|
In order to determine a meaning for our
lives, the question of the existence of God is a vitally important concern.
Thus, in this
part of the course we consider whether philosophy can shed any meaningful light on
the traditional arguments for the existence of God.
If no deductive proof is
achieved, then, how would philosophical reasoning be relevant to determining how we
ought to live?
|
|
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Links to Lecture Notes…
- The
Ontological Argument
Anselm's a priori argument
based on the definition of God as a being than which no greater can be
conceived is analyzed.
- The
Cosmological Argument
Thomas Aquinas' Five Ways, a
posteriori proofs for God's existence, with some objections to those
proofs are outlined.
- The
Teleological Argument
Will Paley's famous Watch Argument, a
version of the teleological argument for God's existence, is analyzed.
- Pascal's
Wager
The argument we have everything to
gain and nothing to lose by believing is offered; two well-known,
substantial objections are described.
- Can
God's Existence Be Proved? Soren
Kierkegaard's insights that existence cannot be proved but must be
assumed are discussed.
- The Problem of
Evil
Fyodor Dostoevsky's Ivan from the Brothers
Karamazov ponders how to account for the death of an innocent child
.
- Evil Can Be
Allowed
John Hick accounts for some of the
questions surrounding the problems of moral and nonmoral evil.
|
|