Arguments for the existence of God

Question 1

What is the Anthropic principle? (This is from Paley’s Design argument and him observing the world)

Answer 1

There is a direct link between our observations of the universe and the ‘boundary conditions’ which brought it into existence.

There about 30 boundary conditions (such as the stickiness of gravity). The odds for all the boundary conditions to be exactly perfectly what they are are 10 to the power of 180 suggesting it is so unlikely it developed by chance a designer had to be necessary

Question 2

Who provided arguments against the cosmological argument?

Answer 2

• Hume and Russell

Question 3

In Anselm’s ontological argument what quote is key when talking about Gods greatness?
Also how does this link into a weakness of the Ontological argument?

Answer 3

” a being that which nothing greater can be conceived”

This links in nicely with a key weakness of the ontological argument as this definition of God clearly implies humans can conceive the nature and the existence of God which may then undermine God as any attempt to define God would be to limit God

Question 4

In the 3 Arguments for the existence of God ( Paley Anselm And Aquinas) what books were they written in ?

Answer 4

Paley’s Design Arguments = Paley’s Natural Theology
Anselm’s Ontological Argument = Proslogium chapter 2-4 and his Responsio To Guanilo
Aquinas’s Cosmological Argument = Summa Theologica

Question 5

What is the Latin phrase for out of nothing nothing can come ?

Answer 5

“ex nihilo nihil fit”

Question 6

In the cosmological argument Aquinas states that god doesn’t exist logically necessary but instead is metaphysically necessary, what does metaphysically necessary mean ?

Answer 6

Metaphysical necessity = A form of necessity that derives from the nature or essence of things

Question 7

When talking about Hume’s criticisms of the Teleological arguments one of the main issues is the evil and imperfections in the world what is a quote Hume states to support this criticism ?

Answer 7

“The world is very faulty and imperfect, and was only the first rude essay of some infant deity who abandoned it”

Question 8

What principle, which underlines Aquinas’ 3rd way, does Hume attack in his criticism of the cosmological argument ?

Answer 8

• The Principle of Sufficient Reason

Question 9

In the Ontological Argument what is the two Objections from Kant?

Answer 9

Objection 1 - Existence is not a predicate

Just got is the ‘greatest conceivable being’ and is omnipotent and omnibenevolent doesn’t mean that we can then say he exists

Objection 2 - We can accept God existing necessarily but it does not follow from this that God exists in reality

Use the examples of how a unicorn is by definition a horse with a horn but that doesn’t mean unicorns actually exist

God existing necessarily is logically true because that is how we define God, but it does not follow that there really is a God

Question 10

What does the key word Synthetic mean ?

This comes up in the start of the Ontological Argument

Answer 10

Synthetic = Statements or propositions where the truth or falsity are determined by sense experience, for example, “William has a hairy chest”

Question 11

What is the definition of the key term ‘fideism’ ?

Answer 11

-literally means faith-ism

this can be used to support the idea that faith is the only thing that gives us certainty

Question 12

In the cosmological argument when talking about it’s value for faith what two philosophers argue it doesn’t have value for faith?

Answer 12

• Kant
  Kant as we know argues against the ontological argument and he states that the idea of God as a necessary being (way 3 ) is dependent on the ontological argument so if he rejects the ontological argument the cosmological fails too

-Barth
Rejects any attempt to prove God’s existence, since he believed that God can be known only through Jesus Christ, revealed in scripture

Question 13

Who is a philosopher that is a modern thought that supports the Teleological argument ?

Answer 13

• Swinburne
  ‘
  he states that even if there was another possible explanation for the universe we should go with the explanation that is most likely to be true

“simplicity is always the truth”

Question 14

Who is a philosopher who supports the ontological argument?

Answer 14

• Plantinga

Question 15

What does Anselm state in the last words on faith and logic when trying to prove God’s existence?

Answer 15

• Although Anselm is seeking for a logical proof of God’s existence, that is not attempt to replace faith with logic. Faith for Anselm is a volitional state ( an act of the will) motivated by the love of God

Question 16

What is the ‘Epicurean Hypothesis’ that Hume uses to criticise the PDA ?

Answer 16

• He taught that the world consisted of indivisible atoms
• Since the world is nothing more nor less than than changing arrangements if its atoms, given infinite time it is inevitable that atoms should arrive at an ordered state

This can be used to support Hume ‘s idea that the universe could be created by chance

Question 17

(cosmological) We know that God is a necessary being and that he is a being who is not dependent on other beings but who is self-causing and self-sustaining, what is this quality called?

Answer 17

• Aseity

Question 18

How does hare’s Bliks link into the cosmological argument and its status as proof also what is the quote?

Answer 18

• “no proof could be given to make us adopt one bilk rather than another”

If it is a proof to us no evidence could argue otherwise

Question 19

Paley stated that the universe was like a watch but Paley was criticised by Hume for saying that the analogy was unsound, what did Hume say in reply the universe was like?

Answer 19

• A Vegetable

Question 20

What did Richard Dawkins (evolution) say about Paley’s argument ?

Answer 20

• It was ‘gloriously wrong’

This supports Hume’s idea that the PDA goes against evolution and that they are not in line

Question 21

When talking about criticism 4 brute fact and who is right out of Aquinas and Russell what does it boil down to?

Answer 21

Which you think the most probable explanation of the universe is

1) A necessarily existent mind - Aquinas
2) Necessarily existent matter - Russell