Arguments for god

Question 1

What does a priory mean

Answer 1

True by definition and logical

Question 2

What type of argument is the design argument

Answer 2

A posteriori, inductive

Question 3

State Paleys argument from analogy

Answer 3

P1 - watch is a machine designed for telling the time (effect)
P2 - features of the watch suggest an intelligent designer (cause)
P3 - the universe shows features of design
C - universe must have an intelligent designer

Question 4

General evaluation of ontological argument

Answer 4

+ a priori so if you accept premises then its must be true
- fallacious leap

• never seen a necessary being (no empirical evidence)
  + don’t need to only need logic

Question 5

How could you criticise the design argument using Darwin

Answer 5

Evolution suggests that order and regularity can come about by chance.

Question 6

What is something that is contingent

Answer 6

Something that depends of something else for its survival

Question 7

Quote from Coppleston in favour of the cosmological argument

Answer 7

“No object contains within itself the reason for existence”

Question 8

What is a necessary being

Answer 8

Something that cannot not exist

Question 9

Who put forward the ontological argument

Answer 9

Anslem

Question 10

Who put forward the cosmological argument

Answer 10

Aquinas

Question 11

What was Humes criticism of Aquinas’ argument

Answer 11

Statements about existence are synthetic (senses) and so can never be analytically true (logical). We have no experience of God.
- aquinas doesn’t claim God is logically necessary, he’s metaphysically necessary = the very qualities of God means it’s his essence to be necessary.

Question 12

What type of argument is the ontological argument

Answer 12

A priori and deductive

Question 13

How does Norman Malcom argue against Kant

Answer 13

God has necessary existence and a necessary being cannot not exist. God already exists necessarily

Question 14

State paleys formalised argument

Answer 14

P1 - objects in the world show evidence they were designed due to complexity and regularity
P2 - the complexity and regularity allows us to infer they were made this way for a reason
P3 - the universe exhibits complexity and regularity, suggesting it was made for a purpose
C - universe has an intelligent designer

Question 15

General evaluation of Cosmological argument

Answer 15

• process theology = the universe exists necessarily
  + there is still room for God here
• could be a loop of creation and destruction the universe is in
• inductive so not proof
• no proof of a Judeo- Christian god

Question 16

What is an inductive argument

Answer 16

The truth of the premises doesn’t guarantee the conclusion - it is the most probable

Question 17

What does a posteriori mean

Answer 17

Knowledge dependent on sense experience

Question 18

What are the factors Paley says that means the world must’ve been designed just like a watch

Answer 18

Design qua purpose

• everything in world has a purpose
• eg. Human eye has the purpose of sight

Design qua regularity

• the universe has an order
• eg. The way planets move or gravity

Question 19

What were Humes 5 criticisms of Paleys argument

Answer 19

1. Natural things do not have a maker in the same way a machine has a maker
2. Epicurean thesis = infinite time but finite particles so eventually this creation could happen without an intelligent designer
3. Evidence doesn’t suggest a Judeo-Christian God, could be a lesser being or multiple gods or a dead creator.
4. Problem of evil
5. Cannot compare God to human designers as we have no experience of universe-making

Question 20

State the formalised cosmological argument

Answer 20

P1 - everything we see in the world is contingent
P2 - all contingent things have a finite lifespan and so there must once have been nothing
P3 - if there was once nothing, nothing could’ve come from this.
C1 - therefore there must have actually have been something that existed necessarily

P4 - everything necessary must either be caused or uncaused
P5 - a series of necessary beings cannot be infinite as there has to be an ultimate necessary being to start the process
C2 - therefore there must be an uncaused being
C3 - this is God

Question 21

How does Paley relate the watch analogy to our real world

Answer 21

Even if the watch didn’t work perfectly, there is enough design to enable us to deduce a watchmaker.
In the same way our assumption would be the same if there were parts we couldn’t figure out.

Question 22

State the formalised ontological argument

Answer 22

P1 - god is a being which nothing greater can be conceived
P2 - this is a definition even a fool can is mind, if not in reality
P3 - there is a difference between an idea in the mind and one in reality
P4 - eg a painter has an idea of what to paint and then does it
P5 - it is greater to exist in both the mind and reality than only mind
P6 - if god only existed in the mind I could think of something greater (a god in reality)
C1 - in order to be the greatest conceivable being, god must exist in both mind and reality

P1 - god is the greatest conceivable being
P2 - it is greater to exist in reality than in the mind
C2 - god must exist in reality

Question 23

What is a deductive argument

Answer 23

If the premises are true then the conclusion must be true

Question 24

How did Gaunilo criticise and how did anselm respond

Answer 24

Gaunilo: reductio ad absurdum

• it is possible to conceive the most perfect lost island
• it is greater to exist in reality
• therefore this island must exist in reality
• using anslems way, you can prove anything into existence

Anslem: god is a necessary being
- an island where no greater can conceived would have to be necessary
- islands are not necessary
Therefore you cannot apply logic of contingent beings to God

Question 25

General evaluation of Paleys argument

Answer 25

• proof can only be brought by religious experience
  + could say nature (numinous) is a natural experience
• inductive so probably true not definitely
  + doesn’t mean it isnt

+ evolution can be a feature of gods design

Question 26

What is the subject and the predicate

Answer 26

Subject = what the statement is about 
Predicate = something giving information about the subject

Question 27

What type of argument is the cosmological argument

Answer 27

A posteriori and inductive

Question 28

What are Kants criticisms of the ontological argument

Answer 28

1. The necessary existence of God and ‘IF’
   - we cannot move from a definition of something to claim it exists = fallacious leap
   - we do have an a priori idea of things
   - IF these things exists they must have the qualities ascribed to them (triangle must have 3 sides or it isn’t a triangle)
   - similarly we have an a priori idea of God as the greatest conceivable being, so IF he exists, he has these qualities = begging the question

“To posit a triangle and reject its three angels is contradictory; but there is no contradiction in rejecting the angles together with the triangle”

2. Existence is not a predicate
   - ‘existence’ does not add anything more to our understanding of something
   - eg 100 pound coins in imagination is no different from in reality
   - the statement is synthetic not analytic

Question 29

Who put forward the design argument

Answer 29

William paley

Question 30

What is infinite regress

Answer 30

A never ending line of contingent beings

Question 31

What is something that is empirical

Answer 31

Obtained from the world around us

Question 32

What were Russell’s two criticisms of the cosmological argument

Answer 32

1. The simplest explanation is that the universe has no explanation, it is just a brute fact
   - (science works on the fact brute facts don’t exist however)
2. It commits the fallacy of composition - inferring that something that is true of the parts is true of the whole (contingency) - eg. hydrogen isn’t wet, oxygen isn’t wet and so water isn’t wet
   - this can be seen tho eg a wall of bricks