RE Philisophy: existence of God Flashcards
how does Aquinas’ teleological argument show that God exists?
- 5th way - design argument.
- he believed that everything has a purpose.
- the purpose of living things didn’t come about naturally.
what does Aquinas’ teleological argument state?
intelligent objects can only by aimed towards a goal with the guiding presence of an intelligent being. this intelligent being must be God.
what is design qua purpose?
an argument which seeks to show that everything in the universe has a cause.
what are the problems with the teleological argument?
- does everything have a purpose?
- some animals are independent, not controlled by an intelligent being.
- evolution
- the purpose could be bad.
- god is a creator but there’s natural evil
- plato - can’t trust your senses
- we can’t trust other people’s observations, what if they’re blind?
- we’ve gained scientific knowledge, it changes what we believe.
what does William paley’s teleological argument state?
- if you were to find something not complex like a stone, you’d assume it was already there.
- if you were to find a watch, you’d question why it was there.
- the intricate workings imply that It was designed by a creator.
- if the parts weren’t arranged perfectly, it wouldn’t carry out its purpose.
- the same thing applies to the universe.
what did david hume say about paley’s teleological argument?
- weak analogy: it can’t be assumed that a watch is like the universe.
- order doesn’t prove design: self-sustaining order could’ve come about by chance.
- not the Christian god: even if there was a creator, it might not have been the Christian god
- may have been more than one god.
- universe is unique: can’t compare it to any other universe.
what did John Stuart Mill say about the teleological argument?
- pointed out the that the amount of evil in the world is an objection to design
- a universe with flaws is made by a flawed creator, god is presented as a perfect creator.
what does the cosmological argument do?
- infers the existence of a creator based on claims from the universe.
- based on the fact that the universe needs a cause so God must exist.
what are the 3 versions of the cosmological argument?
- argument from motion
- argument from causation
- argument from contingency
what does the argument from motion state?
- everything that moves is moved by something else
- the mover must’ve been moved by something else
- there aren’t an infinite number of movers as infinite regression isn’t possible
- at one point, there is a mover which isn’t itself moved.
- this is the creator, or God
what does the argument from causation state?
- everything has a cause
- every cause has its own cause
- there aren’t an infinite number of causes as infinite regression isn’t possible
- at one point, there was a first cause which isn’t itself caused.
- this first cause is god.
what does the argument from contingency state?
- ordinary things exist and eventually stop existing.
- at some time none of them were in existence.
- something comes into existence only by being caused by something else.
- therefore there must be a being whose existence is not limited by time. this being is what people understand to be god.
what did david hume say about the cosmological argument?
- he said that people’s mode of thinking led them to make a mistake by making a connection between cause and effect, this is where Aquinas went wrong.
- his error is to join cause and effect together despite them being 2 different events.
- it’s just a habit of the mind.
what is the nature of the ontological argument?
- deductive: conclusion follows from the premise
- a priori: based on reason, without reference to any experience.
what does the ontological argument state?
- ‘god is a being of which nothing greater can be conceived’.
- things that exist in reality are better than things that exist in the mind.
- if god is the greatest conceivable in the mind, he must be even better in reality.
- therefore, god exists in reality.
