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Arguments for The Existence of God

Arguments for The Existence of God. Ontological Cosmological Teleological. God’s Existence. Not subjective Not unprovable in principle Natural Theology: Knowing God through reason Biblical Theology: Knowing God through revelation. The Ontological Argument. A priori (vs. a posteriori)

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Arguments for The Existence of God

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  1. Arguments forThe Existence of God Ontological Cosmological Teleological

  2. God’s Existence • Not subjective • Not unprovable in principle • Natural Theology: Knowing God through reason • Biblical Theology: Knowing God through revelation

  3. The Ontological Argument • A priori (vs. a posteriori) • God exists by definition • If you think about the concept of God hard enough, you’ll see that he must exist

  4. Descartes’ Version • God is a perfect being • A perfect being must contain all perfections • Existence is a perfection. • God exists.

  5. Anselm’s Version • Reductio ad absurdum • Indirect proof - show that atheism leads to a contradiction, so theism must be true

  6. Anselm’s Version • Assume God doesn’t exist • God exists only in the mind • The Greatest Conceivable Being (GCB) exists only in the mind • But this can’t be true because there is a greater being, which exists not only in the mind but in reality as well

  7. Anselm’s Version • The GCB exists ONLY in the mind • The GCB isn’t the GCB • A is not A <-- Contradiction • Atheism leads to a contradiction • Atheism is false • It’s not true that God doesn’t exist • God exists

  8. Anselm’s Version • Assume not-G. • If not-G, then GCB = not-GCB • Not-not-G • G

  9. Gaunillo’s Objection • The Greatest Conceivable Island Objection (Perfect Island, Lost Island) • Assume the GCI exists only in the mind. • If the GCI exists only in the mind, then a greater island can be imagined, which exists not only in the mind but in reality • The GCI isn’t really the GCI (contrad.) • The GCI must exist.

  10. Gaunillo’s Objection • Anselm: My argument doesn’t work for the greatest conceivable kind of type of being, just the greatest conceivable being in general. • Once the limiting, imperfect particulars of the island are eliminated, the Island starts to look like God.

  11. Kant’s Objection • Existence isn’t a property (real predicate) • The concept of a real $100 is the same as an imaginary $100; it’s just that one is instantiated. • Existence applies to a thing and it’s properties together; it is not itself a property.

  12. Malcolm’s Modal Version • God is a necessary being. • If God’s existence is possible, then it’s actual. • God’s existence is possible. • God must exist. • Objection: Maybe God’s existence isn’t possible

  13. Other Objections • God doesn’t’ exist in the mind. • Exist “in the mind” equivocates on the term “exists.” • The terms “greater” and “greatest” are vague, value-laden or assume a Platonic metaphysics with degrees of reality. • Which is greater Jupiter or the DNA molecule?

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