The teleological argument as put forward by St. Thomas Aquinas attempts to prove the existence of God by use of empirical evidence. Aquinas attempts this through three ways. The first way Aquinas attempts to prove the existence of God is through cause and effect. Every action or outcome must have a previous action that allowed that action or outcome to come about. This previous action must have been set in motion by another action. St. Thomas reasons that this infers an infinite chain of cause
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to refute the arguments of God’s existence and explain how “atheism is a much more comfortable belief than theism.” (McCloskey 1968) He first attempts to discredit the Cosmological and Teleological arguments for God’s existence‚ then he turns to the existence of evil as “proof” that God does not exist‚ and finally closes his article back where he began- claiming that atheism is a more comforting belief than theism. Here I intend to explain how McCloskey is incorrect in his arguments and beliefs.
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‘The design arguments prove God’s existence’. Assess this view. (30 marks) Design arguments‚ also sometimes known as teleological arguments‚ from the Greek ‘Telos’ for goal and ‘Logos’‚ meaning reason‚ hence reasoning for a goal or purpose and that purpose being God’s existence. These arguments endeavour to ascertain God’s existence‚ by inferring from evidence of design and purpose in the universe‚ and claim that there must have been a designer of this. Design arguments start from experience
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Katie Wyatt 20th October Examine the key strengths of the Design Argument for the existence of God The Design Argument can be split into two sides: design qua purpose and design qua regularity. The key idea of design qua purpose comes from William Paley. He used analogy as the basis for his argument‚ noting how the complex design of a watch allows all the parts to work together perfectly to achieve its purpose. He then noted the complexity‚ order and purpose of the universe‚ stating that "every
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In his article‚ On Being an Atheist‚ H.J. McCloskey tried to show that atheism is a more reasonable and comfortable belief than that of Christianity. McCloskey argued against the three theistic proofs‚ which are the cosmological argument‚ the teleological argument and the argument from design. He pointed out the existence of evil in the world that God made. He also pointed out that it is irrational to live by faith. According to McCloskey‚ proofs do not necessarily play a vital role in the belief
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Explain the cosmological argument for the existence of God (25 marks) Thomas Aquinas famously formulated his version of the cosmological or "first cause" argument. According to this argument‚ the things which we see around us now are the products of a series of previous causes. But that series cannot go back in time forever. Thus there must be some first cause which was not itself caused by anything else. And that first uncaused cause is God. A lot of the argument is based on Aristotelian views
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The Teleological Argument recognizes the various complex aspects of the Earth‚ nature‚ and life and attributes these complexities to a designer. The most common analogy depicting this argument is described through a watch. A watch represents intricate and meticulous designing that couldn’t have just been formed accidentally. This analogy can be interpreted
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The weaknesses of the Ontological Argument give support to Atheism. Discuss this claim (12 marks) Anselm’s ontological argument described in part (a)‚ was refuted in his own lifetime‚ by Gaunilo‚ who demonstrated in a reduction ad absurdum of his own‚ that if the logic of the argument were applied to things other than God‚ it led to invalid conclusions. Gaunilo didn’t identify any specific fault with the argument‚ but argued that something must be wrong with it‚ because if there wasn’t anything
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Scientific Revolution Nicolas Copernicus 1473 - 1543 Tycho Brahe 1546-1601 Johannes Kepler 1571 -1630 Galileo Galilei 1564- 1642 Isaac Newton 1642- 1726 Nicolas Copernicus 1473 - 1543 Nicolas Copernicus Nicolas Copernicus wrote a brief statement which essentially said we live in a heliocentric solar system and that the sun is the center of everything. Against the church however the church didn’t seem to care that Copernicus was announcing his belief. Because his statement was poorly written
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(A) Explain how Descartes developed Anselm’s argument that God’s existence is necessary. Anselm used the Ontological Argument to prove that God’s existence is necessary. The origins of this argument are found in Anselm’s writings‚ he began with a quotation from a Psalm “The fool says in his heart‚ ‘there is no God’…” and then reflected on the truthfulness of this. Anselm defined God as ‘that than which nothing greater can be conceived’ assuming you accept this a priori definition Anselm went on
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