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A philosophical look at the existence of God
God's existence philosophy essay
God's existence philosophy essay
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Recommended: A philosophical look at the existence of God
Through out history there have been questions of where we come from and how we got here. It all comes down to the question of God’s existence. God’s existence has never been questioned during the times of when Christianity, Judaism and Islam were born. The question of God’s existence comes from our new way of thinking after these religions. Science has made us think of how things work in our world and brings Gods existence into question. There were no scientific studies done during the days of Jesus to prove that God exists, so where did the people in history get this idea of God from? Many philosophers have been questioning and giving their ideas of God and his existence. The ideas that we may have of God is usually connected with religion and our beliefs. One philosopher that touches on this topic is Descartes. Descartes gives his ideas on God’s existence and his out look on our selves compared to God. Most religions believe that there is a God and that he has created everything around us. Everyone has a different answer to this question that they think is the right one. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing God’s existence, while looking at Descartes ideas and through different perspectives of whether or not God exist as well.
When we say God, what comes into our minds? Is God, a person or some other substance? According to Descartes, God is a substance that us infinite, independent, supremely intelligent, powerful, and the creator of everything else. This definition seems the most accurate of what we think when we think of God. Descartes says that we as humans do not come close to God, in that we are not as perfect and can never have as much intelligence as God no matter how much knowledge we gain. God knows...
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...Earth rotates, however we don’t have scientific proof on how the Earth began and was created. Science cannot be used to prove everything exists. There is not way to see if God exists through science as we do with other things using the Scientific method. How do we know that God exists or if he is just imaginary like Santa or other characters of a fairy tale? How would we know if God is real just by someone saying he is. We have never seen God so why do we believe in him? Let’s say that God does not exist, who created the universe, and who then created us. Do we believe in science and say that it was the Big Bang Theory or did we all just appear with no creator? How would we know that what is written in the Bible, Koran or the Torah are all true and did happen. According to Christianity, God must remain hidden for if he is not then that will take away from faith.
Rene Descartes’ third meditation from his book Meditations on First Philosophy, examines Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God. The purpose of this essay will be to explore Descartes’ reasoning and proofs of God’s existence. In the third meditation, Descartes states two arguments attempting to prove God’s existence, the Trademark argument and the traditional Cosmological argument. Although his arguments are strong and relatively truthful, they do no prove the existence of God.
The existence of God is quite controversial issue. God has different names in the world, and a lot of people, strongly believe in his existence. While, on the other hand, there are also people who don’t believe in his existence. In their discussion entitled “Does God Exist?” William Lane Craig, who is the supporter of the idea of existence of God, debates with Austin Dacey, who is an atheist, on the idea of existence of God. They provide the strong arguments and their debates are quite interesting, and innovative (not similar to those arguments, we usually read about in book). These are the fresh views on the question of existence and non-existence of God.
In the “Mediations of First Philosophy” Descartes tries to prove the existence of God in the third meditation. He does this by coming up with several premises that eventually add up to a solid argument. First, I will explain why Descartes ask the question, does god exist? And why does Descartes think he needs such and argument at this point in the text. Secondly, I will explain, in detail, the arguments that Descartes makes and how he comes to the conclusion that God does exist. Next, I will debate some of Descartes premises that make his argument an unsound one, including circular reasoning. Finally, I will see if his unsound argument has diminished and undermined his principal goals and the incorrigible foundation of knowledge.
Descartes argues that we can know the external world because of God, and God is not a deceiver. Descartes’ core foundation for understanding what is important comes from three points: our thoughts about the world and the things in it could be deceptive, our power of reasoning has found ideas that are indubitable, and certainty come by way of reasoning. Once we have a certainty of God, and ourselves then we are easily able to distinguish reality from dreams, and so on. God created us and gave us reason, which tells us that our ideas of the external world come from God. God has directly provided us with the idea of the external world. The concept of existence, the self, and doubt could not have existed on its own; therefore they had to be created by someone to have put them in our mind. That creator is God, who is omnipotent and perfect. God is not a deceiver to me; God is good, so therefore what I perceive really does exist. God without existence is like a mountain without a valley. A valley does not exist if there is no mountain, and vice versa a mountain is not a mountain with out a valley. We cannot believe or think of God without existence. We know the idea of God, and that idea inevitably contains his existence. My thought on god is clear and distinct that he is existent. Descartes’ now has ‘rebuilt’ the world, solely because of his power and reasoning. Descartes’ is only able...
In this paper, I will explain how Descartes uses the existence of himself to prove the existence of God. The “idea of God is in my mind” is based on “I think, therefore I am”, so there is a question arises: “do I derive my existence? Why, from myself, or from my parents, or from whatever other things there are that are less perfect than God. For nothing more perfect than God, or even as perfect as God, can be thought or imagined.” (Descartes 32, 48) Descartes investigates his reasons to show that he, his parents and other causes cannot cause the existence of himself.
There are often many mixed views when discussing God’s existence. In Anselm’s works “The Proslogion” and “Anselm’s Reply to Gaunilo” and Gaunilo’s work the “Reply on Behalf of the Fool”, both of their philosophies on the matter are imparted. Anselm’s logic regarding God is correct as he sustains his argument even when it confronted with criticisms and it is comprehensible.
Moving up the tower of certainty, he focuses on those ideas that can be supported by his original foundation. In such a way, Descartes’s goal is to establish all human knowledge on firm foundations. Thus, Descartes gains this knowledge from the natural light by using it to reference his main claims, specifically the existence of God in Meditation III, and provide an explanation to his radical thoughts. In Meditation III “The existence of God,” Descartes builds his foundation of certainty in the natural light through the examination of God’s existence.
after noting that he could be open to error, now by using it as a
In the Third Meditation, Descartes forms a proof for the existence of God. He begins by laying down a foundation for what he claims to know and then offers an explanation for why he previously accepted various ideas but is no longer certain of them. Before he arrives at the concept of God, Descartes categorizes ideas and the possible sources that they originate from. He then distinguishes between the varying degrees of reality that an idea can possess, as well as the cause of an idea. Descartes proceeds to investigate the idea of an infinite being, or God, and how he came to acquire such an idea with more objective reality than he himself has. By ruling out the possibility of this idea being invented or adventitious, Descartes concludes that the idea must be innate. Therefore, God necessarily exists and is responsible for his perception of a thing beyond a finite being.
Descartes thinks that we have a very clear and distinct idea of God. He thinks God must exist and Descartes himself must exist. It is a very different way of thinking shown from the six meditations. Descartes uses ideas, experiments, and “proofs” to try and prove God’s existence.
In the Discourse of Method and Meditations, Descartes performs a thought experiment which consists of putting aside all knowledge of things that rely upon man’s ideas. In doing so, Descartes reveals the idea of perfect certainty in man that is “inseparable from [his] nature (84). Through this, Descartes affirms the immovable and certain nature of an external being. Not only is he able to come to this conclusion, but also likewise believes that man is a thing that thinks, “[who] doubts, [who] affirms, [who] denies” (91). For a man is an existing thing who has a mind, which thinks. Man’s finite being affirms his dependability of God. This is the case for two reasons. One way in which man’s finitude confirms his dependability of God is seen through
This paper's purpose is to prove the existence of God. There are ten main reasons that are presented in this paper that show the actuality of God. It also shows counter-arguments to the competing positions (the presence of evil). It also gives anticipatory responses to possible objections to the thesis.
Descartes in Meditation II proves to him self that he knows he exists. But how does Descartes get here? To come to this conclusion Descartes first recalls Archimedes’ saying that he only needs one fixed and immovable point to shift the whole world from its place, meaning if he can find one concrete idea he can go somewhere with his thoughts. Then Descartes wonders the source of his meditations. Is he not the source of his own thoughts? After Descartes concedes that he is basically nothing, meaning he rids him self of the belief that he has senses and a body, he wonders can he even exist? Through these doubts, however, Descartes believes he exists. He now believes that an evil deity has misled him in
Skepticism is a problem because, there is no conclusive way to prove that anything other than the contents of my own mind exist. The problem of skepticism is troubling for empiricist because they think that all knowledge comes from sensory experience about the world (our knowledge of the world comes from experience). Considering that skepticism provides reasons to doubt the accuracy of our sensory makes it impossible to argue against it because we can't use knowledge from sensory experience as we get that knowledge from the world.
Throughout history one of the grand debates has been centered around a seemingly simple question: does God exist and if so, where? Renowned philosophers such as Rene Descartes and Baruch Spinoza took the task of answering this question into their own hands during the 1600’s. While the question of where God exists is simple to ask, it is not so simple to answer when things such as certain knowledge, dualism, and monism force their way into the picture. However, in the end, Rene Descartes has a more sound argument and reason for not only the existence of God in itself but where God exists as well.