Lecture 8: Arguments for the Existence of God Flashcards
Who championed design implied by observed regularity?
Richard Swinburne
Summarize Aquinas’s argument from gradation of being or perfection.
If there are levels of perfection, there must be some standard of perfection which holds that trait to the highest degree.
Summarize Aquinas’s argument from efficient causes.
A thing cannot design or cause itself. There must be a first efficient cause - God.
Define a priori arguments.
These arguments use deductive reasoning by starting with a premise, then developing reasons from it.
Define a posteriori arguments.
These arguments move from a particular observation to a more general conclusion.
Natural theology typically uses what type of apologetics with what kind of arguments?
Classical apologetics, a posteriori arguments
Define reductio ad absurdum arguments.
Arguments that demonstrate something positive by showing the opposite of it is absurd or contradictory.
What does a priori mean, literally?
“That which comes before”
Which two people strongly opposed Paley?
Samuel Coleridge and John Newman
Give a limit of a posteriori arguments.
Since they are not proofs, all arguments are at best probabilistic.
Give the three cosmological arguments from Aquinas’ ‘Five Ways’.
Motion
Efficient causes
Possibility and necessity
In what work did Anselm put forward the ontological argument?
Proslogion
List Aquinas’s Five Ways arguments.
Motion Efficient causes Possibility and necessity Gradation Finality
What do cosmological arguments have in common?
They all begin by observing that something exists, rather than nothing. The existence of the world demands an explanation.
Summarize Aquinas’s argument from finality (teleological argument).
Everything has an ultimate purpose, even the inanimate. However, whatever lacks intelligence can only act for an end if it can be guided by a particular intelligence. God gives all beings direction to their end.
Summarize Aquinas’s argument from motion.
Everything in motion has been put in motion by something else. However, all motion must be traced back to an original ‘unmoved mover.’
Explain the Kalam cosmological argument.
- Whatever begins to exist must have been caused by something
- The universe began to exist
- The universe must have been caused to exist
Give the two non-cosmological arguments from Aquinas’ ‘Five Ways’.
Gradation of being/perfection
Finality (teleological argument)
What is another name for an a posteriori argument?
An inductive argument
Who thought Paley’s work endangered Christianity and wanted to “throw the full force of his intelliect” in the way of it? Why?
Samuel Coleridge, because Christianity cannot be proven, so anything “proven” must actually be other than Christianity (e.g. atheism).
The Kalam cosmological argument relies upon what?
The impossibility of infinite regression, which says there cannot be an actual infinite.
Give an example of a teleological argument that focuses on design implied by purpose.
William Paley’s watchmaker argument
What kind of argument is Anselm’s ontological argument?
reductio ad absurdum
What does a posteriori mean, literally?
“That which comes after” or “after the fact”
Give an example of a teleological argument that focuses on design implied by observed regularity.
Maxwell’s equations
Summarize Aquinas’s argument from possibility and necessity.
Of everything that exists, it is possible for it not to exist. Yet something exists, and since nothing cannot create something, God must have first created.
Who famously rejected the Kalam cosmological argument, and why?
David Hume, because the world does go back infinitely and we cannot really know cause and effect.
Is Anselm’s ontological argument an a priori or a posteriori argument?
A priori
What do natural theology apologetics attempt to do?
It works inductively by observing how things are, and inferring God from those observations. From non-religious to religious arguments.
What are teleological arguments?
Teleological arguments are based on observations of orderliness or purpose in the universe. This reflects some superior intelligence that designed the world.
Give the two types of teleological arguments.
Design implied by purpose
Design implied by observed regularity
Summarize Dun Scotus’ cosmological argument.
If something is in effect, it must have been produced - either by nothing, by itself, or by another something. This regresses back to a first something that produces by its own power.
