The Existence of God Arguments Full Notes

Created by: AndrewValentine
Created on: 05-10-18 14:44

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The Concept of Motion
"By motion, causes and contingency we see the effects of cause and effect always"
- Thomas Aquinas' Point
Origins
- First cause arguments initially put forward by Plato and Aristotle (5th and 4th BCE)
  - everything has a cause so if you go back far enough you should find a first cause
  - Aristotle, deist, put forward this first cause was the creator of the universe
    - Founded on similar reasoning, the Kalam Cosmological Argument was developed.
      - many people over look this argument in favour for believing it was Thomas Aquinas' development of the arugment of causation
      - St Thomas Aquinas, a Christian, expanded on Aristotle's ideas in the 13th CE
        Recently Christian philosopher William Lane Craig has brought the Kalam Cosmological Argument back into the spotlight.
        
        Arguments for causation, motion, contingency, quality of being and design
- Cosmological
  - Kalam Argument
    - Al-Kindi and Al-Ghazali
      - Middle Ages Muslim Philosophers
    - 1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause
      - 2. The Universe began to exist
        3. The Universe has a cause
        4. The cause is God
        Since God is eternal, he has no beginning
        God has no cause.
  - Features
    - Inductive
      - It aims to persuade us
    - Classical
      - In favour of the existence of God
    - A Posteriori
      - Based on looking at evidence in the world around us
    - First C/M/B characteristic
      - Non-Caused
        Non - Timebound
        Non-Physical
        Spiritual
        
        Eternal
        Spiritual
        
        Necessary
        Eternal
  - Arguments
  - Based on 3 of concept arguments
    - Concept of Contingency
    - The Concept of Motion
    - Thomas Aquinas
      - Summa Theologica
        Book he wrote his 5 Ways in
      - 13th Century Monk
      - Argues for the existence of God
3. The Universe has a cause
- 4. The cause is God
  - Since God is eternal, he has no beginning
    - God has no cause.
Founded on similar reasoning, the Kalam Cosmological Argument was developed.
- many people over look this argument in favour for believing it was Thomas Aquinas' development of the arugment of causation
- St Thomas Aquinas, a Christian, expanded on Aristotle's ideas in the 13th CE
  - Recently Christian philosopher William Lane Craig has brought the Kalam Cosmological Argument back into the spotlight.
  - Arguments for causation, motion, contingency, quality of being and design
Features
- Analytic
  - Based on definitions
- Deductive
  - If the premise is true, it is valid proof
- A Priori
  - Based on knowledge, needs no experience
- Ontological
  - Anselm of Canterbury
    - First Version
      - Wrote in Prologian 2
      - P1. God is something-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought-of
    - Second Version
      - Wrote in Prologian 3
      - P1. God is something-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought-of
      - Assumption 1. God exists Contingently
    - Proof by Contradiction
  - Gaunilo vs Anselm
    - Gaunilo
      - Gossip
        You may hear of someones existence though you would know that the story is unreliable & the person may not even exist
      - Definition
        You cannot prove from what is said (de dicto) what exists in reality (in re)
      - Island Analogy
        Picture an island which no other island can be thought of.
        Put this island in the place of God in the Ontological argument
        It is absurd to say that just because you have an idea of something that it must exist
    - Anselm
      - Response to the Island Analogy
        By comparing God, a magically great being, to an island, which has no maximum characteristics is to miss the point
        
        Islands can only exist contingently – their non-existence is always a possibility. So, to speak of an island which cannot not exist is nonsense.
        By contrast, only God exists necessarily. Only the greatest conceivable being could exist necessarily.
  - Context
    - 11th Century
      - Gaunilo & Anselm
        13th Century
        Aquinas
        17th Century
        Descartes
        18th Century
        Kant & Hume
        20th Century
        Malcolm & Plantinga
Anselm of Canterbury
- First Version
  - Wrote in Prologian 2
  - P1. God is something-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought-of
- Second Version
  - Wrote in Prologian 3
  - P1. God is something-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought-of
  - Assumption 1. God exists Contingently
- Proof by Contradiction
P2. Things exist either in the mind only or in reality also
- P3. It is greater to exist in the mind and reality than in the mind only
Assumption 1. God exists in the mind only
- If A1 and P3 are true...
  - It is possible to think of a greater being than God
    - Therefore God is NOT something-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought-of
      - But P1 says God IS something-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought-of
        Supported by definition of God
        Omnipotent
        
        Omni benevolent
        
        Omniscient
        
        Omnipresent
        
        These 2 statements form a LOGICAL CONTRADICTION
        Our A1 is FALSE meaning the alternative by P2 means...
        God exists Necessarily
        
        God exists in the Mind and Reality
P2. Things exist either Contingently or Necessarily
- P3. It is greater to exist Necessarily than Contingently
Arguments
- Strengths
  - Malcolm
    - P1. God's existence is either necessary or impossible
      - P2. God's existence is not impossible (since it's not contradicting)
        C. God's existence is necessary
        IF God doesn't exist, he can't come into existence
  - Modal Logic
    - Plantinga
      - P1. There is a possible world with a being of MAXIMAL GREATNESS
        P2. MAXIMAL GREATNESS includes all worlds
        omniscience omnipotence omnipresence
        
        P3. Our world is a possible world
        C. This being exists in our world. Therefore, God exists
- Critisms
  - No agreed definition of God
    - St Thomas Aquinas
      - An 'A Priori' argument can never prove that God exists.
        We must search for 'A Posteriori' evidence
  - Existence is not a predicate
    - Immanuel Kant
      - Saying something exists adds nothing to its essence
        'God exists' is not an analytic statement
        
        uses the example of a unicorn
    - Bertrand Russell
      - P1. Men exist
        P2. Santa is a man
        C. Santa exists
  - Logical Tricks
    - Gaunilo
      - an island which no greater island can be thought of
        Logic is absurd
    - Davis
      - Circular logic
        it must work both ways
        if God exists >
        he exists necessarily
- Ontological
  - Gaunilo vs Anselm
    - Gaunilo
      - Gossip
        You may hear of someones existence though you would know that the story is unreliable & the person may not even exist
      - Definition
        You cannot prove from what is said (de dicto) what exists in reality (in re)
      - Island Analogy
        Picture an island which no other island can be thought of.
        Put this island in the place of God in the Ontological argument
        It is absurd to say that just because you have an idea of something that it must exist
    - Anselm
      - Response to the Island Analogy
        By comparing God, a magically great being, to an island, which has no maximum characteristics is to miss the point
        
        Islands can only exist contingently – their non-existence is always a possibility. So, to speak of an island which cannot not exist is nonsense.
        By contrast, only God exists necessarily. Only the greatest conceivable being could exist necessarily.
  - Context
    - 11th Century
      - Gaunilo & Anselm
        13th Century
        Aquinas
        17th Century
        Descartes
        18th Century
        Kant & Hume
        20th Century
        Malcolm & Plantinga
P2. Santa is a man
- C. Santa exists
If God exists necessarily
- he exists
- it must work both ways
  - if God exists >
    - he exists necessarily
Triangle = 3 sides and interior sum 180 degrees
- its nature is IMMUTABLE
  - It makes no difference if I have an idea of what a triangle is or not
    - God also has an immutable nature

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The Existence of God Arguments Full Notes

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