Existence of God Flashcards
who is the key scholar for cosmological argument?
Aquinas
Who is the key scholar for the design argument
William Paley
Who is the key scholar for the moral argument?
Kant
Who is the key scholar for Religious Experience?
Richard Swinburne
What examples of design are there?
ducks webbed feet, eye lashes
Goldilocks principle?
Universe has been designed “just right” to sustain life
Thumb Theory
Isaac Newton
We are all unique
Richard Swinburnes’ Principle of Credulity
what I experience in everyday life is true- so why question a religious experience
Richard Swinburnes’ Principle of Testimony
if you believe what your friend says to you, then you should believe them when they say they have experienced God
Examples of religious experience
miracle, conversion, prayer dream, vision
what is religious experience?
something that goes against the laws of nature and cannot be explained by reason or science
criticisms of religious experience
-hallucinations
-overactive imagination
-how do we know it is God
-does god have faviourites (only revealing himself to some people)
-diffiult to prove if it is a personal experience
what is the moral argument?
-we all have a sense of right/wrong
-feeling guilty when we do wrong
-external lawgiver gives us the sense of morality
-God is moral governor
-summon bonum-ultimate happiness (heaven)
criticisms of moral argument
-morality can come from parents/education/culture
-morals are product of evolutionary process (Dawkins)
-Atheists know difference between right/wrong
-why assume that only god can bring about ultimate happiness?
Criticisms of teleological argument
-Nietzsche universe is ‘full of flaws’ earthquakes/volcanoes
-unnecessary suffering
if there is a designer can he be described as good?
-random chance
survival of the fittest
