PHIL 2010H Lecture 12: Philosophy Notes February 13
2 May 2017
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The ideas making up the world around us exhibit vast variety, efficient order, great beauty, magnificence, complexity, etc. These ideas are not caused or controlled by us. These ideas must be caused or controlled by another mind. This mind must be infinitely wise, good, perfect. Conclusion: an infinitely wise, good, perfect mind (god) exists. Objection #1: nothing is real and everything is just ideas. Answer: distinction between real and unreal can be drawn just as well in terms of ideas alone; reality is ideas that are more vivid, regular, and coherent (especially perception). Objection #2: there is a difference between reality of something and idea of it. Answer: distinction is internal to world of ideas and does not imply any world outside mind. True ideas: more vivid, more consistent with all other vivid ideas we have. False ideas: significantly less strong/vivid, not consistent with other ideas we have accepted as true, or both.
