Bellwork 101807

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Bellwork 10/18/07

• Briefly explain the Teleological Argument for the
  existence of God.

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Homework

• Pair and Share
• What did you hear?
• If you did not complete this assignment, please
  e-mail it to me by midnight tonight

3
Aquinas Paley

• How are these two philosophers arguments the
  same?
• How do you think they are different?
• What does causality have to do with these
  arguments and God?

4
Aquinas Paley

• In a small group, see if you can
• Propose any arguments against the
• Cosmological arguments?
• Teleological arguments?
• Share with class

5
Bellwork 10/19/07

• Describe one way in which St. Thomas Aquinas and
  William Paley are the same.
• Describe one way in which they are different.
• Briefly describe how cause and effect play a role
  in both of their philosophies.

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Todays Objective

• I will be able to explain the Ontological
  Argument and how it was influenced by Plato

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St. Anselm of Canterbury
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St. Anselm - Life

• 1033 1109
• Considered the Founders of the Scholastics
• Father did not want Anselm to join a monastic
  order
• Dad wanted him to be a politician
• Joins Benedictine monastery in 1060 anyways

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St. Anselm - Life

• Always known as very bright
• Excellent in Latin
• Very precise with words
• Because hes bright and pious, he quickly rises
  in the monastic order
• Became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093

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St. Anselm - Influence

• Tried to bring faith and reason together
• Heavily influenced by Plato St. Augustine
• Remember Augustine was thriving during the
  Neo-Platonist era?
• His philosophy is very similar to Platos Forms

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St. Anselm - Writings

• 1077 Monologium
• Tries to demonstrate existence of God through
  reason alone
• 1078 Proslogium
• Tries again to demonstrate existence of God
  through reason
• Ontological Argument
• Many other philosophical writings

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Natural Theology
Cosmological Teleological
Ontological Morality
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Ontological Argument

• A Priori
• Based off of thought or knowledge
• This is created before or without experience
• Pure reason!

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Ontological Argument

• You can think in your mind of a being (God) which
  is more perfect than everything else
• Something is more perfect if it exists than if it
  does not exist
• ? The being of God must exist in reality since
  that would make him/her/it more perfect than to
  not exist

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Ontological Argument

• "aliquid quod maius non cogitari potest"
• "that than which nothing greater can be
  conceived"
• Similar to Platos Forms
• The Good

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• Plato
• Reason
• Ideas
• True reality lies with the Forms
• Rationalist
• A Priori
• St. Anselm

• Aristotle
• Science
• Senses
• True reality lies here in this material world
• Empiricist
• A Posteriori
• St. Thomas Aquinas

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Not Easy to Disprove

• 1. If I imagine a perfect cup of coffee, then
  does that make it exist?
• NO.
• Only God incorporates the idea of being perfect
  beyond everything else.

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St. Anselm

• 2. What exactly is the definition of perfect?
• Argument is based almost entirely on
  definitions (definition of God)
• A priori argument
• an arugment that comes from reason alone, not
  evidence or fact
• purely rational
• not dependent on any physical proof or support

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Discussion