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Notes
Created
@August 27, 2023 2:12 PM
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Philosophy of Religion
is a branch of philosophy which uses the tools of philosophy to ask questions about the
nature and existence of the Divine, the supreme being or value.
8 Features of Religion for
1. Belief in an Ultimate Reality, the Divine (which may be personal and/or impersonal) and/or a
system of doctrines which give ultimate meaning and purpose to human
life.
2. Belief that the existence and nature of the Divine is revealed to human beings by means of
sacred writings, religious experiences and/or human reason.
3. Belief that the Divine and/or the system of doctrines requires adherence to a specified code of
behaviour.
4. A sense of dependence upon and reverence for something of ultimate importance and
external to oneself.
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5. The making of a commitment, often recognised by means of a ceremony, to a system of
beliefs and a way of life.
6. The use of sacred writings, symbols, sounds and personal and community rituals which help
believers to recognise and acknowledge the Divine and adhere to a specified code of
behaviour.
7. The use of a building/place or the gathering of a community which provides ‘sacred’ space
for communal worship and/or contemplation of the Divine, and the performance of
ceremonies and rituals.
8. The offer of ‘salvation’ – a better, and perhaps eternal, state of being. This might take the form
of forgiveness following repentance of sins, freedom from fear, a new or renewed sense of
purpose, continued existence after death or reincarnation leading eventually to nirvana, the
end of suffering with the extinction of the individual.
The Divine
-God created time, the world and everything in it from nothing, and everything depends for its
continued existence on God.
God is commonly viewed as:
omnipotent (all-powerful)
omniscient (all-knowing) and
good.
omnibenevolent
The Ontological Argument
-is “God exist” question rationable?
*is a definition of something proof of its existence?”
St. Anselm of Canterbury
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—> the definition of God logically presupposes its existence
2 KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE
1. A Priori
-A knowledge independent of all experience
ex: All bachelors are unmarried males.
2+2=4
2. A Posteriori
-Emperical, experienced-based knowledge
The ontological Argument forwards the thesis that “God Exists” is a priori knowledge (selfevident)
*Many thigs that we can think and understand. “DO THEY EXIST”
—>We can think of God, but does he exist?
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Defining God in Ontological Argument
“Something than which nothing greater can be conceived”
-is in the understanding, since when he hears this, he understands it
-There is no more to God
—> Reality (GREATER)
certainly that Greater cannot be in the understanding alone
—> for in the understanding alone, it can be conceived to exist in reality also, which is greater.
According to Anselm there is 2 modes of existence:
1. In understanding
- exist in understanding but not in reality
-there is a concept of something in our mind (which is the actual one) -mental existence
2. Both in understanding and in Reality
-have greater existence
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So, to exist in reality is greater than to exist in the understanding alone. God is that
than which nothing greater can be conceived.
If God doesn’t exist in reality, then anything that exist in reality is greater than God.
Ontological Argument
-The very being (Ontos) of God exist.
-If God does not exist, then any reality can be greater than God, which is false.
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*digesting the argument:
God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived. To exist is
greater than not to exist. To exist in understanding and in reality is
greater to exist in undertanding alone. Therefore, God exists.
Two Kinds of Existence:
Contingent Existence-that which may exist or may not exist
Necessary existence- that which cannot exist.
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If P exists in world X but may not posibly exist in world Z, then P is contingent. If there are no
worlds where P cannot not exist, then P is necessary.
Q: hwy does the existence of “that than which nothing greater an be conceived” imply
NECESSARY EXISTENCE?
-because there is only one existence that belong to necessary existence whom is GOD.
-because necessary existence is GREATER THAN contingent existence.
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If God is that nothing greater can be conceived it is logical that he must have the
necesary existence.
Criticizing
1. The Maximal Objection
M= meganumber is that natural #, no larger
numbers= N+1
M=inncoherent since numbers are infinite
therefore,
God+1= not maximal
But we defined that God is that nothing greater can be conceived, then therefore, God
alone is the maximal.
-So, false to relate the number being of M to God for God is already the maximal.
2. The Logical Objection
-the stronger argument than maximal
-Anslem undersands that language either exists in the mind or in reality, or both.
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-However, a concept (idea of the unicorn) does not necessarily contain an instance of the
concept (a unicorn existing)
-To affirm that a concept always contaings an instance commits the FALLACY OF
REIFICATION (or the attribution of concrete characteristic to something abstract.)
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The premise of the concept of God (as nothing greater can be conceived)
necessarily implies an instance. Therefore, God exists is a fallacy.
Guanilo’s Parody “The Perfect Island”
God is substututed with the word “Perfect Island”
If a perfect island is nothing greater can be conceived, the the creator of the perfect island
is contingent.
*The perfect island cannot be the same as God, because God is the only being who has
the necessary existence. God is the maximal existence.
Teleological Argument
1. The presence of God in creation
2. The presence of God by Grace in the Souls of the just
3. The presence of God in Christ and in his Church.
“Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity
have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.”- Romans 1:20
-St. Paul tells us that the existence of God is known to everyone
-this verse is a quick summary of a longer passage in the book of wisdom
Possible for human beings to know the existence of God even those not reading the bible
is through
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1. Human Reason
2. Intelligence
Everyone-confused knowledge of God
—>can be developed not to full perfection
many factors stand in the way
The basic principle behind the 5 ways is that we the existence of God from:
Experience of the World/Nature
-the same kind of reasoning we know the existence of any invisible cause from visible
effects.
ex: Smoke (we can infer fire)- we know the existence of invisible cause from the
visible effects.
God is invisible
seed—> can develop and grow through study and the application of the mind to the many
philosophical issues involved in making the intereference
seed—> can also be crushed by attachment to sin willful self-denial, false philosophies
Natural Theology—> possible for human being
5 Proofs/Ways:
How can we know the existence of God?
1.) Order of Motion in Nature (Motion)
-There must be a first mover or unmoved mover or an ultimate source of change in things
2.) Cause and Effect (Efficient cause)
-In order or there to be causes at work, there must be a first cause or uncaused cause.
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3.) Contingent Beings (Possibility and necessity)
-Things exist that don’t need to exist. There must be a source of the existence of contingent
beings that cannot exist. The source simply is.
-"That which does not exist begins to exist only through something already existing.”
4.) Degrees of Perfection (Gradation)
-Differing grades of perfection of being lead to the conclusion that there must be a perfect
being, the source of being in everything else.
-"Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being,
goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God”
-if anything is good, there must be something that is most good.
5.) Things without intelligence act for the sake of ends (Design)
-Things without intelligence cannot work for the sake of an end unless a higher intelligence is
directing them.
-"Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end;
and this being we call God”
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