MODULE 2 Arguments for the existence of God

Question 1

Who put forward the Design Argument? And which philosopher criticised it?

Answer 1

Presentation: Paley’s analogical argument
Criticism: Hume

Question 2

Who put forward the Ontological Argument?
And which philosopher criticised it?

Answer 2

Presentation: Anselm’s a priori argument
Criticisms: Gaunilo and Kant

Question 3

Who put forward the Cosmological Argument?
And which philosopher criticised it?

Answer 3

Presentation: Aquinas’ Way 3. The argument from contingency and necessity

Criticisms: Hume and Russell

Question 4

What is Paley’s argument for the existence of God?

Answer 4

The complexity and purpose of nature imply a designer, just as a watch implies a watchmaker.

Question 5

Provide a quote from Paley for his Design Argument:

Answer 5

“Every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature”

Question 6

What does Paley’s analogy of the matchmaker suggest?

Answer 6

That the world’s order and intricacy point towards a divine creator

Question 7

Define a posteriori

Answer 7

based on empirical observation

Question 8

What are Hume’s criticisms to Paley’s watchmaker analogy?

Answer 8

• Limited experience: We only have experience of this one universe, so we can’t compare it to others to say whether it’s well-designed or not.
• The world is more organic than mechanical: “The world plainly resembles more an animal or vegetable than it does a watch” (Hume)
• Problem of Evil: If the world was designed by a benevolent God, why is it full of suffering and flaws? The presence of natural and moral evil suggests either a limited or indifferent designer.

Question 9

What is Anselm’s Ontological argument for the existence of God?

Answer 9

A being such as God must exist in reality as well as in the mind, because existence in reality is greater than mere mental existence.

Question 10

What type of argument is Paley’s Ontological Argument?

Answer 10

A deductive, a priori argument based on the definition of God as the greatest possible being

Question 11

Provide a quote from Anselm

Answer 11

“God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived”

Question 12

What are Gaunilo’s and Kant’s criticisms to Anselm’s Ontological Argument?

Answer 12

• Gaunilo: Argues with Anselm’s Perfect Island analogy “We can imagine an island more excellent than all others… Yet we do not believe it exists”
  This shows the flaw in assuming that conceptual perfection necessities real existence.
• Kant: Rejects Anselm’s assumption that existence is a defining quality (predicate).
  This is because he believes you cannot define something into existence just by adding “existence” to its concept

Question 13

What is the Cosmological Argument?

Answer 13

Classical argument for the existence of God, rooted in the idea that everything in the universe depends on something else for it’s existence.

One of the most influential versions of Aquinas’ Third Way, which focuses on contingency and necessity.

Question 14

Define contingency

Answer 14

everything in the world depends on something else for its existence. Therefore, there must be a necessary being that causes everything else

Question 15

Provide a quote for the Cosmological Argument: Aquinas’ Third Way

Answer 15

“It is necessary to admit a being having of itself its own necessity, and not receiving it from another, but rather causing in others their necessity”

Question 16

Strengths of the Cosmological Argument

Answer 16

• based on empirical observation. It begins with what we can experience in the world, which makes it more accessible and intuitive than a priori argument like Anselm’s Ontological Argument
• supports classical theism, identifying God as the necessary, eternal cause of all contingent beings. It avoids being reliant on analogies, unlike the design argument and uses logical reasoning based on causality and existence

Question 17

Weaknesses of the Cosmological Argument

Answer 17

• Hume and Russell criticised the assumption that the universe needs a cause.
  Russell argued: “The universe is just there, and that’s all” = brute fact.
• The fallacy of composition; just because everything within the universe is contingent does not mean the universe as a whole is.
• Even if the argument successfully shows that there is a necessary being, it does not prove that there is the God of classical theism.

Question 18

Provide quotes from Hume and Russell that criticise the Cosmological Argument

Answer 18

(Hume): Challenges the principle of causation; “so absurd a proposition as that anything might arise without a cause”

(Russell): Rejects the need for a necessary being; “the universe is just there, and that’s all”.
= sees the existence of the universe as a brute fact