There is an ordinary drive to be curious and skeptical about almost everything. The very dubious minds will always find themselves asking why. One of the greatest unknown wonders reputes the existence of the almighty being, God. There have been millions of reports by people claiming they have had religious experiences with God. The question is whether this reckons as sufficient evidence to interactions with God, and whether it should be justifiably accepted as knowledge. Philosopher, William P. Alston, recorded his findings and beliefs regarding this matter in his publication, Perceiving God, in 1991. Conversely, philosopher, William L. Rowe, refuted Alston’s findings in his book, Philosophy of Religion: An Introduction, in 2007. Rowe …show more content…
It is bigoted to assume that all experiences must be perceived through the obvious senses. Accordingly, God is a spiritual being and therefore must be explored through a spiritual light. A mystical experience is form of perception. This raises the question of what example perception is.
Alston elucidates that perception is termed by presentation, appearance and givenness. However, perception is all-together “independent of conceptualization, belief, or judgment” (Alston, 1991, p. 187). When perceiving, one can either see or think. Through the action of seeing one is strictly perceiving, however when thinking, one is applying concepts, beliefs or judgments to sway the end perception. A perception must be a constant, it must appear one way. With such beliefs, a skeptical thinker will argue that one’s conceptualization, belief or judgment will still sway how something is perceived. Alston rebuts by illuminating the point that although humans have their own conceptual beliefs and judgments altering how something is understood, it does not interfere with the perception of what is. In order to form a perception of, for example X, there are conditions necessary for it’s appearance. X must exist, X must have a significant casual contribution to a current experience, and the perception of X results in beliefs about X (Alston, 1991, p. 188).
Alston moves on to state that he will argue that mystical experiences are right
1. Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the argument for the existence of God based on religious experience. (18) 2. ‘The argument merely indicates the probability of God and this is of little value to a religious believer.’ Discuss. (12)
in this world, and they are effects derived from a cause. The effects in turn
The Ontological Argument for the Existence of God The ontological argument is an a priori argument. The arguments attempt to prove God's existence from the meaning of the word God. The ontological argument was introduced by Anselm of Canterbury in his book Proslogion. Anselm's classical argument was based on two principals and the two most involved in this is St Anselm of Canterbury as previously mentioned and Rene Descartes.
Truth, what is truth? This question itself has a thousand answers, no person can ever be sure of what truth is rather, truth can be justified, it can checked for reliability with strong evidences and logic. If the evidence proves to be accurate then it can be established that a certain answer is the truth. However, have we ever tried to think about what intrigues us to seek the truth? To think about a question and set foot firmly on the path of knowledge. Definitely it has! That was the very cause itself which is why this world has witnessed some of the greatest philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and Socrates etc. along with the school of thought. The ability to think and reason is one of the greatest ability humans have, it is what
Describe your personal experience of God and the understanding of God you derive from biblical, theological and historical sources.
ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to defend a broad concept of visual perception, according to which it is a sufficient condition for visual perception that subjects receive visual information in a way which enables them to give reliably correct answers about the objects presented to them. According to this view, blindsight, non-epistemic seeing, and conscious visual experience count as proper types of visual perception. This leads to two consequences concerning the role of the phenomenal qualities of visual experiences. First, phenomenal qualities are not necessary in order to see something, because in the case of blindsight, subjects can see objects without experiences phenomenal
This semester in Philosophy of Religion has continued my journey to learn hard truths through class discussions but particularly through the required texts. All of our diverse texts have forced me to calm down my J of the Myers Briggs and helped me to understand the beauty and importance of openness toward God. Mircea Eliade 's The Sacred and The Profane, Martin Buber 's I and Thou, and Søren Kierkegaard 's Practice in Christianity have all forced an encounter with the myriad of ways in which humans experience God. Through this encounter, each author has provided ideas about a new outlet to experience God: Eliade taught us how to experience God in all parts of nature; Buber gave
• Impersonal – an Impersonal view of God’s perception is that God is some form of spirit or force, not particularly there for you personally
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.
The existence of God has been in question for as long as mankind has existed and thought logically. Many questions have plagued the human mind in regards to God, and there have been many arguments drawn with the hopes of proving the existence of a supreme being whom we know as God. The “God” question has been presented to every individual at some point in their lives. It is a topic that will bring forth never-ending questions and an equal amount of attempted answers. Many philosophers have formulated different rationales when examining the topic of God, some of which include how the word itself should be defined, what his role is in human existence, whether or not he loves us, and ultimately, if he even exists at all. Mankind cannot
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.
perception and reality - perception being the evident meaning of each symbol and reality, being
Vast, all-knowing, creator, so much more. How do you define your God? The Father is so much more than human kind can grasp, therefor, being nearly impossible to fully define without using opinion and imagination. The knowledge of God is the largest piece of shared information among humans throughout time and space. I will explore my personal thoughts of God, humanity and Jesus, as well as reflect on Christian worldview.
The mystery of God's existence has been a crucial element of many religious studies and traditions. Who is God? What is God? Where is God? To effectively discuss the existence of God, it is necessary to illustrate the notion of faith. People of faith believe that God does exist, and that relationship with God gives meaning to their lives. Others who are skeptical point to God as an obsolete hope of an ignorant human race. People today live in a world distinguished by sophisticated technology in which modern science has been a strong agent in questioning the existence of God.
omniscient being is all-knowing, God knows how to put an end to evil, but doesn’t.