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An argument for the existence of
God based on the nature of God’s
being
Saint Anselm (1033-1109CE) relied
purely on reason … if we were to
conceive of something that
nothing greater could be
conceived, that being would be
God
Starts from the position of belief
in God: Credo ut Intelligam …. “I
believe in order that I might
understand”
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An argument for the existence of
God that claims that there must be
an ultimate causal explanation for
why the universe as a totality exists
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274CE)
claimed that there five proofs for
the existence of God …. The two
most important are …..
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Everything in the
Universe is in motion
For everything in the
universe to moving
there must be a
“prime” mover
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Everything in the
universe has a cause
Stretching back
through the chain of
causes to the
beginning leads one
to God
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An argument for the
existence of God which claims
that that the order and
purpose manifest in the
working of things in the
universe require God
William Paley (1743-1805)
compared God to a
watchmaker
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Means “all God”
Alternative to
traditional monotheism
Belief that everything is
God and God is
everything
Baruch Spinoza (16321677) claimed that God
could not be separated
from everything in the
universe
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Rejection of theism …denies
the existence of God
because…
lacks scientific proof
the problem of evil
Adopts a moral system
designed to “realize human
potentialities
As much a statement of
faith as theism
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
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God’s existence cannot
be either proved or
disproved
Thomas Huxley (18251895), Darwin’s Bulldog,
advocated the
suspension of
judgement given the
lack of evidence
Is this possible in
practice?
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In the 17th century the
mathematician Blaise Pascal
formulated his infamous
pragmatic argument for
belief in God in Pensées. The
argument runs as follows:
If you erroneously believe in God, you
lose nothing (assuming that death is
the absolute end), whereas if you
correctly believe in God, you gain
everything (eternal bliss). But if you
correctly disbelieve in God, you gain
nothing (death ends all), whereas if
you erroneously disbelieve in God, you
lose everything (eternal damnation)”.
Is this convincing?
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William James (1842-1910) explored
religion in his book “The Varieties of
Religious Experience”
Recognizes our “passional” nature
…we can never be absolutely sure
about anything but we desire truth
There will inevitably be a nonintellectual, non-rational element to
what we choose to believe
Focuses on the word “option”….
Living vs Dead
Forced of Avoidable
Momentous or Trivial
Religious belief is a living, forced,
momentous option