Marquis De Sade's Argument For The Existence Of God

It is the intention of this essay to offer analysis of Marquis de Sade’s Dialogue between a Priest and Dying Man. This essay will begin by giving an overview of the deist arguments for the existence of God expressed by the character of the priest in this text; these will include the cosmological and theological arguments. This section will also cover the priest’s belief in God’s power. Afterwards, this essay will look in depth at a passage from Sade’s text. In this section of the essay will offer a summary of the dying man’s argument against the existence of God. Finally, this essay will show how Sade used the character of the dying man to express his objections to the existence of God; this will include analysis on the dying man’s arguments

As Death of the old regime? points out, ‘Natural Religion, by contrast, is based exclusively on non-revelatory evidence’ (Barber, 2004, p.174). It is evident the priest uses both the cosmological and theological arguments during his debate with the dying man, whom he is trying to persuade to believe in the existence of God. In this text the priest tells the dying man he is an atheist who rejects ‘innumerable proofs which are daily given to us of the existence of the Creator’ (Anthology, 2003, Part 1, p.63). It could be argued the priest is making reference to both the cosmological and theological arguments. By referring to the ‘innumerable proofs’ the priest is using the deist believe in God’s existence through observation as argument in this part of the text, which is believed by proponents of both of the aforementioned arguments. Proponents of the cosmological argument may understand this to mean God as the ‘first mover’ who created the universe and made things move. A proponent of this argument may understand the priest to mean motion of the universe. On the other hand, proponents of the theological argument may interpret this to mean the harmony and order which can be observed in the universe, which they believe God created. Furthermore, as both arguments make the case for God as the creator of the universe, the priest referring to the creator in

In the passage on page 64 the dying man argues against both the cosmological and theological arguments. Is it clear the dying man and the priest are debating the theological argument when the priest asks who created the order that exists ‘if not an all-powerful, supremely wise hand?’ (Anthology, 2003, Part 1, p.64). During this passage an important part of the dying man’s argument is questioning the wisdom of things; this is evident when he makes the point ‘there are things which are necessary but were not wisely made’ (Anthology, 2003, Part 1, p.64). By making the point that things are not wisely made, the dying man is suggesting if God exists he would have created things more wisely. This could also be interpreted as an argument against the cosmological viewpoint. As, according to the dying man, there is no divine wisdom in the universe, there is no argument for the wise ‘first-mover’. A universe without divine wisdom also means there is no evidence for God’s almighty power. Therefore, the dying man believes many people are deceived into believing God is