Critique of the ideas for the Existence of God

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Critique of the ideas for the Existence of God For thousands of years the idea of God have been questioned and proposed by philosophers, scientists and scholars alike. Many have argued for and against its existence and it’s still a subject of heated debates in the present day. Since God is a notion about an entity that was never seen or heard from by anyone, it has been a strenuous struggle to substantiate his existence. Yet, great philosophers have always found a way to validate the idea of God through their own way of reasoning. The philosophical discussions about God’s existence began with pre-modern philosophers such as Plato, Saint Augustine, and it was further examined by modern philosophers such as Descartes etc. In this essay I will present St. Augustine and Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God and offer my criticism based upon my own set of reasoning. Among many philosophers who have tried to demonstrate God’s existence, one of the first attempts was formed by a Christian theologian and a pre-modern philosopher Saint Augustine. In his book On Free Choice of the Will, Saint Augustine writes about free will and determines its origins, yet to do so he also demonstrates God’s existence and its goodness. In order to do so, Augustine first establishes existence of the self by arguing that knowledge of the self comes first and is an unquestionable notion. Then he asserts that things can be separated into three classes: those that exist, those that live, and those that possess intelligence. (Williams, 1993, p.35) He proposes that humans are superior to both existing and living things because, the latter lack understanding and thus this brings humans closer to God. Therefore, Augustine concludes “nothing but God,” is “superior to a rational and wise mind”, suggesting if there’s anything higher than the rational thinking human being then it is God. (Williams

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