Additional Discussion Questions: Chapter 9
Evaluating Worldviews
These questions refer to Chapter 9 of Robert A. Harris, The Integration of Faith and Learning (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2004). Numbers in parentheses refer to page numbers in the book. In addition to the “Questions for Thought and Discussion” at the end of the chapter, use these questions for additional discussion.
1. In what sense is faith-learning integration a critical thinking task? (187-188)
2. What are the principal factual adequacy weaknesses of naturalism and postmodernism? (189)
3. How does the Christian worldview meet the test of factual adequacy better than naturalism or postmodernism? (190)
4. What is self-referential absurdity, and how does it enter into the evaluation of worldviews? (191)
5. How do the deterministic-thinking implications of naturalism render it irrational at the foundation? (193)
6. What is the basis for postmodernism’s logical inconsistency? (193-196)
7. In what sense does postmodernism indulge a mystical, alternate reality to explain the world? (200)
8. Explain the concept of livability as a tool for evaluating worldviews. (201-206)
9. What are some indications that a position is held ideologically rather than rationally? (206-208)
10. Define political correctness and explain how it is connected to ideological agendas. (208-210)
11. In your own words, define the fallacies of argumentum ad hominem, emotive language, equivocation, and begging the question. Give an example of each. (210-215)