work of scholars- russel and coppleston Flashcards
who is fred coppleston
fred coppleston was a Jesuit priest and a convert to Catholicism. he was also a repeated academic and author of A history of Philosophy. as a priest, he was a theist and within this debate was arguing for the existence of god.
who is Bertrand russel
Bertrand russel was a highly respected philosopher, author of ‘why am I not a christina’. he was an agnostic, with atheistic leaning meaning tat within his debate he argued against the existence of god.
what did russel and compleston take part in
they took part in the 1948 BBC radio debate about belief in god entiled ‘A debate on the belief in god’. the debate mainly centred on the issues of contingency and religious experience
what is contingency
this is a cosmological argument for the existence of god. all humans are contingent because why are dependent on their parents causing their existence. the idea is that a contingent being must be preceded by a necessary being, who is god.
thereof in this way the argument for the existence of God is put forward by the argument from contingency; and rhis is the form of contingency argument that is put forward in the debate to be discussed.
