Arguments For The Existence Of God Flashcards
What is the teleological argument?
An argument for the existence of God that claims everything that exists seems to have a telos. This suggests a designer, such as God
What is Aquinas’ fifth way?
Even inanimate things which lack knowledge have a telos which they fulfil. This suggests they must be directed by a being with knowledge (God)
Arguments against Aquinas’ TA
- These living beings may have just evolved to suit their environment, rather than being designed to have a purpose
- What we assume to be purpose may be chance
- Aquinas can be accused of logical fallacy. He leaps to the Christian God
Strengths of Aquinas TA
- We can observe in nature non living things acting towards their purpose
- It is correct that an arrow requires an archer. This can be applied to other natural things
- Aquinas is right that we need an explanation for purpose
From when did William Paley live?
1743-1805
What major event went on during Paleys life?
The industrial revolution
What were Paleys two types of design argument?
- Design qua purpose
- Design qua regularity
What is design qua purpose?
Design based on purpose
Evidence for design can be found in the purpose of things
What is design qua regulatory
Design based on regulatory, order, regular patterns, predibility.
Evidence for design can be found in regular patterns, e.g orbits.
Plaey’s watch argument.
- If you were to observe a watch in nature, you could tell it was different and had a design. Therefore, it has a designer.
- Paley argued the same design can be seen in the natural processes of the world
- Hence, the world has a designer which is God.
What example of design in nature did Paley use?
The human eye
What criticisms does Hume have of Paley’s analogy of the watch?
- The universe may have been designed by many Gods, in the same way a machine is made by many hands
- The universe is not like a machine, it is more like a living organism
- The idea of a mechanical design leads to an anthropomorphic God
What did Hume criticise about the religious worth of the design argument?
- The universe may have been designed by many Gods
- If we look carefully at some designs, they are faulty, so if there is a designer he may be non moral
- Perhaps this world was the first attempt of an infant deity, who then abandoned it.
What did Hume argue was equally as likely as God designed the world?
That it came about by chance
How does Darwin’s natural selection challenge the teleological argument?
- If species have survived due to adaptations, then there is no need for ultimate design
- If evolution is a random process, there is no overall purpose or planned design
- It challenged the status of human kind. The world is no longer centred around humans.
Which book does Richard Dawkins attack the watch analogy in?
‘The blind watch maker’
What is F.R tenants anthropic principle?
The world is finely balanced to allow life to exist. These favourable conditions point to a designer
What is F.R Tenants Aesthetic principle?
Humans appreciate things which have no survival value such as music or beauty, which implies a designer.
What is the cosmological argument?
An argument for the existence of God starting form observations of the existence of the universe
What are Aquinas’ three ways that cover the cosmological argument?
- The Argument from motion
- The argument from causation
- The argument from contingency
What is the argument from motion?
- The reduction of something from potentiality to actuality.
- Aquinas argued nothing can change by itself, and since there cannot be an infinite regress of moves there must be an unmoved changer, ie God
What is the argument from causation?
- Everything in the universe is the result of a succession of causes. As nothing can be its own cause, there must be a first cause which remains unchanged and uncaused, ie God
The argument from contingency
- Everything in the universe is contingent, it can either exist or not. It is possible that there was a time where nothing existed. However, something cannot come from nothing
- Therefore there must have been a necessary being which brought things into existence, ie God.
Why does David Hume reject the idea of cause based in empirical evidence?
We can only observe a limited amount and should not assume that cause and effect apply to anything outside of our actual experience.
What is David Humes Fallacy of composition?
Just because the parts within the universe have a cause, it does not follow that the whole has a cause.
Who suggests that the universe could be its own cause or be necessary?
Hume
Who supports David Hume’s idea of infinite regress?
Mackie
Who used Hume’s arguments to raise his own against the cosmological argument?
Bertrand Russel
What did Kant argue about cause and effect?
It exists in the phenomenal world and therefore cannot be applied to god in the noumenal world.
What did Leibniz say in relation to the cosmological argument?
There must be something rather than nothing
What does motus mean?
Latin - changes of state.
What does contingency mean?
Being caused by the un caused causer
How does Leibniz support Aquinas’ cosmological argument?
- Supports Aquinas’ second way of causation.
- The principle of sufficient reason.
- Gives the example of a series of books: each is copied form the previous, why was there a book at all? Why was there a first book.
- This can be applied to the universe; god is the first cause
How does F Coppleston support Aquinas’ cosmological argument
Support the third way
- Everything in the universe and the universe itself is contingent
- Therefore there must be a necessary being that created it.
- Links to Leibniz’ sufficient reason
How does Kant criticise Aquinas’ cosmological argument?
- Causality is just the way our minds like to see the phenomenal world.
- We impose the idea of cause and effect on the world. The noumenal world cannot be experienced by the senses
- If causality isn’t real, then the second way doesn’t make sense. There can be no first or uncaused causer
How does Bertrand Russell criticise Aquinas’ cosmological argument
- The fallacy of composition
- The jump from everything in the universe having a cause to the universe having a cause is illogical
- The universe requires no explanation
- The universe is just there, it has no explanation
What is a deductive argument?
- Uses only reason
- The premises lead to a logical ans certain conclusion
- The conclusion is found in the premises
What are inductive arguments?
- Uses observations and experience to suggest a probable conclusion
- The premises ans conclusions can be disagreed with
- The conclusion is not a logical certainty
What type of arguments are Aquinas arguments for god?
Inductive
How does Hume argue against the inductive reasoning of Aquinas’ arguments for God?
- All inductive reasoning relies on the assumption that nature is uniform
- This can be justified by experience, but we cannot directly observe that nature is uniform.
- We must infer it is uniform. Such inference itself would be inductive
- We cannot justify the assumption
What is Hume’s fallacy of composition criticism?
Just because the parts in the universe have causes, does not mean the universe has a cause.
What is Humes special case criticism?
If God is the cause of the universe? What is the cause of God?
If god is his own cause why can’t the universe be it’s own cause?
Perhaps the universe has existed forever and needs no cause
What is Hume’s infinite regress criticism?
Why not accept the possibility of an infinite regress?
The universe may not have a start
What is Hume’s criticism of the type of god?
Aquinas arguments do not necessarily point to the God of classical theism. It’s equally as likely to be numerous Gods.
Who made the Parable of the Gardener?
John Wisdom
How does the Parable of the Gardner criticise design arguments?
- Suggests the evidence given is ambiguous
- It is open to interpretation
What is a logical fallacy?
An error is reasoning that renders an argument invalid.
