existence of god

Question 1

name the 5 critics of ontological argument

Answer 1

Kant existence is not a predicate
Kant existence can't be proven analytically
Hume existence can't be proven a priori
Gassendi and Caterus existing lion
Gassing necessary non existence

Question 2

name who supports and who rejects teleological argument

Answer 2

1. Aquinas’ 5th way
2. Paley’s watchmaker
3. Anthropoid pple and TENNANT SWINBURNE
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4. Hume
5. Mill
6. Darwinism
7. Dawkins
8. Coyne

Question 3

Aquinas’ argument teleological

Answer 3

everything works to some purpose
even inanimate objects are here and they have none, so they must be directed by an external power
the way in which NATURAL BODIES move in a REGULAR FASHION provides evidence for existence of an intelligent being

Question 4

swinburne on ockham’s razor?

Answer 4

simpler hypothesis more likely to be true, the uniform laws of physics point to a single creator
DAWKINS: this is an “argument from personal incredulity”

Question 5

Mill teleological criticism?

Answer 5

all the suffering in this world does not point to omnipotent creator (Hume argues the same)- it is unnatural to conclude the creator is J-C God

Question 6

Polkinghorne’s response to Dawkins and darwinism?

Answer 6

miss the point that the creator started it all and then took a step back

Question 7

Anthropic pple

Answer 7

cosmos was constructed for development of human life - a minute change in strong nuclear force or charge of electron and life wouldn’t have been likely
TENNANT: natural evidence in designer is
1. world can be rationalised
2. inanimate objects provide our necessities
3. natural selection worked towards the emergence of human life
aesthetic argument - we don’t need beauty
Accepts darwinism - this is all part of gods plan
SWINBURNE- fluke is less likely than design here

Question 8

coyne?

Answer 8

the great god of the gaps
if constants changed we wouldn’t be here;
this is a scientific observation that calls of a scientific answer
God is irrelevant here - what if the gaps close and god has nowhere to hide? faith cannot be proved

Question 9

Aquinas’ 1st way

Answer 9

1. Nothing can move itself
2. If every object in motion had a mover, then the 1st object would need a mover
3. Movement can’t go on for infinity
4. This 1st nicer is the unmoved mover (God)

Question 10

Aquinas’ 2nd way

Answer 10

1. There exists things that are caused / brought into existence by others
2. Nothing can be the cause of itself
3. There cannot be an endless string of objects causing others to exist
4. There must be an uncaused 1st cause

Question 11

Aquinas’ 3rd way

Answer 11

1. In nature, things either exist or don’t exist
2. If this is so, given infinite time, at one time everything must not be
3. If there was once nothing, nothing could come from that
4. Therefore something but necessarily exist
5. Everything necessary must be caused or uncaused
6. The series of necessary beings can’t go on to infinity, as there would be no explanation for the series
7. Therefore there must be some being having itself as its own necessity (God)

Question 12

teleological argument: who comments on how god is impossible to be reasoned about?

Answer 12

Russel: god is the cause of the universe is neither synthetic nor analytic; external god - how does he interact with the universe?
Hume: god transcends human understanding
Kant: impossible to reason from phenomenal to noumenal

Question 13

Mackie’s response to cosmological argument

Answer 13

we have no good reason to believe there can be a necessary being
we can conceive of an object not existing
conceivability is evidence of possibly
t is hence possible that it fails to exist
we have evidence against possibility of necessary beings
–> weakens basis for the need of reliance on necessary being

Question 14

response to kAnt’s existence is not a predicate?

Answer 14

CHARLES HEARTSHORNE: existence useful predicate when something is proven to exist e.g. bigfoot

Question 15

talk about the existing lion

Answer 15

GASSENDI AND CATERUS:
the entity of the greatest being is conceivable but it does not follow that its existence is actual in the real world
merely the concept of existence is inseparably tied with the concept of the greatest being
eg existing lion includes both concepts essentially, but this does not constrain the lion to exist
Response: lion is a fiction of the intellect but god is innate in the mind
^^can be trumped by cartesian circle