Transcript The Cosmological Argument - Fort Thomas Independent Schools

Faith & Reason
Arguments for God’s Existence
The Two Ways of ‘Knowing’ God
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Pure Reason: Many philosophers have
created proofs using logic to prove God’s
existence.
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Cosmological Argument
 Argument from Design
 Ontological Argument
 Moral Argument
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Faith: Some philosophers believe a mystical
experience or dedication of Faith is required
to truly know God.
Does it Matter Why It Is True?
Read pg. 88 top-grey box
1). Answer the question that concludes the
passage.
2). Read the 2nd grey-box from Saint Thomas
Aquinas.
3). Attempt to explain what he is saying in a
logical proof (step-by-step argument)
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The Cosmological Argument
1). Nothing may cause itself
2). There cannot be an infinite chain of causes
3). Therefore, there must be a first cause
4). God must be the first cause (Prime Mover)
1). Everything that begins has a cause
2). The Universe has a beginning
3). Therefore the universe has a cause
4). God is the cause for the Universe
The Argument from Design
Also called the Teleological argument
 British philosopher William Paley
famously defended this claim with the
Analogy of finding a watch in a field…
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[S]uppose I found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the
watch happened to be in that place, I should hardly think … that, for anything
I knew, the watch might have always been there. Yet why should not this
answer serve for the watch as well as for [a] stone [that happened to be lying
on the ground]?… For this reason, and for no other; namely, that, if the
different parts had been differently shaped from what they are, if a different
size from what they are, or placed after any other manner, or in any order
than that in which they are placed, either no motion at all would have been
carried on in the machine, or none which would have answered the use that
is now served by it. –Paley, 1867
Teleological Argument continued
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See http://www.iep.utm.edu/design/
Read the following reasons for believing the Teleological
Argument; Explain one argument that you find weak (and
why) & Explain one argument that you find persuasive
(and why).
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Scriptural Roots and Aquinas’s Fifth Way
The Argument from Simple Analogy
Paley’s Watchmaker Argument Guided Evolution
Contemporary Versions of the Design Argument
The Argument from Irreducible Biochemical Complexity
The Argument from Biological Information
The Fine-Tuning Arguments
The Argument from Suspicious Improbability
The Confirmatory Argument
Teleological Argument continued
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The design of the universe is so
impressive and well organized that a
designer must have made it.
Many variations and arguments are
created within the Teleological argument.
How does Darwin’s theory fit in?
Is this an inductive or deductive argument?
The Ontological Argument
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Ontology refers to: ‘having to do with
the nature of existence.”
The argument is based upon the
notion that for something to be
perfect, it must exist.
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I. One can conceive of a being which has
every perfection (i.e., is most perfect).
Such a being is called God.
II. Existence is a component of Perfection.
Therefore, for God to be most perfect, he
must exist.
Moral Argument
God’s Existence
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Kant argued that the very existence of
normative laws and morals is itself evidence
for God’s Existence.
The claim is made the following way:
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I. Moral norms have authority
 II. If they have authority, their must be a reliable motive
for human beings to be moral
 III. No motive could exist without a Divine source
 IV. Therefore a God exists that provides such morals
Irrational Arguments
for God’s Existence
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Pascal’s Wager: Blaise Pascal imagine belief as one
imagines placing a bet:
-God either exists or does not. Represented by: ∞ or 0
-One Either believe in God or do not. Represented by: B or D
B + ∞ = Eternal Reward
D + ∞ = Eternal Damnation
B + 0 = Missed out on a few pleasures (edifying faith)
D + 0 = Ok and you had good times
Pascal argued that the reward for Belief is so great and the
punishment so terrible, one ought to believe just in case God
did exist. See page 94 for more detail.
Soren Kierkegaard’s Leap of Faith
And Mysticism
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Kierkegaard argued there was no definitive proof that God
existed. Belief, therefore, was a choice based upon Faith.
Faith is a personal choice, it cannot be shared with others
as evidence for God’s existence.
 Kierkegaard believed it was precisely because one does
not know if God exists that faith is required. If one could
know God existed, one risks nothing for eternal happiness.
 Thus, one must take a Leap of Faith to ‘know’ God.
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Another claim is that one can know God through a Mystical
experience (a revelation or other-worldly experience). In that
moment, one’s soul is directly contact by God.
 Why is a Mystical Experience considered an irrational argument?