Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

assumption that there must be an unchanging source of change or a “first cause” of all casual events because the alternative would be infinite regress. The third argument states that everything in the universe appears to be contingent and is a possibility. But if something is possible, it means that it is not necessary that it exist. It might just as easily have not existed, and may have never existed. But because the universe does exist, it is rational to assume that there is a being that is a necessary being that does not depend on anything else for its existence—that being is God. His fourth way to prove God’s existence was The Argument from Gradations of Perfection , which discusses different degrees of perfection found in innate things. Humans commonly judge some things to be more perfect than other things. But judgment concerning the degree of perfection in things only makes sense if there exists a most perfect being. One cannot determine that something falls short of a perfect standard unless the perfect standard is known; therefore, the perfect must exist. There must exist a most perfect Being who is the cause of all the perfections that exists in beings containing lesser degrees of perfection. His fifth argument is known as the Argument from Design which begins with the observation that the universe is orderly and apparently purposeful and it is rational to assume that this order and purposefulness did not simply happen by accident but is the product of an intelligent Creator, namely God. William Paley: The design argument was further developed and refined by William Paley, who asserts that the high level of order in the world is proof of an intelligent designer, God. Paley uses the analogy of a watch in his argument to argue that the universe must have a creator. In his argument, he states that he found a watch on the ground and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place. He examines the watch and perceives that the different parts are framed together for a purpose. In conclusion, the mechanism being observed which requires examination of the instrument and perhaps some previous knowledge of the subject to perceive it and understand it; that there must have existed at some time and at some place that the watch had a maker who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to answer who comprehended its construction and designed its use. Some thinkers have raised objections to the design argument such as they cannot accept the fact that there is a certain order in the universe without concluding that this order is the result of intellectual design and the other is that perhaps we simply evolved randomly or that the universe if governed by certain impersonal principles that are expressed in the orderliness of the universe that we perceive. Some thinkers have argued that the universe is poorly designed with many elements that do not work as well as they could if an intelligent designer had created them. The Argument of Morality: The beginning point is the deeply ingrained sense of morality that humans possess and its conclusion is that this moral sense must be derived from a supremely moral mind, namely God. Natural law ethicists see a broad agreement among the major ethical systems of the world and others point to the conscience, the powerful, deeply ingrained conviction that we have the capacity to choose what is right and good over what is wrong and bad. Both schools of thought point to God as the source of these teachings or feelings. Immanuel Kant believed that morality is grounded mainly in our ability to reason, hence his supreme moral principle “Act only on the principle that you

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