More Arguments for God
Philosophy 020E/1
September30, 1999
St. Anselm
St. Thomas
Wm. Paley
Anselm’s argument
God is that being than which none greater can be conceived (Premise 1)
God does not exist (Premise 2)
Greater to exist than not (Premise 3)
Can conceive of a greater (From 2 & 3)
Can & cannot conceive . . . (1 & 2 & 3)
Therefore, God must exist (2 guilty)
Standard objection
Begs question or invalid
Anselm begs question
First premise asserts existence
God’s existence not proved
Unless first premise asserts existence
How argument should look
If God exists, then he is that . . .
Assume God does not exist
Then possible to conceive of . . .
But it is not possible to conceive of . . .
So if God exists, then it is not true that
God does not exist
So if God exists, then God exists
Summing up Anselm
Key is first premise
Anselm would say
To understand who God is
Is to know that he exists
This would be real understanding
A kind of mystical vision of God
St. Thomas Aquinas
Also born in Italy
1225-1274
Chief theologian of Catholicism
Aquinas’ five ways
God is the First Mover
God is the First Cause
God is the Necessary Cause
God is the Absolutely Perfect
God is the Designer of the Universe
We will concentrate on
First Cause
Nothing can cause itself
Would have to exist prior to itself
So something must be Self Caused
That is who God is
Argument from design
Nothing happens fortuitously
As a fluke by chance
Things achieve their end by design
To explain this fact
We must assume the existence of
An Intelligent Designer of the universe
That is who God is
Aquinas’ replies to two objections
Problem of evil
God allows evil to exist
In order to create good
God gratuitous hypothesis
Whatever happens happens because
God wills it to happen
Problem of predestination
William Paley’s argument
1743-1805
Teleological argument
Argument from design
Intuition behind the argument
Machu Pichu
Inca fortress city in Peruvian Andes
Writing on the sand at Lake Erie
Kilroy was here
Could not just be
Results of laws of nature
The argument
"Indication of contrivance"
Greatest in nature
So if we need designer to explain
Inca architecture & writing in the sand
Then we certainly need designer to explain
Nature’s marvels