Philosophy of Religion - Does God Exist PDF

Preview

Summary

Prof: Karl Laderoute...

Description

PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION: DOES GOD EXIST? -

-

The philosophy of religion is concerned with the truth of religious claims, evaluated by the independent use of reason. It is concerned with questions such as:  Does God exist?  What does “God” mean?  Can God be all powerful?  Is the existence of God compatible with the existence of evil?  If God know everything, how can humans be said to have free will? *For this unit, believe Clifford is right*

TEXTUAL AUTHORITY -

Importantly, philosophers do not rely on religious texts as evidence for the existence of a being Such texts are open to interpretation, and are thus indeterminate Even if the meaning of such texts were completely clear, to rely on such texts would likely be a fallacious appeal to authority or to beg the question

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY GOD? -

-

The being we are interested in is the Philosopher’s God. The Philosopher’s God is minimally:  Omnipotent (all powerful)  Omnibenevolent (all good)  Responsible for the creation of the universe  “God” may also be all knowing (omniscient), eternal immaterial, and the creator of the universe and all things in it “God exists”. True or False?

3 RATIONAL ARGUMENTS FOR GOD: 1) Ontological 2) Teleological 3) Cosmological

THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT – WILLIAM LANE CRAIG Two views on the origins of the universe: 1) The ancient Greeks believed that the universe always existed, but the gods (or God) introduced order into it 2) The Jewish view was that God created the universe, i.e. the universe had a beginning in time

-

“Creation” in a physical context means creation ex nihilo (i.e. creating something from nothing, not merely transforming or altering what already exists

THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT 1) Whatever begins to exist has a cause of its beginning (Or 1’: If the universe began to exist, then the universe has a cause of its beginning) = Premise 2) The universe began to exist = Premise 3) Therefore, the universe has a cause of its beginning = Conclusion

THREE REASONS FOR PREMISE 1 1) “Something cannot come from nothing” 2) “If something can come into being from nothing, then it becomes inexplicable why just anything or everything doesn’t come into being from nothing” 3) “Common experience and scientific evidence confirm the truth of premise 1’.”

TWO ARGUMENTS FOR PREMISE 2 1) If an actual infinite cannot exist, then the universe began to exist. An actual infinite cannot exist. Therefore, the universe began to exist 2) “No series which is formed by adding one member after another can be actually infinite. Since the series of past events has been formed by adding one event after another, it can’t be actually infinite”

TWO SCIENTIFIC CONFIRMATIONS 1) The Big Bang model of the universe posits a starting event (The Big Bang). Observations of light’s red-shift support that theory, and we currently have no evidence to falsify that theory

2) The second law of thermodynamics holds that “unless energy is being fed into a system, that system will become increasingly disorderly.” If the universe existed forever, then it would be in a state of equilibrium. The universe is not in a state of equilibrium. Therefore, the universe has not existed forever

CONCLUSIONS -

Craig concludes that the universe had a cause of its beginning on the basis of the argument This cause is an uncaused first cause that created space and time. The being must be timeless, immaterial, and “unimaginably powerful” This creator must be a person being: only a (personal) being with the power of choice can explain why the universe began when it did rather than exist forever...