Philosophy

Philosophy Study Guide

through rational inquiry with the Judeo-Christian idea that universe was created and governed by an all-powerful, all-knowing God. The Ontological Argument: The Ontological Argument was the first advanced argument. The medieval thinker Saint Anselm rests his argument on the assumption that in general, existence is “contingent”, not necessary. In other words, the things that exist in the universe do not necessarily have to exist and we can conceive them as not existing. This analysis does not apply to the existence of the ultimate reality, God. The ultimate reality is the greatest possible reality that we can think of and nothing greater than it can be conceived that is why we characterize it as “ultimate.” God is an ultimate reality than which nothing greater can be conceived and His existence must be necessary, not contingent. Therefore, God must exist not just inside our mind but outside of our mind as well; otherwise, God would not be the greatest being that we can conceive. The Cosmological Argument: In this argument, the medieval philosopher Saint Thomas Aquinas in his work Summa Theologica presents a number of different formulations of the Cosmological Argument which argues that if we examine the world in which we live (the cosmos), we will find compelling proofs for believing in God’s existence. Aquinas’s theory has five arguments, as he wanted to show that faith and reason were consistent with one another, that rational arguments could be used to demonstrate, or explain, what he, as a Christian, accepted as faith. His first three arguments are variations of a general argument known as the argument from contingency and the logic states; when we examine the universe, we see everything that exists and occurs is dependent on something else. However, for the universe to exist as it does, there must be some ultimate reality that is necessary, not contingent and the ultimate reality if God. Aquinas provides three different formations of this argument involving the concepts of motion, causality, and contingency. When we examine the universe, we observe that all is change, as everything is continually moving, evolving, changing. Each state of change is the result of a prior state, which is the result of a prior state, and so on. The second argument mirrors the first, substituting the concept of causation for motion. Both of these arguments rest on the 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.

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