God Does Not Necessarily Have to Exist In Descartes’ Meditations‚ he makes the strong claim that God must exist. I will first explain what Descartes’s argument for God’s existence is‚ and then I will attempt to support the argument that God does not need to necessarily exist through objections and replies. Premise 1: “We have an idea of God as an infinite and perfect being.” First‚ Descartes believes that there are properties that are inherently perfect. For example‚ being good is a perfection
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Emptiness is an important idea in Buddhism‚ especially in Mahayana Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh’s commentaries in The Heart of Understanding and in The Dalai Lama’s descriptions follow the same basic idea and concepts of the emptiness doctrine. Another important idea in Buddhism is dependent origination. Emptiness has a very detailed meaning within Buddhist culture. Emptiness in western cultures is different than what some other cultures may believe in. Our culture sees emptiness as having nothing
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Yawning Hopelessness and Marvel That is Simple Existence: A Comparison It’s a commonly heard phrase – “I want to live and not just exist‚” but after years of the same trite‚ dull sentiment‚ it seems flimsy and false. But to think deeper – it’s not nearly as fabricated as it seems. Living and surviving are two entirely separate actions‚ even though living does depend on existence. To explain the difference between living and existence‚ a definition is in order. Living‚ as defined
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Parmenides’ view of being Common sense experience affirms that there are distinct beings existing in reality. Regardless of the differences subsisting among concrete beings‚ they are similar and related by one common denominator that is ‘actual existence’. Thus‚ beings are identical by the fact that they exist and distinct simply on grounds that each being ‘is’ insofar as
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The main topic of the Meditation Three discusses the concept of God and the proof of His existence. Descartes begins with the assertion that he is a ’thinking thing’ and therefore‚ he exists. Next‚ he further questions the source of his thoughts and certainty of anything else‚ because there are things that he previously admitted as certain and evident that later discovered to be doubtful (P.70). Therefore‚ Descartes concluded he has to find out whether there is God and that He is not a deceiver‚
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“I think therefore I am-Descartes;” “All noble things are as difficult as they are rare- Spinoza.” Decorates and Spinoza are unique; they are like nothing this class has studied previous. They focus on nature‚ existence and power as the fundamental building blocks to their unique philosophies. The beauty of these two men’s philosophies is not only in their contrasts but in all the ideas the students can draw from their logically thinking strategies; ultimately creating an individual philosophy and
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Throughout time both philosophers’ theories have ignited arguments when it comes to the conception of “substance.” Although both were around about the same time period‚ one heavily juxtaposed the other and criticized severely. At the end of the day both philosophers had an entire and total different idea of what substance was. To begin with‚ Descartes‚ divided the world into two kinds of substances. He divided it by the “res cogitas” and “res extensa‚” which translates into “thinking substance‚
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What is the "Cosmological Argument" for God’s existence? Be sure to make the premises and conclusion clear. Discuss what you take to be the strongest objection to this argument‚ and explain why you think it succeeds or fails. The cosmological argument for God’s existence differs from both the scriptural and ontological arguments in the way in which humans created it. Rather than looking at logical arguments or religious texts‚ the cosmological argument was derived because of humanity’s ability
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presented his argument for the existence of God in his published work‚ the Proslogion. His work was based on 4 premises which led to the conclusion that God must exist. His 1st premise was that he defined God as to mean “that than which nothing greater can be conceived.” For him God is the greatest conceivable entity. He also asked what is greater: God as an idea or God as in existing thing? St. Anselm stands for this: that “God as an existing thing” because existence means perfection‚ like it is
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According to Michael Shermer‚ a science writer‚ the existence of God is not and cannot be proven by science. However‚ he also believes that the belief in God is not taken away by scientific evidence. Scientific proof‚ he says‚ even suggests that the belief in God is still strong despite a knowledge in science and the world around us. This is proven by the fact that about two out of every five scientist believe in God‚ even with a strong understanding of their field of study. Shermer believes that
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