Philosophy of Religion

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Philosophy of Religion

• Foundation

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Plato and Aristotle

• Analogy of the Cave
• Concept of the Forms, especially the Form of the
  Good
• Concept of Body/Soul distinction
• Ideas about Cause and Purpose in relation to God
• Concept of Body/Soul distinction
• Aristotle on the Forms

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(No Transcript)
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The Nature of God

• i.e. what is God like?
• Examining the attributes of the JC concept of God
• Need to define the kind of being were talking
  about in order to go on to enquire whether any
  such being exists

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We have established so far

• Creator
• Sustainer
• Personal
• Transcendent
• Self-existent
• Eternal
• Incorporeal

• Omnipotent
• Omniscient
• Omnipresent
• All loving
• Perfectly good

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For the exam you need to know

• The attributes
• In more detail
• The concept of God as Creator. Genesis 1-3.
• The goodness of God. Exodus 20
• Gods activity in the world and the concept of
  miracle. Joshua 101-15

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Assessment

• K and U
• Define
• Describe
• Examine
• Explain
• Identify
• Outline
• Select

• E
• Detailed critical assessment

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The Existence of God

• Theism the belief in a personal diety, creator
  of everything that exists and who is distinct
  from that creation
• A priori prior to experience, an argument
  starting from a definition of God, not
  experience. The argument is that by
  understanding the definition, God is proved to
  exist.
• A posteriori from experience, an argument based
  on sensory experience and experiential evidence

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• There are five classical theistic proofs for the
  existence of God
• Four of the theistic proofs attempt to
  demonstrate the existence of God from some
  observation or experience of the universe- a
  posterior argument
• These are as follows

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The Cosmological Argument

• An argument which attempts to infer the existence
  of God from the existence of the cosmos or the
  phenomenon within it.
• It is an argument based on cause and effect.
• Thomas Aquinas 1273
• Frederick Copleston 1907-94
• Objections-
• David Hume 1711-76
• Bertrand Russell 1872-1970

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The Teleological Argument

• An argument which infers a designer from the
  occurrence of order and regularity in the world.
  This evidence points to a designer
• Aquinas Five Ways 1273
• William Paley 1743-1805
• The Anthropic Principle- F.R. Tennant 1930
• Challenges-
• Hume 1779
• John Stuart Mill 1806-73
• Darwin 1809-82

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The Moral Argument

• An argument infers God as the explanation for
  moral consciousness, or the guarantor for the
  highest good
• God must exist to ensure that all can achieve
  that which they are morally required to pursue.
  It is illogical to be required to seek an
  impossible end. Gods existence is morally
  necessary.

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• Aquinas Fourth Way
• Kants Moral Argument 1785, 1788, 1797
• Other versions-
• Cardinal Newman 1870
• Robert Adams 1987
• Challenges-
• Sigmund Freud 1856-1939
• Richard Swinburne 1979
• Ayer and Nietzsche

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The Religious Experience Argument

• An argument which sees God as the best
  explanation for experiences that people claim are
  beyond the normal
• Rudolph Otto 1936
• William James 1902
• Swinburne 1979
• Challenges-
• Freud 1927
• Karl Marx 1844

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The Ontological Argument

• This fifth argument is in contrast to the others.
  It is a priori. This argument is not verified
  by experience. It concludes that Gods
  definition entails his existence, i.e. for God to
  be God, he must exist.
• Ontological literally means concerned with being

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St. Anselm 1033-1109

• Proslogion chapters 2-3
• Anselms argument is a reductio ad absurdum
  argument, an argument that makes a proof by
  showing that the opposite cannot possibly be
  true.
• A priori argument starting from a definition of
  God, not experience
• The argument is that by understanding the
  definition God is proved to exist

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First Form

• Anselm says God is that than which nothing
  greater can be conceived.
• Something that exists in reality is greater than
  something that exists only in the mind
• In other words, if it is the greatest, then it
  must be something more than merely existing in
  peoples thoughts. We can think of something
  greater than a mere idea.

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• If God is the greatest, he must really exist
  separately from peoples thoughts. He must exist
  actually, in reality.

Confused?
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• As a formal deductive argument, it goes like
  this
• God is the greatest possible being (nothing
  greater can be conceived)
• If God exists in the mind alone (only as an idea)
  then a greater being could be imagined to exist
  both in the mind and in reality
• This being would then be greater than God
• Thus, God cannot exist only as an idea in the
  mind. Therefore God exists both in the mind (as
  an idea) and in reality.

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In summary

• It is self-contradictory to be able to conceive
  of something that which nothing greater can be
  thought and yet to deny that that something
  exists.

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Second Form

• So far Anselm has suggested a proof for Gods
  existence. However, for God to be God there must
  be more to him than that he simply exists
  (after all, that would make God fundamentally
  similar to ourselves).
• In the next stage of Anselms argument therefore,
  he attempts to demonstrate that Gods existence
  is necessary

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What does he mean by necessary?

• It is impossible to conceive of God as not
  existing.
• He has necessary existence.
• He could not not be.
• This state is greater than a being who comes and
  goes out of existence.

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As a deductive argument it is

• God is the greatest possible being (nothing
  greater can be conceived)
• It is greater to be a necessary being (cannot not
  be) than a contingent being (can cease to exist)
• If God exists only as a contingent being he can
  therefore be imagined not to exist. Then a
  greater being could be imagined that cannot be
  conceived not to exist

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• This being would then be greater than God
• God is therefore a necessary being
• Therefore God must exist in reality
• In summary
• God must be a necessary being, i.e. he cannot not
  exist
• Necessary here means logical necessity
• It would be a logical contradiction to claim that
  God does not exist since any being who has the
  property of necessary existence could not fail to
  exist

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• The OA claims to reveal that inherent in the
  concept of God is necessary existence
• When you come to analyse and examine the
  concept it becomes clear that existence is part
  of the concept
• Such propositions are called analytic
• This is a statement where the predicate is
  contained in the subject
• The predicate is that which is said about the
  subject

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• E.g. of an analytic sentence is all bachelors
  are single
• All bachelors subject
• Being single predicate
• An analytic statement does not contain any new
  information but clarifies the term
• Analytic statements can be true or false
• The proposition all bachelors are married is
  analytic but false
• It is analytic because the married state is part
  of the concept of bachelor

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• The way to decide if it is true or false is by
  considering the meaning of the words
• The cat sat on the mat is not an analytic
  statement since there is nothing in the analysis
  of the concept of cat that contains the idea of
  sitting on the mat
• This is synthetic, i.e. the truth value of the
  statement, whether it is true or false, is
  determined by empirical evidence.

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Descartes 1596-1650

• Regarded as the founder of modern philosophy
• In Meditations he put forward his arguments for a
  unified and certain body of human knowledge
• He broke free from the dogma of Aristotle and
  supported instead the new age of science

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• He favoured independent enquiry from first
  principles and asserted only that which could be
  known to be certain
• A crucial part of his argument involved the
  existence of God as a guarantor for the certainty
  that the external world exists
• The argument he uses is a form of the ontological
  argument

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• God, a supremely perfect being, has all
  perfections
• Existence is a perfection
• Therefore God, a supreme perfect being, exists
• In Meditation 5 Descartes argued
• There are some qualities that an object
  necessarily has or it cant be that object

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• E.g. a triangle must have three angles adding up
  to 180
• The notion of a hill demands the idea of a valley
• Existence cannot be separated from the concept of
  God
• Existence, singularity and perfection, are Gods
  characteristics. In fact, Gods essence is
  existence. If something is supremely perfect and
  if existence is a perfection, God by definition
  exists.

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Modern Versions

• Norman Malcolm 1960 and Charles Hartshorne 1962
  centre their arguments on the idea of necessary
  existence
• If God does not exist then God cannot come into
  existence as that would require another force
  which would mean that God was limited and could
  not be God at all
• If God does exist God cannot have come into
  existence nor cease

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• Gods existence is either impossible or necessary
• It can only be impossible if the idea of God is
  logically absurd
• Assuming that it is not, then God necessarily
  exists

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Alvin Plantinga 1974

• Develops the idea of infinite possible worlds
• In a possible world a maximally great being could
  exist (omnipotent, omniscient, morally perfect)
• For there to be a maximally great being he would
  have to exist in all possible worlds so a
  maximally great being exists
• (this argument only proves possibility, not
  actuality)

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Criticisms of the OA

• Gaunilos challenge on behalf of the fool 11th
  century (and Anselms reply)
• Gaunilo, a monk, argued if someone were to
  describe to you a most perfect island, lost
  somewhere and untouched by man, and then state
  that it must exist because of its perfection,
  you would be a fool to believe him.

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• He is trying to criticise the process by which
  Anselm moves from his definition of God to his
  suggestion of Gods existence
• Gaunilos criticism is not valid in this context.
  Anselm never compares things of a like kind
  above.
• He speaks of God that than which nothing greater
  can be conceived
• Gaunilo, on the other hand, occupies himself with
  a comparison between islands

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• Anselm replied that God is a special case
• There may be a thing greater than a perfect
  island, but not God
• Only God has all the perfections and so the
  argument can only apply to God

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Immanuel Kant 1724-1804

• Kant opposed Descartes version of the argument
• He objects to Descartes claim that denying Gods
  existence is the same as denying a triangle has
  three sides, which is contradictory

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• He states that if one dismisses the idea of the
  three sides (predicate) and that of the triangle
  itself (subject), one is left with no
  contradiction
• He is saying you can define a thing in any way
  that you want but whether or not anything matches
  that definition in reality is another question
  all together
• Kant feels he has dealt with Descartes notion of
  existence as a predicate

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• Kant argues that we can only know the world
  through our experience of it
• We cannot know any aspects of existence beyond
  our experience
• Experience is not a predicate (an attribute or
  quality) of perfection that a thing can lack
• Existence is the thing and all its attributes
• Therefore Kant raises this second objection to
  deal with Anselm

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• Kant states that existence is not predicate, e.g.
  x exists says nothing about x (e.g. is x female,
  is x tall, etc.)
• Kant says a predicate must give us information
  about x
• The statement x is does not

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Bertrand Russell

• 20th century philosopher
• Claims that Anselm uses the word exist
  incorrectly
• Existence cannot be a predicate, if it were we
  could construct this argument
• Men exist.
• Santa Claus is a man.
• Therefore Santa Claus exists.

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Summary

• Theistic a priori argument
• Two principle contributors to the classical
  argument
• St Anselm of Canterbury (1st and 2nd Form)
• Rene Descartes

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Modern Versions

• Norman Malcolm (1911-1990)
• Alvin Plantinga (1932- )

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Objectors

• Gaunilo (11th century) and Anselms reply
• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
• Gottlob Frege
• Bertrand Russell
• Brian Davis

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Criticisms of the OA

• Definition of God
• Logical tricks
• Existence is not a great-making quality
• You cannot have an analytic existential
  proposition
• You cannot define things into existence
• It is criticised as not an argument at all, but a
  statement of belief for those who believe in the
  first place.

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What you need to do now

• Read
• Read
• Read
• Read
• Read
• Read

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What ?

• Philosophy of Religion for A Level-
• Jordan, Lockyer, Tate
• Philosophy of Religion-
• Peter Cole
• Philosophy of Religion-
• John Hick

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• Philosophy of Religion-
• C. Stephen Evans
• The Puzzle of God-
• Peter Vardy
• Questions About God-
• Patrick J. Clarke
• Handouts from Mrs. O-M

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To Buy

• Philosophy of Religion for A Level OCR edition
• Jordan, Lockyer, Tate
• Nelson Thornes
• ISBN 0-7487-8078-5
• www.nelsonthornes.com
• Study Guide- Robert A. Bowie
• ISBN 0-7487-8081-5

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Essay

• Due in Wednesday 13 Feb.
• Explain the traditional forms of the ontological
  argument put forward by Anselm and Descartes
  (33).
• The criticisms presented by Gaunilo and Kant
  successfully reject these arguments. Discuss
  (17).