Thomas Aquinas is a Catholic saint that that is an immensely influential philosopher and theologian one of his argument is that God created an ordered natural world and God also created man's ability to use reason. For me yes it’s still logcal to believe in this account of Aquinas, as a person that came on a Catholic school in my high school days but on the society today many of the people didn’t use this God’s gift they will just think themselves on being in a higher ground because if you are higher than others you have the power, money and authority on what you want to do. They didn’t use it to have logical reason on the natural word basis that we should have a balance standing in our society.…
In this essay I first outline Pascal’s wager to the existence of God and then evaluate his argument. Pascal argues that one ought to wager “that God is” because “[i]f you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing,” and that given this, one can bring oneself to believe in God. I argue that one cannot truly bring themselves to believe in God. Pascal’s argument is set up in three parts. The first part accepts that God is infinitely incomprehensible.…
I want to thank Pro for his arguments. I find debate on the subject of God to be fascinating, especially from the side of the theist. As Christopher Hitchens said… “Well, why do I say charming? Because I think it 's rather sweet that people of faith also think they ought to have some evidence. “ Summary of Pro’s argument Pro argues that Jesus existed, that the New Testament is a reliable source for history and thus as it claims Jesus was raised from the Dead that Jesus is God.…
Second, is you believe in god and god does not exist, the time spent on believing is wasted but the result isn't terrible. Third, says that you don't believe in god but god actually does exist, Pascal says then you would suffer from an eternal punishment. Last, proposes that you don't believe in god and god does not exist, then you would not gain or lose any benefits from this outcome. Pascal's assumptions to his argument may seem extreme since there are only four outcomes, but I find them somewhat fair. The equation of his argument can be taken and applied to almost anything and still cover the four basic outcomes.…
In a critique of Lawrence Krauss’s book A Universe from Nothing, William Lane Craig made the following claim, “The question is, if the universe began to exist and there was not anything before it then how did the universe come into being? It seems to me you have to postulate some sort of a transcendent, immaterial, non-physical reality to bring the universe into existence”. Actually, this is not merely a claim; Craig would like this statement to function as an argument for a particular worldview. Specifically, Craig uses this argument as a proof for the existence of God.…
Although after careful consideration it essentially fails to properly carry out its purpose, it is still considered one of the greatest philosophical arguments for a belief in God. Pascal begins with this fact, “...it is certain, that either there is a God, or there is not; there can be no medium.” (Pascal 35). Next, both…
Mackie begins his article by stating that all arguments for the existence of God can be proven false. Mackie is targeting the theist with this argument, but states that the theist can still believe in God and accept the criticism. Mackie uses “the problem of evil” for his main argument. Mackie uses the problem of evil to show that the belief in God lacks rational support, and is essentially irrational. Mackie claims that the following sentences cannot all be true at the same time: “God is omnipotent, God is wholly good, and yet evil exists”.…
There is one prevailing question each of us ask ourselves consistently, “Does God exist?” Even though people’s responses are different, nearly all responses are contingent upon one’s beliefs, experiences, and influences. Despite the lack of knowledge, God is known to be an all-loving, all-powerful, and creator of all things in most communities, but those qualities are often questioned by scientists and philosophers. The existence of God was significantly debated among philosophers during the 18th and 19th centuries, however, each esteemed philosopher had a distinct argument explaining their rationale, while criticizing another’s. In this paper, I will analyze William Paley’s, teleological argument, which is the argument for the existence of…
Nathaniel Richardson PHIL 3121 Pascal Essay Pascal argues that you should believe in God because if you live a virtuous life and God is real you will have an infinite life in heaven. But if you believe in God and he is not real the only thing you will lose is the pleasures of sin. He believes sin is innate in us as we are born into sin and that is what we ultimately would rather do than live virtuously. On the other if you don’t believe and he is real you will have an infinite life but just in hell.…
I am going to argue that Blackburn is wrong to claim that the existence of evil strongly suggest that there does not exist a god who is all-good, all-knowing and all-powerful. Exposition - Words (189) Blackburn's argument is that the three characteristics normally attributed to God in any given religion is that he is all powerful, all knowing, and all caring, but that these three qualities cannot resolve itself with the presence of evil in the world. Since evil does exist and is indisputably a part of the world that exists, the characteristics of God must mold itself around its existence. If God is all powerful, then evil only exists at his command.…
During this class, which took longer than anticipated, because of unforeseen events, but overall, I enjoyed learning about those philosophers who questioned the norm and sought better understanding. Among those people early on in civilization, life must have been simple, because of a vague understanding of our natural world or any other supernatural questions. Today we can attribute many of our beliefs, customs, and traditions to these people who influenced religion and philosophy. Certainly, those like Plato’s, Plotinus, and Maimonides all contributed to many versions of religion now well established around the world, because they chose to follow a different path towards knowledge. Although, many have grown distant from any type of inter-reflection…
Within the objection, it is proposed that the Christian “God,” the one that Pascal indirectly refers to, does not exist and that there is another god who punishes those who believe in the Christian “God” and rewards those who do not believe in the Christian “God.” The payoff for either god would be the same as discussed previously, where each of the possible gods is equally probable, than there is no reason to take the side of Pascal. Because there are many possible gods, there is no more of a reason to believe in Pascal’s God than any other god. There are many flaws in Pascal’s Wager that are identifiable. Such as, Pascal’s Wager only offers the belief in one God, whereas today there are thousands of gods and religions in the world.…
James and Pascal’s defences of faith in some of their most famous arguments, specifically Pascal’s, devalue faith by making faith selfish, providing an obvious out to faith, and making the decision of faith into a gamble, oddly, his devaluation of faith does not hurt his argument, it makes it easier to convince the skeptics. To prove that Pascal’s argument devalues faith and to understand why it doesn’t negatively affect his argument, it’s necessary to understand the whole argument. His argument can be split into quite a few premises. He starts with the possibility of God, which is the main idea of his argument. Basically, it’s possible that God does exists, and it’s also possible that God does not exist, something nearly everyone agrees on.…
The Ontological Argument and Pascal’s Wager The “Ontological Argument” was created by Saint Anselm; this argument is in support of God’s existence. His argument is one based on observation and reason not on empirical evidence and is spit in to three parts. The parts include why god exists, why god cannot be thought to not exist, and lastly why atheists are able to think that God does not exist. In the first section he begins with a definition of God that he believes everyone would be accepting of and that cannot be disputed.…
The existence of God is always important in the aspect of philosophy. St. Thomas Aquinas explains what he believes is the five reasons god exists. The five reasons he believes why God exist is the Argument from Motion, Efficient Causes, Possibility and Necessity, Gradation of Being, and Design. The definition of God means that which nothing greater can be meant. St. Aquinas is a known philosopher for his discussions of the relationship between faith and the reasons, including the five reasons and proof why God existence is true, while developing Aristotelian doctrines within the church (PBF 42).…