Arguments for the Existence of God

Question 1

What is apriori knowledge?

Answer 1

Knowledge that does not depend on evidence but on reason alone (PRIOR to evidence).

Question 2

Define aposteriori knowledge

Answer 2

Knowledge based on evidence, which already exists (POST evidence).

Question 3

Is the Cosmological Argument apriori or aposteriori? Inductive or deductive?

Answer 3

Aposteriori, Inductive

Question 4

Give the two premises and conclusion that form the basis of the CA

Answer 4

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
2. The Universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the Universe has a cause.

Question 5

Which Greek Philosopher established the notion of primary and secondary movers? Explain this theory

Answer 5

Plato argues that things which move themselves are ‘primary movers’ and those things that can only be moved by others are ‘secondary movers’. He claimed that only souls can be primary movers, and therefore whatever created the universe is a soul.

Question 6

Fill in the gaps in this quote from Aristotle’s Metaphysics: “The series must start with ………, since ……. can come from ………….”

Aristotle also said that the Universe is merely a …………. of God.

Answer 6

“The series must start with something, since nothing can come from nothing”

Aristotle also said that the Universe is merely a bi-product of God.

Question 7

Which notable Islamic philosopher was a proponent of the Kalam Cosmological Argument? Around what time period was he alive?

Answer 7

Al’ Kindi

c. 870 CE

Question 8

In his work ‘On First Philosophy’, Al Kindi states “every being which begins has a cause for its beginning; now the world is a being which begins; …..”. Finish the sentence.

Answer 8

“Every being which begins has a cause for its beginning; now the world is a being which begins; therefore, it possesses a cause for its beginning”

Question 9

What is the most important principle of the Kalam Cosmological Argument? And which three words can be used to describe the God of the KCA?

Answer 9

1. The rejection of infinite regress
2. Finite, external and personal

Question 10

What are the three main points in William Lane Craig’s ontological analysis of the properties of the Universe’s ‘cause’? (Kalam Cosmological Argument, published 1979)

Answer 10

1. The universe has a cause.
2. If the universe has a cause, then an uncaused, personal Creator exists outside of the universe and is beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless and enormously powerful.
3. Therefore, a beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless and enormously powerful ‘uncaused cause’ exists.

Question 11

How did Saint Bonaventure (1221 - 1274) argue against infinite regress?

Answer 11

Bonaventure claimed that if the universe is eternal, it could never reach the present moment because if it was eternal then there are an infinite set of moments in the past and one would not reach the present moment. Since humankind has reached the present moment, the universe had to have a beginning.

Question 12

What is the difference between Aquinas’ and Saint Bonaventure’s approach to the Cosmological Argument?

Answer 12

Aquinas argued for the sustaining Cause of the universe (existential causality), while Bonaventure argued for the Cause for the beginning of the universe (the kalam argument)

Question 13

Which of St Thomas Aquinas’ (1225 -1274) Five Ways (Quinque Viae) are forms of the Cosmological Argument?

Answer 13

The First Way - The Unmoved Mover

The Second Way - The Uncaused Cause

The Third Way - From Necessity and Contingency

Question 14

What is St Thomas Aquinas’ definition of motion?

Answer 14

A change in location, quantity or quality

Question 15

What is actuality? And potentiality?

Answer 15

Actuality is the realisation of movement.

Potentiality is the potential movement of an object.

Question 16

Give the three premises and conclusion within St Thomas Aquinas’ First Way

Answer 16

The Unmoved Mover

P1: Things move when potential motion becomes actual motion and only an actual motion can convert a potential motion into an actual motion.

P2: Nothing can be at once in both actuality and potentiality, therefore nothing can move itself.

P3: However, this chain of motion cannot exist infinitely because then there would have been no first mover and subsequently no movement in the Universe.

C: Therefore, there must have been a first mover who was put in motion by no other - the Unmoved Mover/God.

Question 17

Give the four step thought process behind St Thomas Aquinas’ Second Way

Answer 17

1. There exists things that are caused (created) by other things.
2. Nothing can be the cause of itself (nothing can create itself.)
3. There cannot be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist.
4. Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause called God.

Question 18

What do the terms ‘contingent’ and ‘necessary’ mean with respect to Aquinas’ third way?

Answer 18

Contingent: A contingent being is an object that cannot exist without a necessary being causing its existence.

Necessary: Aquinas believed that everything in the Universe is contingent, ultimately necessitating a being which must exist for all of the contingent beings to exist (God).

Question 19

Describe the two premises and conclusion behind Aquinas’ Third Way

Answer 19

P1: Everything in our Universe is dependent, created and sustained by factors beyond itself (contingent).

P2: However, not all things can be contingent, if this was the case then nothing would have ever come into being.

C: Contingent factors depend on an ultimate explanation, which must be a necessary being dependent on nothing outside himself. This necessary being is God.

Question 20

Outline Gottfried Leibniz’s Principle of Sufficient Reason (1710) in 3 points

Answer 20

1. Even if the Universe had always been in existence, it would still require a sufficient reason for being because we must establish why there is something rather than nothing.
2. There is nothing in the Universe that explains why it exists, and therefore the ‘sufficient reason’ must be outside of the Universe.
3. Leibniz’s argument is based on the assumption that there must be a cause for the whole that explains the whole, unless it is accepted as meaningful and purposeful, the argument will fail

Question 21

Outline J.L. Mackie’s (1917 - 1981) train analogy for the Cosmological Argument

Answer 21

“You wouldn’t expect a train with a number of carriages to move without an engine. Each carriage in the train pulls the one before it but there has to be an engine to start the motion in the first place.”

Question 22

What did Fredrick Copleston put emphasis on in his ‘reformulated’ Cosmological Argument, proposed in a BBC radio debate with Bertrand Russell in 1947?

Answer 22

Contingency

Question 23

What was Russell’s response to Fredrick Coplestone’s reformulated Cosmological Argument? (3)

Answer 23

• He refused to accept the notion of a necessary being as one that cannot be thought of not existing, and concluded that the regress of causal events could not be held responsible: “the concept of cause is not applicable to the total”
• He reduced the universe to a mere, brute fact, of which it’s existence does not demand an explanation: “I should say that the universe is just there, and that’s all.”
• Russell saw the argument for a cause of the universe as having little meaning or significance.

Question 24

Give three attacks on the Cosmological Argument based in modern science

Answer 24

1. Principle of entropy -attack on contigency based on the fact that many things can move into a different state via their own natural processes
2. Newton’s First Law dictates that things can move on their on (contradicts Aquinas’ First Way)
3. Darwinism and the Big Bang Theory disproves the Book of Genesis

Question 25

How does the Principle of Shared Essences counter the CA?

Answer 25

Counters the idea that an unmoved mover/necessary being must exist in order for other beings to move/be caused. eg. You do not need somebody else to put a crown on you in order to be a monarch, you can be a monarch within yourself.

Question 26

Why is the rejection of infinite regress so important to the CA?

Answer 26

If the Universe was infinite, there would never have been a point where it came into being and would therefore not have been ‘caused’ or sustained by anything eg. God.

Question 27

What inductive leap is made by the CA and why is this criticised?

Answer 27

An inductive leap is made between concluding that the a first cause/unmoved mover/necessary being exists and inferring that it is God. This weakens the argument because there is little, or no evidence, to suggest that God causes/sustains the Universe.

(A jump is made between aposteriori and apriori knowledge)

Question 28

How did David Hume (1711-1776) challenge the Cosmological Argument? (5)

Answer 28

1. Fallacy of composition – Argues that our universe does not necessarily require a cause just because everything in our world can be explain by a preceding cause - you cannot deduce that the universe has a cause just because you can identify the cause of contingent things within the universe.
2. Rejects Aquinas’ 1st and 2nd ways – refutes the crossing of the boundary between apriori and aposteriori knowledge.
3. Suggests that an imaginary link has been made in order to reach the conclusion that the cause is God – an inductive leap.
4. Forwards that there have been no experiments investigating this inductive leap – was an Empiricist - he needed facts before he believed something
5. Uses this example to demonstrate that experience cannot be used to evidence theories: ‘Just because the sun set yesterday, it does not mean the sun will set tomorrow.’

Question 29

List some weaknesses of Hume’s criticisms of the CA (5)

Answer 29

1. The creation of the universe is a one off event and so need not be similar to our own experience. The laws of the spacio-temporal universe would not apply to God.
2. The scientific community largely accept that the Universe had a definite beginning.
3. The transcendent nature of the God of classical theism means that Hume’s empiricist approach to philosophy would be unable to quantify him.
4. We accept that our five senses give us accurate information about the world around us so that we do not become insane through perpetual doubting.
5. Copleston, Descartes, Anselm, Vardy and Malcolm would all argue that Hume misunderstands the essential nature of God. The essence of God is that God cannot not exist because he does not rely on anything to do so - it is almost as though he is the opposite of existence (which is, by definition, non-existence)

Question 30

How did Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) criticise the CA in his ‘Critique of Pure Reason’?

Answer 30

He opposed the theory that a chain of cause-effect events can be set in motion from outside the realm of the physical universe. The cause-effect relationship is observed within the confines of the spatio-temporal (space-time) world. Therefore, Kant argues that any cause must be in the world too.

Question 31

Who said: “Every man who exists has a mother, and it seems to me that your argument is that therefore the human race must have a mother, but obviously the human race hasn’t a mother- that is a different logical sphere.”?

Answer 31

Bertrand Russell

Question 32

How has Anthony Kenny (1931 - ….) attempted to disprove the CA? (4 main points)

Answer 32

He argued against Aquinas’ first way by applying Newton’s first law of motion, claiming that an unmoved mover was not required. The tendency to resist changes in their state of motion is called inertia. It is the tendency of objects to keep moving in a straight line at constant velocity. He believed that some things are self-moving and in uniform rectilinear motion, meaning it remains constant.

Question 33

What is fiedism?

Answer 33

Basing knowledge in faith

Question 34

What is natural theology and how does it link to the CA? Who was a proponent of natural theology?

Answer 34

Natural theology is when the work of God can be evidenced by nature. The CA supports those who believe in natural thology as it uses observations about the natural world to argue for the existence of God.

Richard Swinburne

Question 35

Give the two basic premises and conclusion that make up the Design Argument

Answer 35

P1: The world contains order, regularity, purpose, and beauty.

P2: By looking at an object containing these properties, we may infer that it is designed.

C: The world is an object containing the properties in P1 and was therefore designed.

Question 36

Is the Design Argument:

a) aposteriori or apriori?
b) deductive or inductive?
c) synthetic: true or false?

Answer 36

a) aposteriori
b) inductive
c) true

Question 37

What are the three forms of the Design Argument? Give a brief explanation of each

Answer 37

1. The analogical argument (draws on analogy between the world and its parts and human creation)
2. The inductive argument (based on observations of regularity in the world, which infers rules and then deems it reasonable to question who/what put those rules in place)
3. The theistic argument (seeks to prove the existence of the God of classical theism by explaining the Universe’s complexity as being the creation of an intelligent designer)

Question 38

Who put forward the first Design Argument? In which of his works and what did he call the ‘designer’?

Answer 38

The first design argument was put forward by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in his work The Timaeus. He suggested that a cosmic craftsman (‘the Demiurge’) may have brought together the materials of the universe, to make it orderly and beautiful.

Question 39

“What could be more clear or obvious when we look up to the sky and contemplate the heavens, than there is some divinity or intelligence.” Who said this?

Answer 39

Roman thinker, Cicero, in De Natura Deorum

Question 40

Fill in the gaps:

“phenomena (on Earth) are clearly things too …. for science to explain. Note that I am not postulating a “God … …. ……“,… but I postulate God to explain …. science explains” - Richard Swinburne, Is There a God? (1996)

Answer 40

“phenomena (on Earth) are clearly things too big for science to explain… Note that I am not postulating a “God of the gaps“,… but I postulate God to explain why science explains” - Richard Swinburne, Is There a God? (1996)

Question 41

Which 5 things does the Design Argument consider when explaining why the Universe exists as it does?

Answer 41

1. Order
2. Benefit
3. Purpose
4. Suitability for human life
5. Appearance (beauty)

Question 42

What did astronomer Fred Hoyle say about the likelihood of the conditions necessary for life coming about by chance?

Answer 42

It is akin to a hurrican sweeping through a scrap yard and assembling a Boeing 747.

Question 43

Which 13th century Italian philosopger and monk famously developed the Design Argument?

Answer 43

St Thomas Aquinas

Question 44

Which of Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Five Ways is a form of the Design Argument?

Answer 44

The Fifth Way

Question 45

Give the 5 step thought process behind Aquinas’ Fifth Way

Answer 45

1. All natural bodies in the world act towards ends.
2. These objects are in themselves unintelligent.
3. Acting towards an end is a characteristic of intelligence.
4. Therefore, there exists an intelligent being that guides all natural bodies towards their ends.
5. We call this being God.

Question 46

Who created the mechanistic argument/watchmaker analogy?

Answer 46

William Paley (1743-1805), English philosopher and clergyman

Question 47

State in simple terms William Paley’s Mechanistic (analogical) Argument

Answer 47

If we found a watch (a thing of beauty, order and regularity) on a heath, we would assume that it has some designer. By analogy, we could say the same of nature (as it has beauty, order and regularity).

Question 48

What analogies for the Cosmological Argument

a) were used by Thomas Aquinas
b) stem from Isaac Newton’s scientific research?

Answer 48

a) Wood - fire (potentiality - actuality)
b) Newton’s cradle (movement, cause & effect)

Question 49

How does Richard Dawkins argue against the analogical argument?

Answer 49

• He argues there is no reason why the Universe could not have come about by a serioes of very small random occurences, which each increased the likelihood of the next.
• He claims that we see the world through ‘purpose-coloured spectacles’ and assume purpose when there is none.
• He argues there is enough for us to value life as intrinsically special and there is no need to ask for more.

Question 50

What were David Hume’s criticisms of the analogical argument?

Answer 50

• Paley’s form of the argument is unsound because we cannot legitimately draw an analogy between that which we know to be limited and imperfect to that we which we claim is unlimited and perfect.
• Whilst certain parts of the Universe appear to have purpose, it is difficult to argue that for the Universe as a whole.
• Comparing human designers and God leads to anthropomorphism, reducing God’s divinity.

Question 51

What are the two greatest problems with the analogical argument?

Answer 51

1. It seeks to explain the totality of the universe despite our lack of experience of it.
2. The universe is unique and cannot reasonably be compared with anything.

Question 52

How does Richard Swinburne approach the Design Argument?

Answer 52

Richard Swinburne is a proponent of the argument from probability, arguining that the providential nature of the universe is very unlikely to have been created and sustained by chance. He also claims that humans were designed to occupy the highest position in the universe. For these reasons, he believes that the existence of God is the only reasonable explanation for the universe.

Question 53

What are the issues with Swinburne’s argument from probability?

Answer 53

• He presumes the universe was created for the sake of humanity, however this could be argued by any species that continues to survive and thrive here.
• To hold that there is a high degree of probability that God exists demands that we concede that other probabilities (eg. the existence of another divine being) exists also.

Question 54

Who was Charles Darwin and what is he most famous for?

Answer 54

Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) was a naturalist and geologist who is most famous for travelling to the Galapagos Islands and as as a result of his observations, developing the theory of evolution (also known as Darwinism).

Question 55

How does the theory of evolution cause problems for those who believe in the design argument?

Answer 55

The theory of evolution claims that we evolved from simple, singular cell organisms and adapted to our environment, meaning that we were not created perfect by a perfect being.

Question 56

Which simplistic argument do many theists use to rebut the theory of evolution?

Answer 56

The ‘god of the gaps’ argument is commonly used in order to justify God’s existence, in light of scientific discoveries. This claims that God created the world, and then we evolved (at his will) and it was he who initiated the Big Bang.

Question 57

What is the Intelligent Design theory?

Answer 57

Proposed by scientists from the Discovery Institute, Intelligent Design claims that ceatures of the universe and living things are best explained by an intelligent cause and not an undirected process like natural selection due to their irreducible complexity. In most cases, proponents of the theory deliberately does not try to identify the intelligent cause.

Question 58

Give one example whereby proponents of Intelligent Design have been:

a) successful
b) unsuccessful

Answer 58

a) They convince the public that there is debate around whether life evolved, when there is arguably no such debate as evolution is accepted.
b) They seek to convince the public, politicians and cultural leaders that schools should expose and evaluate the controversy. This has been rejected by the scientific community and in the Kitzmiller vs Dover School District case (2005), it was ruled that intelligent design is not science.

Question 59

How does F.R. Tennant argue for the probability of God?

Answer 59

He claims that when people view the universe, they cannot accept that it came about by chance and are more inclined to accept the probability of God (on psychological grounds as much as any other).

Question 60

F.R. Tennant proposes the aesthetic argument for the existence of God. Fill in the gaps: “Nature is not just beautiful in places, it is ………. with beauty. Our …………. knowledge brings us no nearer to understanding the beauty of music. Beauty seems to be superfluous and to have little ……… value”

Answer 60

“Nature is not just beautiful in places, it is saturated with beauty. Our scientific knowledge brings us no nearer to understanding the beauty of music. beauty seems to be superfluous and to have little survival value” (Philosophical Theology, 1930)

Question 61

What 5 observations did F.R. Tennant make about the universe?

Answer 61

1. it is intelligible and not chaotic
2. the significance of the evolutionary system is that is underpins direction and progress
3. the universe is absolutely suitable to sustain life
4. it exhibits standards and aesthetic value
5. humanity possesses an awareness of moral worth and works in harmony with nature

Question 62

What is the anthropic principle and who is its most famous proponent?

Answer 62

The anthropic principle claims that because the conditions within the universe are perfect for us to survive, it has been ‘fine tuned’ and is not a matter of chance.

F.R. Tennant is the most famous proponent

Question 63

What is the difference between the strong and weak anthropic principles?

Answer 63

Strong: The circumstances in our universe are such that the emergence of life was inevitable and this must have been determined by God.

Weak: The circumstances in our universe are such that the emergence of life was possible.

Question 64

Why does the weak anthropic principle not fit so well with classical theism? And why is it regarded to be a stronger argument?

Answer 64

It does not fit so well because it does not so clearly suggest the idea of creation.

It is a stronger argument because it leaves room for an explanation, rather than making the inductive leap to God.

Question 65

Who said the below?

“The argument in its seventeenth-century form … may have been superseded by Darwin. But the design argument still lives, as an argument that the precise structure of laws and constants that seem uniquely fitted to produce life by a process of evolution is highly improbable.”

Answer 65

Keith Ward

Question 66

What are the four most common arguments used to critique Tennant’s ‘new’ design argument?

Answer 66

• The term “improbable” still leaves open the possibility that God did not create the Earth, there is no certainty. (weak principle)
• The new design argument still makes an inductive leap. It assumes that evidence of design in evolution or probability infers God.
• The new DA does not provide any additional information regarding the nature of God or whether God is worthy of worship
• Given enough time anything can happen.

Question 67

Why do some theists disagree with the Design Argument?

Give an example of one such theist

Answer 67

They see these arguments as misrepresenting or diminishing the divine.

William Blake (1757-1827) wrote There is No Natural Religion (1788), attacking the idea of the human senses encompassing the idea of the divine. He argues that “none could have other than natural or organic thoughts” if reliant upon sensory perception alone. This removes the revelation of a transcendent God from the heart of religion, which Blake did not accept.

Question 68

Critics of the design argument claim that order is merely perceived, it is not improbable and we should not deem it as extraordinary. Give an example of one such critic and their arguments.

Answer 68

A.J. Ayer said that it is meaningless to speak of a ‘designed’ world because we cannot say what it would be like without design and therefore cannot reach the conclusion that our world is designed.

He said to use order in nature to claim God exists is to claim certain phenomena exist in certain sequences, which, he presumes, is not what the ‘religious man’ would be intending to assert.