does god exist philosophy

In order to point the domain to your server, please login here to manage your domain's settings. If, for example, I am already dedicated to the philosophical idea that nothing can exist outside of the natural realm (i.e. Omissions? But the long necks of giraffes can be explained without a designer, for example: The key idea is that given enough time and genetic mutations it is inevitable that animals and plants will adapt to their environment, thus creating the appearance of design. So, ask yourself if you believe in right and wrong and then ask yourself why. This cannot be argued from the definition of God and thus the ontological argument fails to prove Gods (actual) existence. So could this fine-tuning be due to chance? Second order evils do not seem logically necessary, and yet they exist. Just because all the players on a football team are good, this doesnt guarantee the team is good. Hume points out various problems with the analogy between the design of man-made objects and nature, such as: Such differences weaken the jump from man-made items being designed to the whole universe being designed. But abstract objects dont stand in causal relations to physical things. Similarly, you could argue that any being that exists necessarily (such as follows from Aquinas third way and Leibnizs cosmological argument) would be God. The Bible promises, Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. (James 4:8) We mustnt so concentrate on the external arguments that we fail to hear the inner voice of God speaking to our hearts. Since we dont, that strongly disconfirms the World Ensemble hypothesis. WebStill, most philosophers (73 per cent) do not believe that God exists. (IV) The fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life. Versions of the ontological argument aim to deduce Gods existence from the definition of God. contingent truths) because you can always provide more detail via more contingent truths. If a maximally great being exists in some possible world, then it exists in every possible world. Philosophy and the proof of God's existence by Roger Jones You're seeing this page because your domain is setup with the default name servers: ns1.hostgator.com and ns2.hostgator.com. In 2003, the mathematician Arvind Borde, and physicists Alan Guth and Alexander Vilenkin were able to prove that any universe which has, on average, been expanding throughout its history cannot be infinite in the past, but must have a past spacetime boundary (i.e., a beginning). Other possible worlds are descriptions that are not in fact true but which might have been true. This (necessary existence) is a predicate, so avoids Kants argument above. Web1. This article delves into the debate surrounding the existence of God, Well, what do you think? The domain will be registered with the name servers configured from the start. For example, they say stuff like there must have been a first cause or a prime mover. Rather theyre grounded in the sense that theyre formed in the context of certain experiences. To say that something exists in every possible world means that no matter which description is true, that entity will be included in the description. WebThe view that the existence of God cannot be proved or disproved by philosophy has not stopped developments in modern theology. Both Hume and Kant have argued that even if the teleological argument succeeded in proving the existence of a designer, this designer would not necessarily be God (as defined in the Concept of God section). The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God. First, what is "god". Hume famously argues that we never experience causation only the constant conjunction of one event following another. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. go wrong and cause chaos. You can find the name servers you need to use in your welcome email or HostGator control panel. The free will defence above explains why an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God would allow moral evil. the continued existence of the universe) and never what came before (i.e. Humes earlier argument (finite matter, infinite time) can be adapted to respond to Swinburnes teleological argument. Applying this to teleological arguments, Hume argues that the creation of the universe was a unique event we only have experience of this one universe. Therefore, the universe has a transcendent cause. Existence of God - Wikipedia In the absence of a scientific explanation of the laws of nature, Swinburne argues, the best explanation of temporal order is a personal explanation. All rights reserved. William Lane Craig is Research Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology, California, and founded the organization Reasonable Faith (please visit reasonablefaith.org). temporal order) in a similarly personal way: The laws of nature are the way they are because someone designed them. Thus, proponents of ontological arguments claim God exists is an analytic truth. So, using this idea of contingent existence, Aquinas argues that: Descartes version of the cosmological argument is a lot more long-winded than the Kalam argument or any of Aquinas. Our willingness to ask the question with an open mind is fundamental to our ability to discover the truth behind the answer. But you could then ask why the person planted the seed, or why seeds exist in the first place, or why the laws of physics are the way they are, and so on. Plus, there are some virtues, such as a genuine and authentic love of God, that cannot simply be given (otherwise they wouldnt be genuine). Russell says: the universe is just there, and thats all.. WebThe Oxford diction - ary defines philosophy as, the use of reason and argument in seeking the truth and knowledge of reality, especially of the causes and nature of things and of the If you found a clock and examined the mechanism within it, you would probably think that this intricate mechanism was Problem of evil In the absence of a scientific explanation of temporal order, Swinburne argues, the best explanation is the personal one: The laws of nature were designed by God. Therefore, there is no omnipotent and omnibenevolent being. Therefore the cause of the universe is an unembodied mind. These parts are organised for a purpose in the case of the eye, to see. But, Hick says, virtues acquired through hard work and discipline are good in a richer and more valuable sense. All of the traditional philosophical arguments for Gods existence, such as the cosmological, teleological, moral, and ontological arguments, not to mention creative, new arguments, find intelligent and articulate defenders on the contemporary philosophical scene. This all casts doubt on the premise of cosmological arguments that everything has a cause. For example, you depended on your parents in order to exist, and they depended on their parents, and so on. Philosophy and the proof of God's existence Most philosophers would agree that if Gods existence is even possible, then He must exist. Gaunilo of Marmoutiers (994-1083) argues that if Anselms argument is valid, then anything can be defined into existence. Its existence is contingent on someone planting the seed. Biochemists and mathematicians have calculated the odds against life arising from non-life naturally via unintelligent processes. 2. Why does God exist 5. WebWhat may be the dominant view of philosophers today is that he is temporal but everlasting; that is, God never began to exist and he never will go out of existence. one or more of them contradict each other: Mackies argument is that, logically, a maximum of 2 of these 3 statements can be true but not all 3. Various attempts have been made to establish the reasonableness of the appeal to revelation through the witness of the church and through signs and miracles, all of which are thought to herald the authentic voice of God. Gaunilo argues that if Anselms argument were valid, then we could define anything into existence the perfect shoe, the perfect tree, the perfect book, etc. Doesnt it herald a reversal of this trend? Philosophy of Religion, Does God Exist? - 1094 Words - StudyMode temporal order) in the same way. So why would an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God allow the existence of second order evils if there is no greater good in doing so? Its also old. Information requires intelligence and design requires a designer. Bertrand Russell argues that cosmological arguments fall foul of the fallacy of composition. God, Anselm observes, is by definition the greatest being conceivable. He declares, there is no such thing as morally right or wrong. (The Atheists Guide to Reality, p.145); Individual human life is meaningless and without ultimate moral value. (p.17); We need to face the fact that nihilism is true. (p.95). In fact, scientists aren't even sure if life could have evolved naturally via unintelligent processes. Imagine if we lived in a world where everything was red. Charles Darwins (1809-1882) theory of evolution by natural selection explains how complex organisms complete with parts organised for a purpose can emerge from nature without a designer. Yet appeals to revelation by the various religions conflict with each other, and the appeal to revelation itself is open to the charge of circularity. 3. 3. 4. So what is the explanation of the existence of the universe (by the universe I mean all of spacetime reality)? First, when the laws of nature are expressed as equations, you find appearing in them certain constants, such as the gravitational constant. This directly undermines Paleys claim that anything that has parts organised to serve a purpose must be designed. The values of these constants are independent of the laws of nature. We give personal explanations of things all the time for example, this sentence exists because I chose to write it or that building exists because someone designed and built it. Imagine a unicorn. The point here is not that the monkey would learn to write Shakespeare or even that it would understand what it had written. If a maximally great being exists in every possible world, then it exists in the actual world. 3. If each universe has randomly different scientific laws, there will also be many universes where the temporal order does not support life. I believe that Gods existence best explains a wide range of the data of human experience. Hume uses this claim as the basis for his objection to the ontological argument. Objective moral values and duties exist. Does God Exist - Things to Consider analytic truths) is revealed by analysis. (III) God is the best explanation of the applicability of mathematics to the physical world. WebThe question of Gods existence has been a central topic of philosophical and theological inquiry for centuries. Descartes' ontological argument goes as follows: (1) Our idea of God is of a perfect being, (2) it is more perfect to exist than not to exist, (3) therefore, God must exist. No one would take seriously the idea that the ball just exists without any explanation. Atheism, although perhaps still the dominant viewpoint in Western universities, is a philosophy in retreat. If your life is doomed to end in death, then ultimately it does not matter how you live. The problem of evil uses the existence of evil in the world to argue that God (as defined in the concept of God) does not exist. (V) God is the best explanation of intentional states of consciousness. Introduction. The odds are astronomical. 4. The theist thus has the explanatory resources to ground objective moral values and duties which the atheist lacks. What is theology? (II) God is the best explanation of the origin of the universe. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Contradictions cannot be coherently conceived. For example, it may seem that God designed giraffes to have long necks so they could reach leaves in high trees. It is possible that a maximally great being (God) exists. In the same way, belief in God is for those who seek Him a properly basic belief grounded in their experience of God. In a recent article, University of Western Michigan philosopher Quentin Smith laments what he calls the desecularization of academia that evolved in philosophy departments since the late 1960s. (The Metaphilosophy of Naturalism, Philo, Vol 4, #2, at philoonline.org). Its also old. Does God Exist? Evidence and Answers Does God Exist The idea of a being who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good in every possible world seems perfectly coherent. When you think about it, neither of these beliefs can be proved by argument. Therefore, a maximally great being exists in the actual world. Its been taken into consideration by many scholar people. In his Penses (165758), Pascal applied elements of game theory to show that belief in the Christian religion is rational. There must have been a transcendent cause which brought the universe into being a cause outside the universe itself. For example, you can explain the existence of a tree by saying someone planted a seed. Do we have any intrinsic value? He then addresses some specific examples of evils that may not seem to fit with an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God: The evidential problem of evil can ask Hick why God would allow animals to suffer when there is no benefit. Objective moral values and duties exist. They arent based on some other beliefs; rather theyre part of the foundation of a persons system of beliefs. Interpretations of such experiences, however, typically cannot be independently verified. The idea of a 4-sided triangle doesnt make sense. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. For those who listen, God becomes a personal reality in their lives. The renaissance of Christian philosophy has been accompanied by a resurgence of interest in natural theology that branch of theology which seeks to prove Gods existence without appeal to the resources of authoritative divine revelation for instance, through philosophical argument. This site uses cookies to recognize users and allow us to analyse site usage. WebWestern concepts of God have ranged from the detached transcendent demiurge of Aristotle to the pantheism of Spinoza. earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, etc. Thus, God is the greatest conceivable being a maximally great being. Philosophy is a subject that can take many twists and turns before it finds an answer to a general question (Wippel, Wolter 335). Again, this goes back to the soul making theodicy: without seemingly unfair and pointless evil, we would never be able to develop virtues such as hope and faith both of which require a degree of uncertainty. By the very nature of the case, that cause of the physical universe must be an immaterial (i.e., non-physical) being. Just because a sheet of paper is thin, it doesnt mean things made from sheets of paper are thin. In recent decades scientists have been stunned by the discovery that the initial conditions of the Big Bang were fine-tuned for the existence of intelligent life with a precision and delicacy that literally defy human comprehension. My answer would be "No, He doesn't," regardless of whether God truly exists or not. would be pointless. He argued that people can choose to believe in God or can choose to not believe in God, and that God either exists or he does Indeed, when compared to the general population, atheism is highest among academics (Attwood Reference Dr. Richard Lewontin, the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard University, put it like this: "It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counterintuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. This explanation goes some way towards explaining why God would allow the amount and distribution of evil we see. People steal, get murdered, and so on. Do we serve a purpose? When you purchase domain names from register.hostgator.com, check the box next to: "Set Custom Nameservers (Optional)" in the domains cart and add your desired name servers. the concept is coherent, A contradiction cannot be coherently conceived, God does not exist can be coherently conceived, God cannot come into existence or go out of existence, Therefore, if God exists, Gods existence is necessary, Therefore, if God does not exist, Gods existence is impossible, Therefore, Gods existence is either necessary or impossible, Gods existence is impossible only if the concept of God is self-contradictory, The concept of God is not self-contradictory, Therefore, Gods existence is not impossible, Man-made items (houses, watches, phones, etc.) 1. Copyright Christian B. Feest / philosophyalevel.com. (III) The applicability of mathematics to the physical world. baby torture and leave only ordinary evil. If the universe began to exist, then the universe has a transcendent cause. Therefore, its logically possible that an omnipotent and omnibenevolent God would allow evil (both first order and second order) for the greater good of free will. Nevertheless, much of western thought about God has fallen within some broad form of theism. And to people so undeserving of it? What makes their proof so powerful is that it holds so long as time and causality hold, regardless of the physical description of the very early universe. Then imagine a unicorn that exists. Otherwise, He is not God. Leibniz then defines two different types of truth: The sufficient reason for truths of reasoning (i.e. WebThe existence (or non-existence) of God and the foundation of ethics are two perennially live issues, and this is a readable account of many of the main points, suitable for A level Web(4) Most Christian theologians have insisted that God exists of necessity. When innocent people are killed in natural disasters, it doesnt seem this is the result of free will. Even Mackie himself admits that Gods existence is not logically incompatible with some evil (first order evil). Since the concept of a being greater than that than which nothing greater can be conceived is incoherent, God cannot exist in the mind alone. If life did not arise by chance, how did it arise? (IV) God is the best explanation of the fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life. However, if every time we saw someone suffering we knew it was for some higher purpose (i.e. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please. For example, it provides the central theme of the Book of Job in the However, this response only explains moral evil, not natural evil. Therefore, the universe has an explanation of its existence. But it doesnt explain natural evil. 1. (VIII) God can be personally experienced and known. Free will is inherently good and so significant free will could outweigh the negative of people using that significant free will to commit second order evils. If God did not exist, the applicability of mathematics would be just a happy coincidence. DOES GOD EXIST? | Think | Cambridge Core By contrast, the theist grounds objective moral values in God, and our moral duties in His commands. So a possible world is not a planet or a universe or any kind of concrete object, it is a world-description. Thus again we are brought, not merely to a transcendent cause of the universe, but to its Personal Creator. Let me briefly mention eight such cases. Do you think, as I do, that its at least possible that God exists? Cosmological arguments start from the observation that everything depends on something else for its existence. For example, unicorns do not in fact exist, but there are some possible worlds in which unicorns exist. But we could still have a world in which people were courageous (second order good) in overcoming pain (first order evil) without these second order evils. But what about the so-called New Atheism exemplified by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens? Atheists simply ground their logic in what is certainly known, and no assumptions found their reasoning. Existence of God | History, Philosophy, & Arguments | Britannica Who gave you your conscience? The denial of an analytic truth leads to a contradiction. Back in the 1940s and 50s it was widely believed among philosophers that any talk about God is meaningless, since it is not verifiable by the five senses. alternative explanation to (1) of wonders of nature. Where did these laws come from and what purpose do they serve? Looking But without first order evils, second order goods couldnt exist. You dont actually experience A causing B, but its reasonable to expect this relationship to hold in the future because youve seen it and similar examples hundreds of times. It might surprise you to learn that steps 2-7 of this argument are relatively uncontroversial. Rosenberg boldly claims that we never really think about anything. What is God? For example, the law of gravity is such that it allows galaxies to form, and planets to form within these galaxies, and life to form on these planets. If God just proved he existed, we wouldnt be free to develop a relationship with him. God The fallacy of composition is an invalid inference that because parts of something have a certain property, the entire thing must also have this property. For instance, in the Fifth Meditation , Descartes claims to provide a proof demonstrating the existence of God from the idea of a supremely perfect being. The problem is that the concept of God just doesnt appear to be incoherent in that way. Leibnizs Arguments for Gods Existence How does Gottfried Leibniz attempt to demonstrate the existence of God as a matter of logical and metaphysical necessity? [1] Accompanying this resurgence came something altogether unanticipated: a renaissance of Christian philosophy. WebThe existence of God (or more generally, the existence of deities) is a subject of debate in theology, philosophy of religion and popular culture. He exists because He exists. Philosophy Essay - Does God Exist | PDF | Existence Of God | God WebThe conclusion of the argument is not God exists or God probably exists but I (as a rational, moral agent) ought to believe that God exists. We shall, however, see that there For example, experience (ever since you were a baby) tells you that if one snooker ball hits another (A), the second snooker ball will move (B). [1] [2] [3] There are currently differing definitions of these concepts. No physical object has intentionality in this sense. So, in response, some philosophers have developed alternate versions that avoid this criticism. For if a maximally great being exists in any possible world, He exists in all of them. Even if our universe is just a tiny part of a so-called multiverse, composed of many universes, their theorem requires that the multiverse itself must have had a beginning. Philosophers call beliefs grasped in this way properly basic beliefs. Philosophy of Religion/Does God exist? - Wikibooks, open books It therefore follows that the best explanation of the existence of the contingent universe is a transcendent personal being which is what everybody means by God. 2. Updates? Ontological Arguments So, to escape this endless cycle of contingent facts and provide sufficient reason for truths of fact (i.e. Does God Exist? Considering the Philosophy of Ernest For much of its history, Christianity in particular has been concerned with the question of whether Gods existence can be established rationally (i.e., by reason alone or by reason informed by sense experience) or through religious experience or revelation or instead must be accepted as a matter of faith. The most common criticism of the cosmological argument has been that the phenomenon that Gods existence supposedly accounts for does not in fact need to be explained. Does God Exist - A Philosophical Issue Why does it exist? The underlying principle of such arguments is that if God Would it be reasonable to infer that drinking the tea caused your friend to cough based on this one instance? Leibnizs argument is premised on hisprinciple of sufficient reason. By far, the most probable observable universes in a World Ensemble would be worlds in which a single brain fluctuated into existence out of the vacuum and observed its otherwise empty world. But it would still be the case that everything is red, we just wouldnt know. So, the tree exists contingently. Some people amounting to billions believe that God does exist, while others, in billions too, believe that Does God Exist? - AllAboutPhilosophy.org Thus intentional states fit comfortably into a theistic worldview. But then the inevitable question arises: Why did the universe come into being? Atheism and Agnosticism - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) was the first to propose an ontological argument in his book Proslogium. existence of God, in religion, the proposition that there is a supreme supernatural or preternatural being that is the creator or sustainer or ruler of the universe and all things in it, including human beings. When you analyse and understand 3+3=6, for example, you dont need a further explanation why it is true. It also attempts to show how the logic of the demonstration is rooted in our ordinary reasoning practices. He would be all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, and He would exist in every logically possible world. Philosophers and scientists have puzzled over what physicist Eugene Wigner called the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics. How is it that a mathematical theorist like Peter Higgs can sit down at his desk and, by pouring over mathematical equations, predict the existence of a fundamental particle which, thirty years later, after investing millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours, experimentalists are finally able to detect? It may be possible (or impossible) to prove the existence of God, but it may be unnecessary to do so in order for belief in God to be reasonable. By continuing to browse the site with cookies enabled in your browser, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy. WebPascals wager, practical argument for belief in God formulated by French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal.
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