Philosophy of Religion
Natural Theology
The study of God, His
attributes and His relation
to the world.
Beliefs are established by
reason working
independently of any
revelation.
Dogmatic Theology
A belief that is mandatory
for members of a
particular religion
Immutability:
unchanging God.
Eternally:
God exists at any
moment of time.
Omni benevolence:
God is all good.
THE ARGUMENT:
Premises:
The purposive organization of man-made object is
evidence of the intelligence and purpose of the maker.
The world contains many natural objects (plants, animals,
human body, etc.) whose organization is clearly purposive
and the world itself is purposely organized.
Conclusion:
By analogy, there must be a maker of the universe who has
made it accordingly to a PLAN. The world maker/creator,
is God.
The argument was elaborated by the Archdeacon of Carlisle
William Paley (1743-1805) in his book Natural Theology. He
asks us to imagine walking across a heath:
If you were to inspect the watch more carefully you would note
that it has several parts that work in an orderly, regular and
precise manner. Assuming you have never seen a watch before
you would still infer that the watch has a purpose of some kind
and that it must, therefore, have had a maker. What Paley is
doing here is using the argument from an effect to its cause:
you look at the effect (the watch), and then determine what
caused it (the Watchmaker).
But what has this got to do with the Universe? Paley also uses
the argument from analogy: does not a natural object, like, for
example, the eye, also seem to be similar to the working of a
watch? In fact, when we look at various aspects of nature, can we
not conclude that nature itself is like a very complex machine? If
we are to infer that the watch has a watchmaker, then we must
also conclude that the universe has a Divine Maker!
Comparison Argument.
How can we be sure that this
world is so perfect?
How many worlds have you
seen? This world, if it is made
by a creator, could actually be
something of a botched job
compared to other worlds!
However perfect it may seem
to us, we only have this world
(and, now, a few others weve
partially explored in this solar
system) to go on.
Cosmological Argument
The Cosmological Argument is based on 3 principles:
1. Something cannot be the cause of itself.
2. Something cannot be come from nothing.
3. There cannot be an infinite series of causes and effects.
Objections:
Objection 1:
It seems that God does not
exist:
God means-infinite
goodness. If God existed
there would be no evil, but
there is evil therefore God
does not exists.
Objection 2:
Everything in the world can be
accomplished by a few
principles. The processes of
the world can be accounted by
other principles.
Natural things can be reduced
to one principle, that is the
principle of nature. All
voluntary things can be
reduced to one principle:
Human Reason and Will.
There is no need to be
supposed the existence of
GOD.
Efficient Cause
Aristotle was a major influence on Thomas Aquinas who
developed the causal argument as part of his Christian beliefs.
Basically, Aquinas stated that if A causes B, and B causes C, then
A is the first cause, and C is the last cause. But what happens if A
does not occur? Neither B nor C will occur either. The causal
chain must, therefore, have a beginning, and that beginning is
God.
Argument of Perfection
Things in the world are in gradation, less or
more, good, noble, hot- therefore there must
be something that is best, noblest, hottest,
and something, which is MOST BEING PERFECTION, and that is GOD.
Governance of Things
Things that lack being (imperfect), as
natural bodies act for an end, to obtain the
best result.
They achieve their goal not by chance, but
by design.
Who ordered things to their end, directed
them, GOD, in the same way that the arrow
is directed by the archer.