pleasure” is a broad term, which includes intellectual, social, and moral
activities.
What makes anything good is that is helps someone, and that means it gives
someone pleasure.
It is good to help others, but it is good because it is enjoyable, or because not
helping others leads to guilt.
Many people who think about values oversimplify matters.
Page 3
Name____________________________________
PLU006
PLU007
PLU008
RLTV01
RLTV02
RLTV03
RLTV04
ABS005
ABS006
ABS007
ABS008
HUM001
HUM002
HUM003
HUM004
OBJ005
OBJ006
OBJ007
OBJ008
HDT001
HDT002
HDT003
HDT004
MLB005
MLB006
Ordinary people recognize both personal and social values and obviously
believe many things besides pleasure are good.
Values are objective features of the world that we pursue, not subjective
feelings.
Values are basic and ultimate; they cannot be explained, or reduced, to
something more basic (such as pleasure).
An action may be right in one society and wrong in another society.
Moral rules and moral values are invented by a society, like the customs
regulating clothing, meals, and property.
Different societies can have different, irreconcilable values regarding basic
aspects of life, such as preserving life, sexual relations, raising children, owning
property, etc.
There is no difference between what a society believes is right and what is right.
The moral relativist cannot explain his or her position in a clear, coherent way.
If you believe an action is morally wrong, then you should have the courage of
your convictions and say the same action is wrong everywhere.
The similarities among people around the world outweigh the differences; all
people agree on basic moral judgments, even if they disagree about superficial
styles and customs.
A group cannot make an action morally right or wrong simply by saying it is
right or wrong.
Morality depends on human aims and desires; if people did not exist, nothing
would be right or wrong.
Being moral means promoting happiness, one’s own and others’.
Moral beliefs and rules seem very serious and obligatory, but that is because
they are backed up by the most solemn institutions of society.
There is no doubt that morality is dependent upon society and its requirements;
but it is difficult to determine whether all societies have the same requirements
or different ones.
Moral values are part of the objective world, built into the nature of things.
Being moral means following unshakable principles, which are not just
guidelines for achieving happiness.
Human beings have a moral sense, or conscience, which makes us different
from animals.
The concept of happiness is so broad and vague that it cannot be the foundation
of morality.
I am a product of many factors that have made me what I am, and which
continue to shape all of my behavior.
The natural world is basically uniform and lawful, and I am a part of the natural
world.
My own personal impressions can be misleading, and if they conflict with the
careful observations of many scientists, I should believe the scientists.
A belief in determinism (that all of our behavior can be pre-determined) will
lead us to search for the causes of behavior, which eventually will enable us to
help people in many ways.
I am in control of my own life.
Human beings are not part of the natural world, but are different, set apart,
precisely because we can choose how to live.
Page 4
Name____________________________________
MLB007
MLB008
SDT009
SDT010
SDT011
SDT012
MAT001
MAT002
MAT003
MAT004
DUA005
DUA006
DUA007
DUA008
UNI001
UNI002
UNI003
UNI004
COM005
COM006
COM007
COM008
RED001
RED002
My inner experience of making a choice is proof enough that I am free,
regardless of what scientists say happens elsewhere in the world.
If people believe all their actions are determined, they will become
irresponsible, or lose all their initiative, or sink into despair.
The issue of free will depends on questions of meaning as much as it depends
on questions of fact.
My choices are made based solely upon my upbringing and my past
experiences, but I am still free.
Even though I must always act in accordance with my strongest desire, there is
still a real sense in which I am free.
Since free actions are those that are caused by one’s own thoughts and desires,
rather than by external forces, we are normally free.
The world is made up of physical objects, bodies in motion, and human beings
are part of the world.
There are no such things as ghosts, spirits, goblins, or “out of body”
experiences.
Science tells us what the world is made of, and science depends on observation
and experimentation.
The physical brain is complicated enough to think, feel, plan, imagine,
remember, and do all the things a soul is supposed to do.
Materialism is too simple; there is more to reality than physical objects.
I am not the same thing as my body or brain; I am a spiritual being.
I can know my own mind and self better than any external observer can.
My thoughts, sensations, and emotions cannot be physical events inside of me;
they are too different from physical events.
The classification of things depends on our purposes; categories change with
changing means of achieving our purposes.
The only real differences between men and women are the ability to impregnate
and give birth.
With developments in reproductive technology, such as an artificial womb, the
biological difference between men and women will become negligible.
When the means of reproduction are available to anyone, classifications of
people as “male” and “female” will decline, and classifications based on more
important traits of personality will take their place.
Identifying with the relatively absent father shapes boys’ personalities, and
identifying with the nurturing mother shapes girls’ personalities.
In general, men are more independent and less emotional than women, whereas
women are more social and more sensitive than men.
Men’s competitive and alienating nature has caused many problems in
economics, society, and politics, and as women gain positions of power and
apply their distinctive skills, we can look forward to progress.
The psychological differences between men and women have influenced basic
philosophical conceptions of the self, morality, and knowledge, since
philosophy has been dominated by men.
Human beings are made of the same stuff as everything else and follow the
same laws as everything else.
We can understand more and more of human behavior by learning about the
physical and social causes that make each of us what we are.
Page 5
Name____________________________________
RED003
RED004
SPI005
SPI006
SPI007
SPI008
INT001
INT002
INT003
INT004
PER005
PER006
PER007
PER008
EMP001
EMP002
EMP003
EMP004
RAT005
RAT006
RAT007
RAT008
FND001
FND002
FND003
FND004
The mind, or consciousness, is a natural phenomenon and we will eventually
discover its laws of operation (perhaps by modeling the mind on a computer).
Since humans are animals and obey similar laws, we probably have a drive to
preserve ourselves and desire what benefits us.
Human beings are not just nerves and muscle, not just objects; our
consciousness sets us apart from the natural, physical world.
People are so complex that we cannot generalize about them; every individual is
unique.
We can never completely understand a person.
We choose our own behavior; it isn’t determined by anything, and therefore we
should accept responsibility for it.
Each individual is trapped in his or her perceptions.
The order and structure we perceive in the world may be created by our own
minds, and may not be present in the world itself.
Most people have a very limited idea of what is possible.
All our ideas and knowledge come to us through our sense organs; animals with
different sense organs experience an entirely different world.
It makes no sense to say everyone is mistaken and will always by mistaken; that
is not how the word “mistaken” is used.
It is absurd to say that we cannot know ordinary things around us like tables and
chairs.
If science or philosophy seems to overturn common sense, then so much the
worse for science and philosophy.
Some writers play tricks with words and create paradoxes, but careful analysis
will uncover the tricks.
Our minds (including our ideas and beliefs) are entirely products of our
environments.
We can put simple ideas and images together in many ways, but we cannot
imagine anything whose parts were not first perceived.
The difference between knowledge and mere opinion is that knowledge is based
on sensory experience and opinion is not.
Mathematical truths seem so certain because they are obvious and common.
Mathematical truths depend on understanding with your mind (reason), not
perceiving with your senses.
Statements like “two and two are four” cannot be empirical, because everyone
agrees about them, and they could not possibly be false.
The mind is more than just a recorder and arranger of sensory input; it can give
us deeper knowledge than that.
Since we can know mathematics through reason, we can probably know other
aspects of reality through reason as well.
The difference between knowing something and only believing something is
that you are certain about what you know, but you are not certain about what
you believe.
People say they know what they remember and what they see with their eyes
because they feel certain about it.
Knowledge must be justified, but the appeal to justification stops only when we
reach the foundation of certainty.
The real test of your knowledge is what you can feel sure of, not what other
people say you know.
Page 6
Name____________________________________
PRAG05
PRAG06
PRAG07
PRAG08
NTU001
NTU002
NTU003
NTU004
EXT005
EXT006
EXT007
EXT008
The proof that you know that a car has fuel is your ability to drive it, and
generally the proof that you know something is your ability to apply it or use it
to do something.
Science is the best model of knowledge, and the test of scientific knowledge is
experiment, correct prediction, and successful action.
People can know how to do things as well as knowing that something is true.
The theory that knowledge is power applies to more kinds of knowledge (like
knowing people, knowing yourself) than the theory that knowledge is certainty.
The difference between genuine knowledge and mere belief is the perception, or
feeling, of certainty.
We can know some things that we cannot communicate, even in principle.
Knowledge is ultimately personal; what is knowledge or truth for one person
may not be knowledge or truth for another.
We know our own minds and inner experiences better than we know the
external world, and knowledge of the world is built up from knowledge of our
own experiences.
Knowledge depends on an objective, practical standard, not feelings or personal
“intuitions”.
Knowledge is a social product, achieved in cooperation with others.
If a person’s beliefs cannot be tested, explained, and shared with others, then
they are almost certainly not real knowledge.
If a person really knows something, then it is true and a fact for everyone.
Page 7
Name____________________________________
Look for any
assertion
starting with
these letters
THE
REC
SUR
BEL
ATH
CON
TER
QUE
TRA
NAT
LIB
ELI
CAP
PAT
EGA
SOC
IND
REL
HED
RLTV
PLU
ABS
HUM
OBJ
HDT
SDT
MAT
UNI
MLB
DUA
COM
RED
SPI
INT
RAT
FND
PER
EMP
PRAG
NTU
EXT
Mark a tally for
each assertion with
which you agree
If you have three or more
tally marks, mark the
position as one with which
you tend to agree
Theist
Reconciler
Survivor
Believer (Fideist)
Atheist
Contradictor
Terminator
Questioner (Evidentialist)
Transcendentalist
Naturalist
Libertarian
Elitist
Capitalist
Paternalist
Egalitarian
Socialist
Individualist
Relationalist
Hedonist
Relativist
Pluralist
Absolutist
Humanist
Objectivist
Hard Determinist
Soft Determinist
Materialist
Unifier
Metaphysical Libertarian
Dualist
Complementer
Reductionist
Spiritualist
Internalist
Rationalist
Foundationalist
Perceiver
Empiricist
Pragmatist
Intutionist
Externalist
Page 8
Mark a tally for
each position
with which you
agree
Use this column to
check for
inconsistency
Transcendentalist
Naturalist
Individualist
Relationalist
Humanist
Objectivist
Reductionist
Spiritualist
Intuitionist
Externalist