PHL100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Theism, Religious Experience, Agnosticism
Document Summary
There are many conceptions of god (or gods). We will work with the standard monotheistic conception of god. The standard monotheistic conception: there exists a unique supremely perfect being that created the world. Means that there is one and only one such being. At a minimum supreme perfection is typically thought to involve these attributes: omnipotence: being able to do anything it is possible to do, omniscience: being able to know anything it is possible to know. Three answers: theism: god exists, atheism: god does not exist, agnosticism: since we cannot know whether god exists, we should withhold judgement on the matter. Theists typically offer one or another of these three kinds of reasons for holding theism: Philosophical arguments demonstrate god"s existence: religious experience reveals god"s existence. Practical considerations show belief in god"s existence to be rational. We will focus now on two historically influential philosophical arguments for theism, the argument from.
