Arguments for Existance of God
I have chosen the Christian religion to examine in this particular piece of coursework. Over the centuries philosophers and theologians have put forward a number of different arguments to argue the existence of God. The particular arguments I will be looking at are the Teleological Argument and the Cosmological Argument. ====================================================================
William Paley put the Teleological argument forward. This argument is also known as the argument of Design and Purpose. He believed that there was natural evidence in the world which supported the idea of a divine designer whose aim was to produce such a supreme life form.
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Then if you next look at the whole world, how could something so big and so extremely complicated just happen? This is just one argument that Christians might use to show there is a God. However, an atheist (someone who doesn't believe in God) may look at the Teleological argument with a reasonable response. The world has been around for millions and millions of years, therefore it's possible that humans have adapted to the conditions in which we live in nowadays. An argument always has two sides, and in this case, the side disagreeing with the Teleological argument is that perhaps humans came into existence. ======================================================================
The other argument I will be looking at is called the Cosmological Argument. The Cosmological Argument explains in detail on how event will cause another event or effect. By this meaning that if one hundred dominoes are all lined up and they fell in line, domino number 100 would be the last to fall and would fall because domino number 99 made it, and domino number 98 made domino number 99 fall and so on. However, none of the dominoes would fall what so ever if domino number 1 hadn't been knocked down by someone or something. This example is simplifying how that everything must have an event and effect in history to this very day. This argument was by
1. The Cosmological Argument for the existence of God is based on the principle of cause and effect. What this basically means is that the universe was the effect of a cause, which was God. One of the oldest and most well known advocates of the Cosmological Argument was Thomas Aquinas who outlines his argument for the existence of God in his article entitled The Five Ways. The first way in his argument is deals with motion. Aquinas says that in order for something to be in motion something had to move it because it is impossible for something to move without the presence of some sort of outside force upon it. Therefore the world around us, nature, and our very existence could not have been put into motion without the influence of the
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The famous William Paley has a different ontological argument within his text Natural Theology. The title of the reading gives insight to the theory, which focuses on something called natural design. The writing is based on an intricate and extensive analogy between the man made and the natural. For instance, Paley describes a man made watch in great detail. This intense detail sets the notion that each piece must have been put in place by someone, whom we can infer is a watchmaker. He then compares this to the intricacy of nature, which must have been made by a supreme diety. Such complexity could not have come about by chance. Only the most
During the 1800th century, William Paley, an English philosopher of religion and ethics, wrote the essay The Argument from Design. In The Argument from Design, Paley tries to prove the existence of a supreme being through the development of a special kind of argument known as the teleological argument. The teleological argument is argument by analogy, an argument based on the similarities between two different subjects. This essay purposefully attempts to break down Paley’s argument and does so in the following manner: firstly, Paley’s basis for the teleological argument is introduced; secondly, Paley’s argument is derived and analyzed; thirdly, the connection between Paley’s argument and the existence of a supreme being is made; and
William Paley's argument for the existence of God is an important aspect of the Design argument, which argues that the universe is being directed towards an end purpose due to the a posteriori (subject to experience) evidence of an intelligent designer, who is God. This is because it is perhaps arguably the most famous version, and the theory which modern-day theories for the Design argument are built upon.
The third argument for God’s existence is the ontological argument. This argument is unlike the cosmological and teleological arguments in that it does not argue from evidence in the natural world. Thus, it is not a “cause and effect” argument.
The philosophical arguments presented in this document are not of religious text, nor scientific observation or established fact. Rather the premise of this God proof is bring together and share the various theories on which other God proofs have established foundations. I have heard it quoted that “Philosophy goes where hard science can 't, or won 't. Philosophers have a license to.” Therefore, with this in mind, I attest that it is more than problematic to construct an argument authenticating the unequivocal proof of the existence God. If nothing else this may be food for thought.
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I believe that that the Cosmological argument gives good reason to believe in the existence of God. The Cosmological argument focuses on everything having a cause except one thing that started it all, this starter is known as the “Prime Mover”. The Prime Mover is the one that starts everything without anything having a previous effect on it. With that people have assumed that the logical answer to who the prime mover is, is God. This to me seems the most logical of arguments because although there is the idea of eternity and an eternal cycle there has to be a starting point. I do not believe the argument is successful.
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omniscient being is all-knowing, God knows how to put an end to evil, but doesn’t.
The existence of God has been questioned since the beginning of time. Religions thrived on answering the unanswerable questions of the universe and people were able to find solace in the answers. As science has expanded and been able to answer these questions with natural, as opposed to supernatural answers, many people stopped looking to God and religion for the causes of things and started looking towards science. God was dead, according to many scientists and people of all professions. Many philosophers, however, have different conclusions.