Theme 1 (Arguments for the existence of God)

Question 1

COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

What is the First Cause Theory?

Answer 1

It tries to prove the existence if God and is concerned with finding an explanation for the universe.

Question 2

What was Aquinas’ Cosmological Argument?

Answer 2

• everything that exists was caused to exist
  -the universe exists so it too must have a cause
• there had to be something first that was not caused by anything to create the universe
  -the eternal cause is God (so he exists)

Question 3

What are Aquinas’ first 3 ways?

Answer 3

• motion or change
• cause and effect
• contingency and necessity

Question 4

Explain Aquinas’ first way

Answer 4

• Whatever is in motion is put in motion by another
• A Prime Mover is something which has not been/cannot be moved by anything and is responsible for initiating the sequence of change
• God is the prime mover

Question 5

What did Aristotle think relating to this?

Answer 5

• Things can only move from a state of potentiality to a state of actuality if acted on by something already in a state of actuality (efficient cause)
  e.g block of marble becoming a statue when acted upon by a sculptor

Question 6

Explain Aquinas’ second way

Answer 6

• Infinite regress is impossible
• The first/efficient cause starts a domino effect
• This cause is God

Question 7

Explain Aquinas’ third way

Answer 7

• In order for contingent beings to exist there has to be a non-contingent
• There must have been a necessary being that brought about everything else into existence
• The necessary being is God

Question 8

What does Kalam mean?

+ who was the man who restored the popularity of the Kalam Cosmological Argument?

Answer 8

to argue or discuss in Arabic

Christian apologist William Lane Craig in 1993

Question 9

What is the first part of the Kalam Cosmological Argument?

Answer 9

1) Everything that begins to exist has a cause
2) The universe began to exist
3) Therefore. the universe has a cause of its existence
4) Since science has no explanation of this, the cause must be a personal agent

Question 10

What is the second part of the Kalam Cosmological Argument?

Answer 10

• Actual infinite cannot exist (only potential infinite)
• A beginningless temporal series of events is an actual infinite
• Therefore this cannot exist

Question 11

What is an actual infinite?

What is a potential infinite?

Answer 11

Something that has no beginning or end

Something that could continue on forever if effort were applied

Question 12

How did Craig use potential infinite to prove God created the world?

+ his analogy

Answer 12

As the universe cannot be an actual infinite it must be a potential infinite. Therefore, it can only exist with external support which is a personal creator (God).

+ water freezing

Question 13

2 Strengths and 2 Agreements of the Cosmological Argument

Answer 13

• Argument based on empirical evidence
• Science has not answered all the questions so other arguments must be considered
• Oakham’s Razor - The simplest explanation tends to be correct which in this case is God.
• Aristotle - “nothing can come from nothing, so everything must have a cause”

Question 14

3 Disagreements with the Cosmological Argument

Answer 14

• Bertrand Russel
  Could the universe be the exception instead of God to the rule that everything is cause to exist?
• David Hume
  We didn’t experience the beginning of the universe so we cannot make assumptions about its creation
• Immanuel Kant
  We didn’t experience the beginning of the universe so we cannot know it was caused by anything

Question 15

TELEOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

What is the Teleological Argument?

Answer 15

It uses the observation of apparent order and regularity to conclude that the universe was not the result of chance but of design (designer is God)

Question 16

What does the Teleological Argument state?

Answer 16

1) The universe has order, regularity and purpose
2) The complexity of the universe shows evidence of a design
3) Such design implies a designer
4) The designer of the universe is God

Question 17

Who were the 3 key Philosophers of the Teleological Argument?

+ their books

Answer 17

Paley (Natural Theology)
Aquinas (Summa Theologica)
Tennant (Philosophical Theology)

Question 18

What did Paley develop about the Cosmological Argument?

Answer 18

If we were to discover a watch we would come to the conclusion that it had been designed by a designer/ watchmaker as it is a very complicated system which works together to achieve an end goal (telos)

Our universe is also very complicated inferring a designer and this designer is God

Question 19

What did Aquinas put forward about the Teleological Argument?

+ what example did he use for this argument?

Answer 19

Formed his fifth way

That everything in our universe follows natural laws even if they possess no intelligence. By doing this and fulfilling a purpose or telos it suggest that something is directing them.

The only explanation for this guidance was from an intelligent being ( God)

+ an arrow

Question 20

What did Fredrick Tennant do as part of the Teleological Argument?

+ what did this consist of?

Answer 20

He developed a ‘new’ version of the argument which combined both science and religious belief

+ two principles (Anthropic & Aesthetic)

Question 21

What was Tennant’s Anthropic Principle?

(and its 3 parts)

Answer 21

He believed that there were different types of natural evidence in the world in favour of a divine creator:

1) the natural world provides us with precisely the correct things in life for it to be sustainable
2) the natural world can be observed and also deduced in a rational manor
3) the process of evolution, through natural selection has led to the development of intelligent life

Question 22

What was Tennant’s Aesthetic Principle?

Answer 22

To have appreciation of beautiful things

• He noticed that the world is ordered and appears to be beautiful at all levels
• Humans don’t need this beauty to survive (e.g music)
• Therefore, God who is a benevolent being created the world as he wanted people to not just survive but enjoy living in the world

Question 23

Tennant Quote- Aesthetic Principle

+ meaning

Answer 23

“God reveals himself in many ways;and some men enter His Temple by the Gate Beautiful”

(the beauty of the natural world led to intelligent human life developing and proves God’s existence)

Question 24

Similarities between the 3 Teleological Arguments

Answer 24

• all aim to prove the existence of God
• all inductive & based on empirical evidence
• all mention the idea of ‘purpose’
• all observe order in the world
• all focus on the need for a more powerful/more intelligent being to explain the world & its complexity

Question 25

3 Agreements with the Teleological Argument

Answer 25

• Oakham’s Razor - simplest explanation tends to be correct and God is the simplest explanation in this case
• Stephen C Meyer- ‘living organisms look designed because they really were’
• Paul Davies - ‘science deals with the facts of the world, religion deals with the interpretation of those facts’

Question 26

3 Disagreements with the Teleological Argument

Answer 26

Bertrand Russell
- the universe’s existence does not demand an explanation

John Stuart Mill
- ‘if the maker of the world can do all that he will, he wills misery’

Charles Darwin
- offered a mechanical explanation for the design of the world and development of life on earth without God

Question 27

Who is David Hume?

+ what books did he write?

Answer 27

A major opponent of the Design Argument
Empiricist

+ Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779)
+ An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)

Question 28

What are David Hume’s first 3 challenges to the Teleological Argument?

Answer 28

1) Humans don’t have sufficient knowledge and experience of creation to conclude that there is only one designer. (Humans would need to experience a range of different worlds)

2) It is not a good analogy to liken the universe to man-made objects as they can’t compare to nature. The universe is more like a vegetable (grows by itself)

3) God succeeds human understanding so we can’t discuss creation in human terms. A machine needs many designers and similarly the world needs many gods.

Question 29

What are David Hume’s last 2 challenges to the Teleological Argument?

Answer 29

4) Even if the world is designed it cannot prove the designer is God. The designer may have left the world and moved on or died. Infinite universe doesn’t mean an infinite creator

5) Stability and order is due to particles coming together through time to form the current universe. Order is inevitable (Epicurean Hypothesis)