Is Religion Reasonable?
• Are religious beliefs (about the universe’s
relation to the supernatural) reasonable?
• Faith seeking understanding: ontological,
cosmological, teleological arguments for the
existence of God (monotheism); pantheism
(God=universe); panentheism (all is in God)
• Are religious experiences (about one’s
personal relation to divinity) reasonable?
The Ontological Argument
•St. Anselm (1033-1109)
“God”
means the greatest conceivable being
A being that exists in one’s mind and in
reality (outside of one’s mind) is greater
than one that exists only in one’s mind
Therefore, God must exist in reality
Kant’s Objections to the
Ontological Argument
If
there is a greatest conceivable being, then he
exists. But we cannot conclude from the sheer
possibility of such a being that he exists
A concept of God + a concept of his existing
may be greater than a concept of God alone;
but these are still only concepts, not proofs of
God’s existence outside our concepts
The Cosmological Argument:
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74)
The
universe, like all things in it, is contingent
(i.e., depends on something else as the cause of
its existence); otherwise, it is unintelligible
If there is no ultimate cause of the universe
(that is, if the causal sequence is infinite), then
nothing would ever have happened or be
intelligible here and now. But things do exist
here and now, so God exists here and now
Hume’s Criticisms of the
Cosmological Argument
Perhaps
the universe has always
existed: if this can be said of God,
why can’t it be said of the universe?
Fallacy of composition: parts  whole
Why should we think that everything has a
cause or reason for its existence?
Besides, the argument does not prove that
God is anything other than a cause of things
who might not care at all about his creation
The Teleological Argument:
Argument from Design/Purpose
Wm. Paley
(1743-1805)
The
order and intricacy of things in the
universe make sense only if an ordering and
purposive mind is their cause
 Analogy:
watch
. . universe
watchmaker . . universe-maker
Criticisms of the Teleological
Argument: David Hume
Even
the claim that the universe exhibits order
is doubtful; it is a human imposition
We cannot use analogy in discussing the
universe: we do not experience universes or
know that intelligent beings produce them
Even if we argue analogously, we cannot
conclude that its creator is one, wise, or good
Criticisms of the Teleological
Argument:
Charles Darwin
(1809-82)
Things
in nature exhibit order, but that is not
the result of design or purpose
Things appear orderly because random
variations produce adaptive individuals