Philosophy 1- Beliefs About Deity: Reasons Given in Support Of Belief

Philosophy 1- Beliefs About Deity: Reasons Given in Support Of Belief

1. The Ontological Argument

   • God is 'That than which nothing greater can be conceived'
     • We cannot think of anything greater than God, and therefore God exists
       • St Anselm of Canterbury
         • Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109 who first put forward the Ontological Argument

2. The Cosmological Argument

   • The universe must have come from somewhere
     • Christians believe it came from God
       • God is the 'First Cause'
     • The Big Bang Theory
       • A scientific theory which suggests that the universe was created by a massive explosion about 18 billion years ago
   • The 'First Cause'
   • St Thomas Aquinas
     • A philosopher and theologian who devised several versions of the cosmological argument
     • Necessary being- theory that God must exist because he cannot not exist

3. The Teleological Argument

   • The world shows that it has been designed so it must have been created of designed by someone
   • The Intelligent Design Argument
     • A theory which states that life is too complex that it must have been designed by a higher being and did not evolve by natural selection
       • Natural selection- a theory that tiny differences and genetic mutations between creatures of the same species can sometimes make one individual slightly better suited to their environment than others. This means that is survives longer and has more offspring that will inherit this trait
         • Charles Darwin
           • A naturalist who developed the theory of natural selection

4. The Argument from Experience

   • People can experience God which proves he exists
     • This could be through miracles, conversion, answered prayers or the numinous
       • Rudolf Otto
         • A Christian theologian who wrote about the idea of the numinous
       • Numinous is a mysterious power that suggests the presence of a spirit or god

5. The Moral Argument

   • People have a basic understanding of 'good' and 'bad', 'right' and 'wrong'
     • This knowledge must have come from God