Ontological Arguments and Belief in God Assignment

Ontological Arguments and Belief in God - Assignment Example His argument, however, was wholly rejected by Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas’s suggestion was that there is no way that mere mortals can conceive what God’s nature is, and thus we surely cannot conceive God like Anselm has said we can (Oppy 122-3). Therefore, this argument can be used only by the ones who can understand the true essence of God and that cannot be anyone but God Himself. David Hume was another philosopher who went against Anselm’s argument. His criticism was that it has no evidential reasoning. His argument was that the existence of a being cannot be proved simply through a priori reasoning. Cleanthes has proposed this argument in the following words: ...there is an evident absurdity in pretending to demonstrate a matter of fact, or to prove it by any arguments a priori. Nothing is demonstrable, unless the contrary implies a contradiction. Nothing, that is distinctly conceivable, implies a contradiction. Whatever we conceive as existent, we can also conce ive as non-existent. There is no being, therefore, whose non-existence implies a contradiction. Consequently there is no being, whose existence is demonstrable (Fieser 232). Yet another proposal was made by Pascal regarding the existence of God; he stated that His existence cannot be decided upon by means of reason and that a logical person should consider that God does exist since there has to be one being who can only gain and not lose anything. However, Pascal’s suggestion was solely for the Christian God and he said there is a possibility of certain people not believing in God in spite of receiving enormous benefits after acknowledging God’s presence, even if for a bet. William Paley was a Christian apologist, utilitarian and philosopher and had his own belief in God. His book Natural Theology presents the proof regarding God’s existence. Paley, like Aquinas, felt that we cannot know about the qualities of God, even if He exists. The fact he argued for was t hat there are much more evidences for the statement that God exists than objections against it. Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist and author, has written a book regarding the existence of God. His latest book deals with natural theology which suggests that proof for the existence and nature of God is possible to be derived from the reflection we make of the natural world. Davies has used the latest discoveries and scientific facts from physics and cosmology to come to a conclusion regarding the classical theological queries. Answer 2: Anselm has provided certain reasoning in favour of the existence of God. His proposal was that God is the greatest being. And He is perfect. His perfections themselves prove that He exists because perfection requires existence. If He is perfect he definitely exists, no arguments about that for sure. Pascal said that even if one does not have any proof of God’s existence it is better to believe in one rather than r isk his afterlife and lose everything later, while having the time of his life in the world. Pascal talked about the super-dominance argument which states that in case it is true that God really exists the theists would be able to have eternal paradise and atheists, on the other hand, would go through eternal damnation. However, if there is no God the theists would have complete but finite happiness before dying. Atheists would be the same except that they would not have the comforts of religion. Thus, whether God exists or doesn’t, it is the theists who are better off than the atheists. Another argument in favour of the existence of God was by Aquinas, and it was cosmology based. According to his argument the objects that we find to be moving are