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    God APriori

    Uploaded by

    Prof. Lakshman Madurasinghe
    This document discusses several a priori arguments for the existence of God. It outlines classical theism which holds that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, eternal, transcendent, and compassionate. It also discusses dissident conceptions such as the via negativa, deism, pantheism, and panentheism. It then describes three arguments: the argument from thought which claims the concept of God must come from something perfect; Descartes' argument that the cause of our idea of God must have at least as much reality as God; and Anselm's ontological argument that it is a contradiction to conceive of a being greater than God that does not exist.

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    God APriori

    Uploaded by

    Prof. Lakshman Madurasinghe
    50 views13 pages
    This document discusses several a priori arguments for the existence of God. It outlines classical theism which holds that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, eternal, transcendent, and compassionate. It also discusses dissident conceptions such as the via negativa, deism, pantheism, and panentheism. It then describes three arguments: the argument from thought which claims the concept of God must come from something perfect; Descartes' argument that the cause of our idea of God must have at least as much reality as God; and Anselm's ontological argument that it is a contradiction to conceive of a being greater than God that does not exist.

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    God Philosophy A priori

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    GodAPriori

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    This document discusses several a priori arguments for the existence of God. It outlines classical theism which holds that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, eternal, transcendent, and compassionate. It also discusses dissident conceptions such as the via negativa, deism, pantheism, and panentheism. It then describes three arguments: the argument from thought which claims the concept of God must come from something perfect; Descartes' argument that the cause of our idea of God must have at least as much reality as God; and Anselm's ontological argument that it is a contradiction to conceive of a being greater than God that does not exist.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    50 views13 pages

    God APriori

    Uploaded by

    Prof. Lakshman Madurasinghe
    This document discusses several a priori arguments for the existence of God. It outlines classical theism which holds that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, eternal, transcendent, and compassionate. It also discusses dissident conceptions such as the via negativa, deism, pantheism, and panentheism. It then describes three arguments: the argument from thought which claims the concept of God must come from something perfect; Descartes' argument that the cause of our idea of God must have at least as much reality as God; and Anselm's ontological argument that it is a contradiction to conceive of a being greater than God that does not exist.

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    God

    A Priori Arguments
    Classical Theism
     Classical conception of God: God is
     Omnipotent: all-powerful
     Omnipresent: everywhere
     Omniscient: all-knowing
     Eternal: everlasting
     Transcendent: beyond the world
     Compassionate: caring
    Dissident conceptions
     Via negativa-- the “negative way”
     We can know only what God is not
     Deism
     God created the world, but has no further
    interaction with it; no miracles
     Pantheism
     God is everything
     Panentheism
     God includes everything
    Argument from Thought
     Where do we get our concept of God?
     It’s the concept of something perfect
     We never experience perfection
     So, the concept of God can’t come from
    experience
     So, the concept of God is innate
     It must come from something perfect
     So, God must exist
    Descartes’s Premise
     “Now it is manifest by the natural light that
    there must at least be as much reality in
    the efficient and total cause as in its effect.
    For, pray, whence can the effect derive its
    reality, if not from its cause? And in what
    way can this cause communicate this
    reality to it, unless it possessed it in itself?”
    Descartes’s Premise
     “And from this it follows, not only that
    something cannot proceed from nothing,
    but likewise that what is more perfect --
    that is to say, which has more reality within
    itself -- cannot proceed from the less
    perfect.”
    Descartes’s Argument
     The cause of the idea of X must have at
    least as much reality as X
     We get the idea of fire from fire
     We get the idea of red from red things

     The cause of our idea of God must have at


    least as much reality as God
     Only God has as much reality as God
     So, our idea of God must come from God
    The Ontological Argument
     Augustine: God is
    “something than which
    nothing more excellent or
    sublime exists”
     Anselm (1033-1109):
    God is “that the greater
    than which cannot be
    conceived”-- the greatest
    conceivable being
    Anselm’s Argument
     “Even the Fool ... is forced to agree that
    something, the greater than which cannot be
    thought, exists in the intellect, since he
    understands this when he hears it, and
    whatever is understood is in the intellect.”
    Anselm’s Argument
     “And surely that, the greater than which cannot
    be thought, cannot exist in the intellect alone.
    For if it exists solely in the intellect, it can be
    thought to exist in reality, which is greater. If,
    then, that, the greater than which cannot be
    thought, exists in the intellect alone, this same
    being, than which a greater cannot be thought,
    is that than which a greater can be thought. But
    surely this is impossible.”
    Anselm’s Argument
     “Therefore, there can be absolutely no doubt
    that something, the greater than which cannot
    be thought, exists both in the intellect and in
    reality.”
    Anselm in outline
     Suppose you could conceive
    of God’s nonexistence
     Then you could think of
    something greater than God--
    something just like God, but
    existing
     But nothing can be conceived
    as greater than God
     So, God’s nonexistence is
    inconceivable
    Descartes’s Ontological Argument
     God has all
    perfections
     Existence is a
    perfection
     So, God has
    existence

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