Arguments for the existence of God

Question 1

What is an a priori argument

Answer 1

-it’s a deductive argument
-doesn’t require sense experience
-empirical evidence is not needed
-based purely on logic/reason
-doesn’t conclude anything that is not already in the premises

Question 2

what is an a posteriori argument

Answer 2

-it’s a inductive argument
-requires sense experience
-empirical evidence is needed
-the conclusion of the proof is not contained within the premises

Question 3

What type of argument is the design argument?

Answer 3

It’s an a posteriori argument

Question 4

Give a non Christian view of the design argument

Answer 4

The design argument goes back to Plato and Cicero(a roman thinker)
‘What could be more clear or obvious when we look up to the sky and contemplate the heavens, that there is some divinity or intelligence’

Question 5

What is the design argument?

Answer 5

The claim that the appearance of “design” in nature- such as the complexity, order. purposefulness and function of living organisms- can only be explained by the existence of a “designer”.

Question 6

What type of argument is Paley’s argument?

Answer 6

an a posteriori argument

Question 7

What are the 3 observations about the world that Paley’s argument is based on?

Answer 7

it’s complexity
it’s regularity
it’s purpose

Question 8

Describe Paley’s 3 observations about the world

Answer 8

complexity-Paley looks at the complexity of biological organisms and organs such as the eye. He also looks at the complicity of the laws of nature by which everything is governed
regularity-Paley observes in particular the regularity of the orbits of comets, moons and planets and the regularity of the seasons of the year
purpose-Palet observes the machines that we make and infers they are build for a purpose. Our observation of the complexity and regularity of the world therefore implies that the world too has a purpose.

Question 9

Summarise the inductive design argument that Paley formulated on the basis of these observations

Answer 9

Some objects in the world show clear evidence that they were designed because they exhibit complexity and regularity, from which we can infer that they were made for a purpose
The universe appears to exhibit complexity and regularity, from which we can infer that it was made for a purpose
So it is likely that the universe was designed

Question 10

What is Paley’s watchmaker analogy

Answer 10

The idea that a watch is so complex and could not have just come about.
It needed a designer to make it.
Similarly, the world is so complex that it could not have just randomly appeared.
It needed a skilled creator

Question 11

What are Hume’s arguments

Answer 11

-Even if we grant that the universe was designed, there is no evidence that this was the God of Christian theism. A lesser being could have designed the universe.
-The existence of evil and imperfection in the world does indeed suggest a limited designer
-Analogies between the way the universe works and the way machines work are unsound
-To make an analogy between the designers of human machines and the designer of the universe is just anthropomorphism - we are trying to explain the universe in our own image.
-The universe could have developed into a comparatively ordered state simply by chance.

Question 12

What is the status of Paley’s design argument as a proof?

Answer 12

-Paley’s Design Argument is inductive, but its evidence does not amount to scientific proof
-Paley’s inductive argument could well be the best explanation of the order we see in the universe.
-For some individuals who believe in God, Paley’s Design Argument could not be a proof, because proof could only come through religious experience,
-Paley’s inductive Design Argument can never have the status of a deductive proof.

Question 13

How strong of a ‘proof’ is Paleh’s DA?

Answer 13

Paley’s DA is a strong proof in that it uses evidence from the world around us, however since it’s an a posteriori argument, it will only ever give as a probable argument which is a weakness.

Question 14

What does the DA suggest about the relationship between reason and faith?

Answer 14

It suggests that there is a designer but a leap of faith is needed to argue that it is the ‘God of classical theism’

Question 15

What value does Paley’s DA have for religious faith?

Answer 15

People who have faith will be able to make a connection between the God of the Bible and the Designer in the DA.

Question 16

If we accept the DA, what kind of God are we left with?

Answer 16

One that is not worthy of belief or worship. God appears to be an inadequate designer who has created a faulty world. God could be seen as not all-powerful, as distant and as unloving

Question 17

What type of argument is the cosmological argument?

Answer 17

Inductive
A posteriori
Synthetic

Question 18

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Question 19

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Question 20

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Question 21

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Question 22

What is the cosmological argument based on

Answer 22

Aquinas’ 3rd way

Question 23

What is Aquinas 3rd way?

Answer 23

Aquinas observes that all things are contingent.
Aquinas concludes that must exist necessarily. It must be outside the observable universe because there is nothing in what we observe that can explain why contingent things exist.
Everything necessary must either be caused or uncaused
But the series of necessary beings cannot be infinite or there would be no explanation of that series
Therefore there must be some uncaused being which exists of its own necessity
By this we all understand to be God

Question 24

What did Coppleston say in the BBC radio debate against Russel

Answer 24

He agreed with Aquinas’ 3rd way
He said “In order to explain existence, we must come to a Being which contains within itself the reason for its own existence, that is to say, which cannot not exist”
•It is only God who can be the necessarily existent first cause of the universe

Question 25

What was Russell’s 1st argument in the BBC radio debate against Coppleston?

Answer 25

He said that it was a fallacy of composition.(fallacy of inferring that something is true from the whole from the fact that it is true of part of the whole.)
E.g. Hydrogen is not wet; oxygen is not wet. Therefore, water is not wet
We cannot move from our observations of the parts (things within the world) to a conclusion about the universe (the whole)

Question 26

What did Russel say( quote)in his 1st argument in the BBC radio debate against Coppleston?

Answer 26

‘Every man who exists has a mother; and it seems to me your argument is that therefore the human race must have a mother, but obviously the human race hasn’t a mother - that’s a different logical sphere’

Question 27

What was Russell’s 2nd argument(and give quote )in the BBC radio debate against Coppleston?

Answer 27

Bertrand Russell argued that the existence of the universe is a ‘brute fact’ - a fact that cannot be further explained or explains itself.
‘I should say that the universe is just there, and that’s all.’

Question 28

What does Hume think about the Cosmological argument?

Answer 28

David Hume says that the universe itself is the necessarily existent being.
• You do not need to go one step further back and say that it is God.
• This approach conforms to Occam’s Razor - the simplest explanation that avoids over-complicating the argument.

Question 29

What is another criticism of the cosmological argument?

Answer 29

The Cosmological Argument is based on the observation that everything must have a cause. But Aquinas then argues that there is something without a cause - God.
Even if infinite regression is not possible, there is no evidence that the Christian monotheistic God is the necessarily existent First Cause.

Question 30

Give a strength of the cosmological argument

Answer 30

The argument uses empiricism - it is based on the observation that ‘everything has a cause’.
Empiricism is a popular method of acquiring knowledge in the modern world - for example, science uses empiricism.