`` Being Wrong : Adventures Of The Margin Of Error, By Kathryn Schulz

The question of God’s existence has been pondered by humans for centuries. There are an infinite number of different opinions, arguments, and ideas favoring for or against the idea of God. Personally, I strongly believe in God not only due to my religious affiliation, but also because of my own opinions, ideas, and experience. To begin with, the complexity of Earth and the life that has formed upon it cannot be based just on luck or chance. I believe that ultimately God, as a power, rather than a mystical being is the one created and controls the universe. Although the God and his authority are not entirely comprehensible by humans, it’s our faith as worshiper that eventually lead us to a greater understanding.

Many people wonder about the existence of God and if he truly exists. We have to realize that it is obvious that he exists because of his many creations. Sometimes we think that the world has so much evil so how is God here. Multiple philosophers have made proofs and arguments abut how God really does exist. Philosophers have made arguments that he exists for example Shaun Doyle says that God reveals himself to people in many ways such as that the spirit himself testifies to Christians spirits that we are God’s children, William Lane Craig has found the differences his existence has made, and Pascal Wager’s is an argument that says that believing in God is not on an appeal that he exists, but based on an appeal to self-interest.

The article “To Err Is Wrong” by Roger Von Oech, “In Praise of the F Word” by Mary Shelly, and “Zero” by Paul Logan are inspirational to many people because it shows them that failure is not a roadblock and you can learn from your mistakes. Failure plays a significant role as a motivational tool, direction, and strength to help students to be successful in the class and in the future. The word failure has been shown in several cases to cause motivation. One of the cases is in the article “ The Praise Of The Word” when Mary Sherry told her son that his teacher was going to “flunk” him (Sherry98) .

Sometimes, when people hold beliefs, they rarely and deliberately search for counterevidence that disproves their beliefs. This leads to people having confirmation-bias. Kathryn Schulz describes confirmation bias in her book Being Wrong as "the tendency to give more weight to evidence that confirms our beliefs than to evidence that challenges them" (Schulz 124). In my experience, people sometimes completely dismiss evidence that counters their beliefs, no matter what the source of the information is. As an example, one of the beliefs that I had was that the drinking age should be lowered by a few years to give young adults the chance to find out how alcohol affects them, so that they can make more responsible choices. What I had not considered,

Growing up I was always told religion was false and that I was above my friends who were Christians because I believed in science. My mom was raised by Catholics, but when she graduated High School, she vowed to never be religious again. My father enjoyed feeling more elite over the “religious plebeians” that worked for him. I remember having an argument with Victoria Henderson in 3rd grade because I believed in The Big Bang and she was a creationist. Everyone took Victoria’s side, and I learned it was better to just not talk about religion. In high school, I began reaching out of my comfort zone, and also questioning what my parents had ingrained on me as a person. My first religious experience was dating a boy named Luis who was Catholic, as my mother was raised. He was only allowed to date Catholic girls, so I

The central message of Being Wrong, by Kathryn Schulz, is that although nobody likes being wrong, it is a central part of our existence and we should learn how to accept it and make the most of it. While I do agree with Schulz that being wrong is a necessary function to learn, recognizing this fact and acting with the idea in mind that failure is acceptable will deeply hamper your chances of succeeding. Nowadays, it seems to be fashionable to talk about how acceptable failure is. We are told that life is one big experiment, Carpe Diem, do what makes you happy. This is a recipe for certain failure. It is imperative to view failure as unacceptable, and continue striving for perfection; if you are satisfied with failure, you will never succeed.

The question of whether God exists pervades the study of philosophy, with both sides providing substantial arguments that appear believable upon first reading them. However, delving below the surface of such arguments shows holes in the reasoning of these philosophers. Though I would like to believe in the existence of God, after seeing the arguments for God's existence thoroughly discredited, I am not entirely sure what to believe.

The question of God’s existence has been an ongoing debate for centuries, however the answer cannot be determined for sure. Although there is more logical evidence that disproves the existence of God. Many arguments and theories have arisen from famous philosophers and scientists that take a position on the debate. People assume that the existence of evil and pain disproves the existence of God but the counterargument for this is that God is trying to challenge us. The teleological argument that states that there must be someone responsible for creating the universe since the world is so intricate and orderly, however this is derived from deductive reasoning and logic. Then there is the existence of the Big Bang theory where in which something

Observing the order and complexity found in nature (and the nature of the universe), combined with personal experience, reason leads to a belief in God.

Now that I think about it there is another thing that I can be sure of that is no one can be certain that there is a God or higher power that has created us. Many people have a belief in God and support the theory very passionately. The problem with that belief is that there is no evidence that there is a God. The other side to that argument would be how can I prove that he doesn't exist. How can one explain our existence or even how the world or the universe began to existence. Did the universe just start one day or did something have to create it all. If there was a God I think that the world could be as I perceive it because God should be good and God would not allow me to live a life that is not true.

It is a very relevant and important question if you consider the fact that it so closely relates to our curriculum in PH-231-C, The Introduction to the Philosophy of Knowledge. Over the course of the semester, we learned and discussed about many people and their corresponding beliefs; some of which included the concept of God and his possible existence. Prior to this semester, I think I would have considered myself to fall under one of Graham Hess’ categories, one that I do not consider myself to be in now. This course and the curriculum managed to change my outlook;

Does God exist? According to Anselm of Canterbury of course God exists, and he is able to explain how that is to be. Anselm uses the ontological argument to essentially state that the only way for a perfect creator, God, to be even greater would to exist in reality as opposed to thought, and thus, God exists. This logic is argued against by many philosophers throughout time, most notably by a fellow Benedictine monk, Gaunilo.

In Schulz book, Margin of Error, the section of Evidence, I became very interested in the first paragraph about the Salem witch trials. The witch trials caught my attention because I didn’t quit understand how it had anything to do with evidence. I realized that back then their way of demonstrating evidence was much more mediocre compared to how we demonstrate evidence today. For example, then someone was able to use a dream they might have had the night before as evidence for a case where as today if someone were to do that we would assume they had a medical illness.

However, to the point of God actually existing I am skeptical. Many people turn to the Bible to bring proof to the table of any doubters like myself. While the bible brings forth some interesting facts that we all would like to believe, it does not necessarily make them true. The bible is not evidence itself because it cannot be confirmed as it is thousands of years old. Who knows, it could have been mistaken to be a bible when it was really just a compilation of short stories over a long period of time. Another claim that tries to prove god is real, is Decartes 3rd Meditation which states; If we have a clear and distinct idea of god, than a cause must be as great as its effect this idea cannot come from an imperfect thing like myself. Therefore, God must exist.(Pojman128) This would be true if the first two points could not be challenged. I can simply deny ever having the idea of god, and no evidence is provided for the second idea it is just an assertion that we, apparently an imperfect thing can ever think of something that we are not, which is simply not true. Perfection is based on the eye of the beholder, we all have different ideas of perfection, whether it is great being of pureness, greatness or whatever the case may be. I also choose bring about Bertrand Russell’s argument that since God is all-loving, all-knowing, and

The existence of God is a question that has troubled and plagued mankind since it began to consider logic. Is there a God? How can we be sure that God exists? Can you prove to me that He is real? Does His existence, or lack thereof, make a significant difference? These loaded questions strike at the heart of human existence. But the real question is, can we answer any of them? These questions are answered in the arguments of St. Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal and St. Anselm of Canterbury. For thousands of years, theologians, philosophers and scientists have been trying to prove or disprove God’s existence. Many, including the three mentioned above, have strong proofs and theories that attempt to confirm God’s existence. Although, without any scientific evidence, how can they be entirely sure? “Philosophical proofs can be good proofs, but they do not have to be scientific proofs,” (Kreeft). Gravity similar to God’s existence ; it cannot be seen nor explained, yet it still exists. With faith, reason, understanding and even some math, God’s existence can be verified rationally.