Preview

Ontological Argument For The Existence Of God

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
764 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ontological Argument For The Existence Of God
1. What is Philosophy of religion? is a branch of philosophy that asks questions about religion.
Philosophy of religion is a branch of philosophy that asks questions about religion. It addresses not only the perennial question “Is there a God?” but also the questions If there is, then what is he like? and, most important of all, What does that mean for us? 2. Give a brief history of the “philosophies” of religion.
Ancient Philosophy,Medieval Philosophy, Early Modern Philosophy, Nineteenth-Century Philosophy,Twelth-century philosophy. Philiophers like that of Plato, Aristotle, St. Aquinas, Sartre, Hegel, St. Anselm etc. 3. What is the human position on the principle of causality in relation to the existence of God and the world?
…show more content…
What is an ontological argument? What is the distinguishing feature of St. Anselm’s theism that makes it ontological?
An ontological argument for the existence of God attempts the method of a priori proof, which uses intuition and reason alone. 5. What is a cosmological argument? Explain St. Aquinas’ argument from design.
The cosmological argument is an argument for the existence of a First Cause (or instead, an Uncaused cause) to the universe, and by extension is often used as an argument for the existence of an "unconditioned" or "supreme" being, usually then identified as God. It is traditionally known as an argument from universal causation, an argument from first cause, the causal argument or theargument from existence. Whichever term is employed, there are three basic variants of the argument, each with subtle yet important distinctions: the arguments from causation, in esse and in fieri, and the argument from contingency. 6. What differentiates Paley’s theism from St. Aquinas’?
Paley describes the whole universe as a machine, a machine that was designed and created by an intelligent being. While Aquinas’ argument ask does an all powerful God exists. 7. Use your own example to explain the objectivity of
…show more content…
It depends on what we believe. 9. What is a “religious experience”?
Religious experience is certaion point in our life that we have an epiphany about our religious belief, may it be good or bad, the result is always the same, It may strengthen our belief in God or it may change our beliefs about God. 10. Explain the religious experience in the film Doubt.
The religious experience in the film doubt is 11. Contrast between the experiences the experience of the Holy for Otto and for Smith. 12. What does the idea of “hierophant” have to do with the experience of the sacred and the profane?
Hierophany is the act of the manifestation of the sacred. 13. What is the “ultimate concern”? How did Tillich defend that religion is such?
Tillich defines faith, and indirectly religion, as "ultimate concern." Religion is direction or movement toward the ultimate or the unconditional And God rightly defined might be called the Unconditional. God, in the true sense, is indefinable. 14. What is atheism? Is Marxism atheistic? How can it be a philosophy of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    People use the Cosmological argument to claim that this uncaused cause has to be God and there is no other explanation that could change that the initial cause of the universe is God. According to William L. Rowe in “The Cosmological Argument”, the cosmological argument has several key elements that make the argument into one that is to be taken into…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury and a monk was the creator of the Ontological Argument. The main aspect behind the argument was that the existence of God was true, in simple words, God exists. The argument is deductive as it depends only on knowledge and logic, not on experience as experiencing God is impossible physically. It is also a priori for similar reasons; the argument relies on logic alone.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The cosmological argument argues the existence of God since there had to be a creator of all things in nature that depend on something else for their existence. McCloskey’s idea is that the existence of the universe is not enough to confirm the existence of God. An argument that can be used against this statement is the non-temporal form of the cosmological argument. In the book “Philosophy of Religion” by Evans and Manis, the non-temporal form has three components. First there is some contingent beings exist (Evans and Manis, 69). The second component is that if any contingent being exist then a significant being must exist (69). Third, there must be the existence of a significant being (69). Furthermore, the cause of the universe is necessary because is important because without that development then there would be not existence of the contingent beings. Another claim by McCloskey is that the cosmological argument “does not entitle us to postulate an all-powerful, all-perfect, uncaused cause”; this statement is not necessarily true. Since the world around McCloskey does exist there must be an ultimate creator who created the universe and this creator is…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The concept that there cannot be nothing and so must be something is due to the evidence we as human beings have experienced throughout our lives; every effect ever made has had a cause. Aquinas used the laws of Motion and Design to demonstrate how every action must have a correlating reaction, and related this to his argument for God being the first cause – the uncaused causer. This is laid out in the Cosmological Argument, taken directly from the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry;…

    • 1355 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Cosmological Argument is a posteriori argument (knowledge gained after experience) which attempts to prove that there is a rational basis for the belief in God. This argument is synthetic as it uses senses and is distinctive as it uses evidence of the universe to prove that God exists. The argument attempts to prove that God exists by evaluating the scale and nature of the cosmos. In order for this argument to succeed it has to be inductive and produce overwhelming evidence to show Gods existence. Arguments, like this one, can be interpreted in various ways so there will be different conclusions about God, in other words religious ambiguity. Furthermore most supporters of the Cosmological Argument argue that the universe could only have come into existence if it were caused by an uncaused cause. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican friar, adapted the argument. He stated that everything must have a cause, nothing is its own cause, and a chain of causes cannot be infinite and that there must be a first cause. This first cause must be an infinite, necessary being.…

    • 1280 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The cosmological argument for the existence of God. .... The first thing to note about the cosmological argument is that it is A Posteriori. ....…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The most common and influential argument’s for the existence of God are design arguments. In the last fifty years design arguments have received the most attention philosophically. Design arguments are both empirical and inductive arguments. Design arguments identify properties of objects in nature and argue that the only way that they could have occurred or the best explanation for them is that there is some intelligent/higher being that created or conceived the object. William Paley was a Christian apologist in the eighteenth century who was known for his popular version of the teleological argument (“watchmaker analogy”). Paley stressed the idea that the world’s complexity and design is not based off luck or chance, but rather designed by…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Saint Anselm, the author of the book The Proslogian came up with what is believed to be the first formulation of the ontological argument. The writings of the ontological argument in The Proslogian were Anselm’s reflections of the passage Psalm 14:1 “Fools say in their hearts ’There is no god’” and directs his argument at the ‘fools’ From this passage. Ontology means the study of being so therefore Anselm’s argument is formulated to prove the existence of god through the study of being. Anselm formulates 2 ontological arguments for the existence of god.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the most fascinating arguments for the existence of an all-perfect God is the ontological argument. While there are several different versions of the argument, all purport to show that it is self-contradictory to deny that there exists a greatest possible being. Thus, on this general line of argument, it is a necessary truth that such a being exists; and this being is the God of traditional Western theism. This article explains and evaluates classic and contemporary versions of the ontological argument.…

    • 172 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are 3 main arguments that each seek to prove the existence of God; the Ontological, Cosmological, and Teleological Arguments. Each is different in its approach, but all arrive at the same conclusion. Ontological Argument argues God’s existence from the assumption of the existence a “Greatest Thing that can ever be conceived.” From there, it argues that in order for something to be “The Greatest Thing ever” it must exist physically (that is outside of the mind). The Cosmological Argument argues that since everything in the universe is contingent (or is dependent on other things for its existence), there must be a first cause that set the universe in motion.…

    • 1954 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Anselm wanted to prove the existence of God, so he proposed the ontological argument. The ontological argument is deductive, and uses a priori reasoning. This means that it starts with a statement that is known to be true solely through definition (God is the greatest conceivable being) and develops the implications of this statement in order to reach a reasonable conclusion. The deductive reasoning allows him to simply showing what the definition means.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Classical Theistic Conception of God states that there is a unique intelligent being that created the universe and that being is wholly perfect, omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-benevolent. In connection with the question of whether belief in a being that satisfies this definition is ever grounded in evidence and argument there are three arguments to consider. These three arguments are the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, and the teleological argument. Each provides separate ideas in proving the existence of a being that satisfies the Classical Theistic Conception of God.…

    • 751 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The ontological argument was first made famous in the 11th century by St Anslem from Canterbury and was later taken further by French philosopher Rene Descartes. The debate is an attempt to confirm God’s existence as a priori argument. It does not rely on observations of the world around us it simply uses logic and the idea that it is illogical to say that God does not exist as its main factor.…

    • 274 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cosmological Argument

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This cause, proponents of Cosmological argument claim, is God. This argument rests on the fact that all beings or events have some cause. The only exception to this rule is God, who must have existed for an infinite amount of time or been created from nothing. The main criticism of this argument is that it requires that every being has a cause, but it follows that God cannot have a cause. It is very hard to imagine a being that has no cause because it is in human nature to believe there is a cause for everything…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Is there a God? This is a question that crosses the minds of everyone in the world, at least once. While this question is highly controversial, the world must come to the realization that there is not one definite answer. This may seem confusing to most people, and the concept will probably never be fully grasped. But there are five particular philosophers who have formed strong opinions and arguments to address the question at hand and seem to have it all figured out. Philosophy and religion do indeed have an unsettled relationship, but this relationship only challenges minds, inspires people to think, and allows others to obtain a deeper and more detailed perspective.…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays