Philosophy Does God Exist
God: Does He Exist? Philosophy is a subject that can take many twists and turns before it finds an answer to a general question (Wippel, Wolter 335). God is real to many, but not real to others. Some believe that there is sufficient evidence such as the earth. The earth is the perfect size, if the earth and the atmosphere were any smaller, life on earth would be impossible.Then again, because of this idea some believe that the earth was created by a big explosion called the big bang theory which created our planet: because of this we will examine Aquinas on the existence of God while Kant will explore God’s non existence to the extent of being mortal. St.
Thomas Aquinas has written several important works over time. There were four works: The Disputed Questions on the Power of God, Exposition of Dionysius on the Divine Names and Disputed Questions on Spiritual Creatures (Medieval Philosophy).Most of Aquinas’s works have been written to try to prove the existence of God. Aquinas always has been a firm believer that everything has to have a creator and the only possible solution would be something called God. It is with this idea that Aquinas’s Third Way was written. Aquinas says that if everything were mortal, then nothing could exist at present. This can be translated to mean that if all mortal things have to stop existing then there can’t be anything which exists today (Medieval Philosophy).
Aquinas believes that it takes a living presence to help create other living things in order for them to live also. This means that there must have been something which existed through eternity to help create many living things which exist today. Aquinas believes that something created life throughout time in order for things to be living today. He says this thing must have existed from the beginning and that it must still exist now (Medieval Philosophy). His belief is that living things and non-living things have lived through eternity with the help of a higher, more powerful presence, such as God.He also says that if it that were true that nothing existed at one time, then it would be impossible for anything to begin to exist again, which means that nothing could exist now, which is obviously false (Medieval Philosophy). We see that usual bodies work in the direction of some goal, and do not do so by chance.
Most natural things lack knowledge. “But as an arrow reaches its target because it is directed by an archer, what lacks intelligence achieves goals by being directed by something intelligent”.Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God. “It is impossible for anyone to logically believe that things such as rocks, trees, and water can exist without there being a creator” (Medieval Philosophy). It is for this reason that Aquinas believes that God was the only thing that existed then, so therefore he must have been the one who created everything. This theory does prove that something had to exist from the beginning.The Causal Principle is the thought that every contingent being has a cause of its being and that it lies at the heart of the argument.
Kant always contends that the cosmological argument, in identifying the necessary being relies on the ontological argument, which in turn is suspect. (Existence of God) According to Kant, survival is not a predicate, a asset that a thing can either have or lack. (Existence of God) When people declare that God exists they are not saying that there is a God and he possesses the land of existence.If that were the case, then when people state that God does not exist they would be saying that there is a God and he lacks the property of life. “They would be both affirming and denying God’s existence in the same breath” (Existence of God). Rather, suggests Kant, to say that something exists is to say that the idea of that thing is exemplified in humanity. Existence, then, is not a substance of an object possessing material goods, life, but of a thought equivalent to something in the world.
“To see this more clearly, suppose that we give a complete description of an object, of its size, its weight, its color, etc”. Existence of God) If we then attach that the item exists, then in asserting that it exists we put in nothing to the impression of the thing. “The article is the same whether it exists or not; it is the identical size, the similar weight, the matching color, etc” (Existence of God). The fact that the thing exists, that notion is exemplified in humanity, but does not alter anything about the theory. To assert that the article exists is to say something about the human race, that it contains something that matches that thought; it is not to say anything concerning the thing itself.If Kant is right in his outlook that life is not an asset of matter, then it is impractical to evaluate a God that exists to a God that does not. On Kant’s observation a God that exists and a God that does not exist are not the same.
“A God that exists is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, etc” (Existence of God). “A God that does not exist is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, etc” (Existence of God). Both are the same. Aquinas’s theory is more realistic to me. Everything was created for a reason and has to be here for a reason.First, Aquinas believes that something created life throughout time in order for things to be living today. He says this thing must have existed from the beginning and that it must still exist now.
His belief is that living things and non-living things have lived through eternity with the help of a higher, more powerful presence, such as God. Second, as Aquinas has previously mentioned it is impossible for anyone to logically believe that things such as rocks, trees, and water can exist without there being a creator.This is why I feel that God was the only thing that existed then, so therefore he must have been the one who created everything. He also says that if that were true that nothing existed at one time, then it would be impossible for anything to begin to exist again, which means that nothing could exist now, which is obviously false. Lastly, Aquinas said “that if everything were mortal, then nothing could exist at present, because what is nonexistent begins to be only through something which already exists”.This can be translated to mean that if all mortal things have to stop existing then there can’t be anything which exists today. This means to me that God has been living through time to help create other creatures.
Aquinas believed that it takes living presence to help create other living things in order for them to live. This means that there must have been something which existed through eternity to help create many living things which exist today. People will forever be arguing around their dinner tables about the existence of God.Many take comfort in the belief that there is one Creator who still exists in the universe, a perfect being who watches out for His ‘imperfect’ children (Wippel, Wolter). However, the dispute that God exists because he was the ‘First Cause’ of everything is too unsophisticated for the refined intelligence to accept (Wippel, Wolter). It may be religiously reassuring to believe in the existence of a higher authority, but there is no indisputable proof to suggest that God was ‘the cause’ of everything, hence proving His existence. As we approach the new millennium, disbelief prevails and continues to sway extreme (Wippel, Wolter).
Works Cited Nicholas of Cusa, 335-38. John F. Wippel, Allan B. Wolter, ed. New York: The Free Press, 1969. Aquinas, St. Thomas.
“Does God Exist? ” In Medieval Philosophy: From St. Augustine to St. Thomas “Objections to the Ontological Argument. ” Existence of God. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.
. Dictionary. com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary. com. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
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