Other Proofs for the Existence of God

1
Other Proofs for the Existence of God

• Descartes, Kant, Hume, and Pascal

2
Descartes Proof

• Proof 1
• Descartes found within his mind the idea of God,
  the idea of an infinite and perfect being
• He could not be the cause of this idea
• This idea could not have come from a source other
  than God
• Therefore, God exists

3
Descartes

• Proof 2
• I exist as a thing that has an idea of God
• Everything that exists has a cause that brought
  it into existence and sustains its existence
• The only thing adequate to cause and sustain me,
  a thing that has an idea of God, is God
• Therefore, God exists

4
Descartes

• Proof 3
• My conception of God is the conception of a being
  that possess all perfections
• Existence is a perfection
• Therefore, I cannot conceive of God not existing
• Therefore, God exists

5
Kants Moral Arguement

• Kant believed that the traditional arguments for
  Gods existence fail to convince
• Yet, he still believed in God Why?
• Kant believed that only if we assume that God
  exists, can we believe that virtue would be
  rewarded with happiness.

6
Kant

• Kant held that worthiness to be happy is the
  supreme good.
• Without believing in God, the virtuous individual
  cannot be certain that the happiness of which
  s/he is worthy will in fact be theirs.
• Thus, in Kants position, God cannot be proved
  but must be assumed in a practical sense as a
  foundation for ethics and law
• Without God, civilization would be impossible

7
Pascals Wager

• Blaise Pascal was a philosopher and a religious
  thinker
• He believed that life was a gamble
• We are always placing our bets
• Very little is certain in this world
• We live and breath probabilities
• We are constantly making ration calculations as
  to what we need to do and how we should structure
  our lives in order to secure the goals we value

8
Pascal

• We are always wagering our time and energy on one
  strategy or another in pursuit of our hopes and
  dreams
• Pascal rooted his argument for religious belief
  in the view of life as one huge game
• How does a rational gambler place his bets?

9
Pascal

• His formula
• Bet
• (Chance X Payoff) Cost Expected Value

10
The Wager

• Let us weigh the gain and loss, in wagering that
  God is. Consider these alternatives If you win,
  you win all if you lose, you lose nothing. Do
  not hesitate, then, to wager that He is.
• In other words you gain eternal life and an
  endless payoff, If you lose, you lose nothing.
  Therefore, a rational person bets on God

11
David Humes Teleology

• Machines are produced by intelligent design
• The universe is like a machine
• Probably the universe was produced by intelligent
  design
• Therefore, probably God exists who designed and
  created the universe