The Existence Of God - Arguments Based On Observations Flashcards
The cosmological argument
The Cosmological Argument.
argument in favour of the existence of God.
a posteriori/inductive argument based on the observation of motion, cause and effect, and the contingency in the universe.
includes Aquinas 3 Ways
unit 1
deductive argument
premises are true therefore the conclusion is true.
(E.G. all spiders have eight legs, tracheales are spiders. therefore, tracheales have eight legs.)
inductive argument
inductive argument
Needs investigation/ evidence.
Premises provide support to conclusion.
E.G. every dog is friendly.
posterior (post - after experience)
In order to prove its validity
rely on experience rather than on logical analysis to reach conclusion
unit 1
priori
(Don’t need to investigate)
Self-evident, does not need evidence/validation for proof
E.g a square has 4 sides
St Thomas Aquinas
He believed that the existence of God could be proven in five ways
- summa Theologica (his greatest book)
Aquinas’ first 3 ways
- The unmoved mover
- Uncaused cause
- contingency and necessity
the unmoved mover
Inspired by Aristotle work of causation, he believed movement has the sense of moving from potentiality to actuality.
an argument about motion, “Whatever is in motion, must be put in motion.”
- Everything is in motion
- There can’t be an infinite regress of motion - an infinite chain of movers going back in time forever.
- There has to have been a first mover – a start to the motion we observe.
- E.g. if you see dominoes falling, there must have been a first one that was pushed – there couldn’t have just been dominoes falling forever.
- So, there must have been a first mover that was unmoved – that is God.
uncaused cause
attempts to explain cause and effect.
- everything has a cause (its contingent)
- nothing can cause itself
- however, there can’t be an infinite number of causes as there will be no first cause.
- therefore there must be an uncaused cause
- and we call that - GOD
We can see, using empirical evidence, links of cause and effect- one thing coming about due to another.
Baby—Parents—Grandparents—GreatGrandparents— Continuous chain until we reach the first humans. Humans had to start somewhere
Contingency & Necessity
Nothing comes from nothing, we have to accept some being have its own necessity.
- Individual things come into existence and later cease to exist. For example, a tree will grow leaves in the spring (begin to exist) and the leaves die in the fall (cease to exist).
- not every being can be contingent
- Therefore there must be a being whose existence is necessary – ‘WHOM WE CALL GOD’.
(E.G. a child is contingent to their parent (Copleston)
Things in our universe have a beginning and an end. If there was never a beginning then there will never be an end.
Potentially
The ability to become something else
Kalam cosmological argument
KALAM MEANIGN- To discuss/ argue
- Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
- The universe began to exist.
- Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.
Supporters of this theory believe that God created the universe - ex nihlo (out of nothing)
Leibniz- The Principle of Sufficient Reason
support Aquinas’ 3 way
- He simply says: ‘no fact could ever be true…unless there were a sufficient
reason why it was...’ - Everything must have a reason, cause.
- Even if the world eternal, we need an explanation for it
- This cannot be explained by contingent things. Therefore the explanation must be necessary - This being is God
- If you reject PSR, it means that you are claiming things without an explanation
Valid
No mistake in logic
The Grand Designer - Aquinas 5th Way
Like Paley, Aquinas demonstrates God’s existence is an argument from final causes.
He drew upon Aristotle view that nature is teleological & each thing has its own purpose.
In order for something to reach its purpose it need to be guided by an intelligent being - God
The teleological argument -developed by Craig
telo - end/goal
(The designed argument)
Argument for the existence of God from empirical evidence of order. (What we see around us)
Everything has a purpose/goal in order for it to be designed.
To conclude that there is a God
An inductive/posterior argument - further investigation/sense experience
Example of Aqunias 5th way
Unintelligent things can’t fulfil a purpose unless it is guided by something with knowledge.
E.G. An unintelligent Bow & Arrow without its archer would be wood and string
William Paley - 2 points of view
Design qua purpose - the universe designed to fulfil a purpose
Design qua regularity - the universe behaves according to some order.
Qua - Latin for ‘as relating to’
Strengths of the cosmological argument
- They are logical and common sense (based on what we see)
- Fits in with Christian teaching - Genesis 1. “In the beginning God created the Heaven and Earth”.
- Leibez argued that all things should have a ‘sufficient reason’ for their existence. - NOT BY CHANCE
- nothing comes from nothing - must be a first God.
- Things in nature are contingent therefore there must be something necessary.
Richard Darwin (1809-1882)
NATURAL SELECTION
Natural selection- the process through which populations of living organisms better adapt and change in order to survive its environment
Evolution explains how life is organised in the universe. Organisms adapt randomly according to the principle of ‘Survival of the fittest’
= without a reference to God
E.G. finches beaks changes overtime because ‘life is a struggle to exists’ - a way of understanding how species develop without reference to a designer God.
premises meaning
is a previous statement that an argument
Design qua regularity
argues that the fact the planets move so regularly and perfectly, is it further evidence that there must be an intelligent designer behind it.
Quote for Aquinas 5th way
‘Whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it is guided by knowledge and intelligence’
Summa theologica
William Paley - (1743) = published Natural Theology-watchmaker Analogy
design qua purpose
- argued that the complexity and intrinsic nature of the world suggests there is a purpose to it - there must be a designer(God)
If he came across a watch on the ground, he would assume that the complex parts on the watch has a purpose and that it did not come into existence by chance - There must be a watchmaker. - All this complexity requires a designer. This designer is God. God is the “Divine Watch Maker”.
‘Design must have a designer, to whom we call God’
he then widens his argument to the details of the eye. The complexity of the eye alone is further evidence for a designing intelligence.
Epicurean hypothesis
The theory that the world is the chance arrangements of atoms
Weaknesses of the argument of the design/teleological argument
- Complexity does not necessarily mean design -Too vague
- Mill (1806): Evidental problem of evil. The existence of evil and imperfection in the world suggest that there is a limited designer or a morally flawed* God. (e.g. *volcanoes exits because the universe designed seemed to be a faulty one) Even if we accept that the world was designed, it cannot be assumed that its designer is God.
- Hume’s (1711) argument that the universe resembles a vegetable more than a machine. due to it organic nature, They grow themselves without the need for a designer. this backed up strongly by the theory of evolution.
- The theory of natural selection (Charles Darwin), shows a way of understanding how species develop without reference to a designer God.
Aquinas archer analogy supports inanimate objects in our world. = supports design qua purpose & anthropic principle
telo
- The arrow still has a purpose to reach it’s telos.
- Inanimate objects e.g. sun, moonetc
- Have no life/intelligence but they still reach its purpose.
- Order,pattern, consistency sums up the teleological argument
anthropic meaning
relating to humans
prime mover
Aristotle’s names for the first unmoved mover responsible for all order that exits in the universe.
Aesthetic principle
F.R. Tennant (1866-1957)
- Human ability to perceive and appreciate beauty (the universe) at all levels.
E.G, Art, music, literature and culture.
This appreciation of beauty is not necessary for human survival and cannot be a result of natural selection.
(It points to the idea of an intelligent designer.)
Anthropic principle
human
F.R. Tennnat
-The argument claims the universe has been structured in a way to enable human life to be sustained.
(E.G. Human needs oxygen for life to form.)
If the universe had been developed in a slightly different way then we wouldn’t be here!
The complexity of the universe did not come about through chance/coincidence
-The process of evolution (through natural selection), has led to the development of intelligent life - God
fallacy of composition
what is true of some parts is not necessarily true of the whole.
(E.G, car type is made out of rubber, therefore the whole car is made out of rubber)
Hume (1711-1776)
(Criticisms for the cosmological argument in his dialogue )
FOC:
1. just because we observe cause and effect in the universe does no mean this rules applies to the universe itself.
2. we have no experience on creating the universe and therefore cannot meaningfully talk about it.
3. there’s not enough evidence.
‘The universe is ambiguous, we should not assume that God is the only explanation for creation’
Doesn’t make sense to say that there was only one intelligent - God. when there could be a committee of Gods.
syllogism
a form of logical, deductive reasoning. Contains 2 premises and a conclusion.
Historical Background -Aristotle
- Aristotle believed this could only be explained by a divine intelligence responsible for, and the source of, all order that exists in the universe. - the prime mover.
Historical Arguments
Plato
he believed in a pre-existent universe. within this universe existed a demiurge responsible for all things on earth This explains why there is order rather than chaos in the universe.
Strong and Weak Anthropic Principles
Weak: argues that if the world were any different we would not be hear
Strong: Argues that the world had to be as it is in order for us to be here.
There must have been some built in factor which made the development of human life inevitable.
Swinburne (supports Anthrophic principle
He points out that the order and complexity in the universe (as the Anthropic principle suggests) cannot be explained by science
Swinburne & simplicity
Few elements exits but such variations that Swinburne says God must have planned it like that. This follows Ockham razor that the simplest answer is most likely,
aristoles 4 cause
Aristotle believe the physical world is a mutable change (always changes), imperfect and transient (not eternal).
It moves in a state of potentiality to actuality
There are 4 elements contributing to the nature of an object
- material - what the item is made of (E.G. a bronze statue is made out of bronze)
- formal - how the material is arranged together. - he argues in the mind we can imagine the form.
- efficient cause: Who/what made the particular arrangement
- final cause - the telos/the reason or purpose behind it. “That for which a sake is done”
