Faith & Reason

1. Faith & Reason Arguments for God’s Existence

2. The Two Ways of ‘Knowing’ God • Pure Reason: Many philosophers have created proofs using logic to prove God’s existence. Evidence isn’t required; logic proves it • Cosmological Argument • Argument from Design • Ontological Argument • Moral Argument • Faith: Some philosophers believe a mystical experience or dedication of Faith is required to know God.

3. Does it Matter Why It Is True? • Read pg. 88 top-grey box 1). Answer the question that concludes the passage. 2). Read the 2nd grey-box from Saint Thomas Aquinas. 3). Attempt to explain what he is saying in a logical proof (step-by-step argument)

4. The Cosmological Argument 1). Nothing may cause itself 2). There cannot be an infinite chain of causes 3). Therefore, there must be a first cause 4). God must be the first cause (Prime Mover) 1). Everything that begins has a cause 2). The Universe has a beginning 3). Therefore the universe has a cause 4). God is the cause for the Universe

5. The Argument from Design • Also called the Teleological argument • British philosopher William Paley famously defended this claim with the Analogy of finding a watch in a field… • [S]uppose I found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place, I should hardly think … that, for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. Yet why should not this answer serve for the watch as well as for [a] stone [that happened to be lying on the ground]?… For this reason, and for no other; namely, that, if the different parts had been differently shaped from what they are, if a different size from what they are, or placed after any other manner, or in any order than that in which they are placed, either no motion at all would have been carried on in the machine, or none which would have answered the use that is now served by it. –Paley, 1867

6. Teleological Argument continued • See http://www.iep.utm.edu/design/ Read the following reasons for believing the Teleological Argument; Explain one argument that you find weak (and why) & Explain one argument that you find persuasive (and why). • Scriptural Roots and Aquinas’s Fifth Way • The Argument from Simple Analogy • Paley’s Watchmaker Argument Guided Evolution • Contemporary Versions of the Design Argument • The Argument from Irreducible Biochemical Complexity • The Argument from Biological Information • The Fine-Tuning Arguments • The Argument from Suspicious Improbability • The Confirmatory Argument

7. Teleological Argument continued • The design of the universe is so impressive and well organized that a designer must have made it. • Many variations and arguments are created within the Teleological argument. • How does Darwin’s theory fit in? • Is this an inductive or deductive argument?

8. The Ontological Argument • Ontology refers to: ‘having to do with the nature of existence.” • The argument is based upon the notion that for something to be perfect, it must exist. • I. One can conceive of a being which has every perfection (i.e., is most perfect). Such a being is called God. • II. Existence is a component of Perfection. • Therefore, for God to be most perfect, he must exist.

9. Moral Argument God’s Existence • Kant argued that the very existence of normative laws and morals is itself evidence for God’s Existence. • The claim is made the following way: • I. Moral norms have authority • II. If they have authority, their must be a reliable motive for human beings to be moral • III. No motive could exist without a Divine source • IV. Therefore a God exists that provides such morals

10. Irrational Arguments for God’s Existence • Pascal’s Wager: Blaise Pascal imagine belief as one imagines placing a bet: -God either exists or does not. Represented by: ∞ or 0 -One Either believe in God or do not. Represented by: B or D B + ∞ = Eternal Reward D + ∞ = Eternal Damnation B + 0 = Missed out on a few pleasures (‘edifying faith’) D + 0 = Ok and you had good times Pascal argued that the reward for Belief is so great and the punishment so terrible, one ought to believe just in case God did exist. See page 94 for more detail.

11. Soren Kierkegaard’s Leap of FaithAnd Mysticism Kierkegaard argued there was no definitive proof that God existed. Belief, therefore, was a choice based upon Faith. Faith is a personal choice, it cannot be shared with others as evidence for God’s existence. Kierkegaard believed it was precisely because one does not know if God exists that faith is required. If one could know God existed, one risks nothing for eternal happiness. Thus, one must take a Leap of Faith to ‘know’ God. Another claim is that one can know God through a Mystical experience (a revelation or other-worldly experience). In that moment, one’s soul is directly contact by God. Why is a Mystical Experience considered an irrational argument?