Regress argument

McCloskey’s view on this argument is said to be similar to his views on the cosmological argument. He shares in his article that this argument is unreasonable because this argument cannot be proven beyond reasonable doubt. This standard for a perfect argument that McCloskey requires seems unrealistic. Certainly, it cannot be possible to prove one-hundred perfect that any argument is absolutely without a doubt true. If the conclusion follows the premises, the argument is valid, but not…

The existence of God has been debated throughout history. There are many arguments for the existence of God but there are two commonly-accepted arguments among theists: the cosmological argument and the teleological argument also known as the argument from design. In his article entitled “On Being an Atheist”, H.J. McCloskey attempts to refute each of these arguments. His stated purpose in the article is to provide reasons for atheism and to show that it is more comforting to be an atheist than…

Describe and critically analyse the ontological argument for the existence of God. Ontological arguments are arguments that some philosophers claim, definitively prove and conclude on the existence of an omniscient ‘God’. These arguments are structured in a specific analytical, deductive, a priori style. The analytical, a priori aspect of the argument means that the conclusion is based on the understanding of a definition. Meaning that the truth of the conclusion can be determined before…

Paley’s argument for the Existence of God Paley’s argument is termed the design argument which is solely based on an analogy of a watch. This is that the universe as a whole is complex and there must be an intelligent designer responsible for designing the universe. Just like the watch, the parts come together to fulfill a purpose, and if we have never seen a watch before the complexity or the way the watch was designed would make us conclude that it was made by an intelligent designer. This…

Chad Dubin Many philosophers have used the ontological argument to try to prove the existence of God. Descartes and Anselm are two examples of philosophers who have done so. Both use the concept of having the idea of God to try to prove his existence. However, the ontological argument for the existence of God is unsuccessful in proving his existence. Descartes uses the idea of existence being a property and an aspect of perfection to try to prove God’s existence while Anselm uses the concept…

In the article “On Being an Atheist,” McCloskey delivers numerous opinions that seek to validate the non-existence of God. This argument is known as Atheism. He does this using quite a few claims made by theists. The claims are separated into numerous segments upon which he lays his contradicting opinions. In the beginning, he delivers a short summary of the arguments offered by theists. He refers to the theists as ‘proofs’ and claims that not a single one of the proofs make sufficient…

makes us believe that evolution has a designer is due to the fact of a defender who believes that God is the designer and he has realized his purpose in his designs. I would have to say that even though there is no real proof in the teleological argument that God was our designer of the universe, that as a person who believes that there is a God, we must decide for ourselves what we believe and don’t believe about the universe. Evil is something that has been in the world, going back to the…

will explain and critique an argument known as Pascal’s Wager. I will explain the wager Blaise Pascal proposed to incline atheist and agnostics to believe in God. The Wager, “is not a proof of Gods existence” (Furman). I will give Pascal’s reasoning for explaining why choosing to believe in God is the best decision one could make. Pascal’s Wager is an argument given to atheist and agnostics to show them why believing in God’s existence is the right choice. This argument isn't used as proof of…

Throughout Hume’s Dialogues, Philo takes the position of the skeptic, questioning the arguments of both Cleanthes and Demea. If it were not for his occasional approbation of God’s existence, the reader would be led to consider him an atheist. This makes it all the stranger when, in Part XII, he suddenly supports an argument for God’s existence from design. Far from criticizing the design argument, as he does a number of times earlier in the dialogues, he says that “no man can be so hardened… as……

philosopher St. Anselm of Canterbury took on this feat in the 11th century in his work entitled Proslogion. In the beginning Anselm tries to use the idea of the limitations of human thought to prove that God exists. The basic idea behind Anselm argument for the existence of God is that there is “Something-than-which-nothing-greater-can-be-thought (Anselm 266)”. He believes that there must exist something that is so great or mighty that a person cannot think of something mightier than that.…