Arguments for the existence of God Flashcards
What are the 4 arguments for the existence of God that we are studying?
The Ontological argument, the Cosmological argument, the Teleological argument and the Moral argument.
What is the Ontological argument?
Created by St-Anslem. Ontology is the study of being.
We all have an idea of a being above every other being. It’s better to exist than not to so God must exist otherwise he is not the highest being.
What is a critique of the Ontological argument?
Gaunilo said that it could be applied to anything.
St-Anslem answered that it only works. for supreme beings.
What is the Cosmological argument?
Thomas Aquinas is his biggest supporter. Gaunilo says that there is always movement caused by movers. Because an infinite recess is impossible, there must be a 1st cause of motion that is “causa sui” at the origin.
What is a critique of the Cosmological argument?
Mackie said:
- Because an infinite recess is not intuitively possible doesn’t mean that nature has to follow our intuition
- There’s no reason to say that there’s a first cause of motion that is “uncaused”
-No reason to expect every effect to have a cause
Plus the problem of infinite recess would apply to God too.
What is the Teleological argument?
William Paley and the watchmaker argument.
Teleological process: something that has a purpose
What is a critique of the Teleological argument?
Hume says:
- An analogical argument is only as strong as the analogues are similar
- We know that there’s a watchmaker because we’ve exprienced it, if we hadn’t who’s to say that we wouldn’t take the watch as part of nature?
What is the Moral argument?
Adams says that:
- There need to be a God to represent the standard of morale, Divine Command Theory
- There are pragmatic reasons to believe in God, not believe is demoralizing, that is undesirable.
What other critique of the teleological argument can you make? (think about the purpose of human)
The purpose of humans in not clear unlike the purpose of the watch.
